Our day in Philadelphia did NOT include the Barnes after all. We had failed to plan ahead so it didn’t happen.  Instead we stopped at a private gallery, Seraphin, on Pine St.  I actually found a parking spot not too far away so me made that the center of our walking tour which took us to Rittenhouse Square. We arrived as the carillon was playing which was fun and did some shopping as we walked.

We returned to the Elks Lodge to find that the Armstrongs were back and Kiki was squalling up a storm complaining about her abandonment. It was great to get together with Dan and Beverly who we last saw in Rochester over the summer.  We found a reasonable place for dinner after some happy hour on the parking lot. We parted the next morning about 10 as we headed to Georgetown DE for some total r&r. We were so busy in NY and there was no sewer so we were over a week behind in cleaning and laundry.  Our plan was to stop at Homestead Campground for two nights and get caught up.  The rainy weather has abetted that cause and we haven’t even disconnected the Jeep 24 hours later. We may drive around the area later this afternoon.

I left that post four days ago without finishing it.  All the laundry is done and we moved on from Delaware after taking a drive in the Jeep to Rehoboth Beach.  Yet another town with too many tourist shops and a lovely boardwalk on the beach. We drove around Chesapeake Bay to Cherry Hill Park, a large lovely campground in College Park MD with public transit right on the premises.  Our first day we drove to Bunny and Alan Bernstein’s home in Pikeville. From there we went to Baltimore Inner Harbor for the beginning of the celebration of 200 year anniversary of the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. There were tall ships and naval ships and enough people to make it feel festive.  We took a water taxi to Rusty Scupper for dinner and then back to their home where we parted after begining to make plans for a trip to New Zealand in 2016.

Thursday we took the bus and subway to the Mall area where we started at the US Holocaust Museum.  I had managed to avoid going there for 21 years and now I needed to see it. My first thought was to just walk through,  after all I have been to Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem many times and visited several concentration camps and other sites in our travels. This is so well done and so heart breaking that even with all that I took two hours and that felt like I was running through, barely acknowledging the horror of the era and our own country’s failure to do even the least to mitigate the carnage. Today’s treatment of refugees/immigrants call them what you will is a reminder that our government has learned nothing from its past. The hate for the “other” is no less.  I will terminate my rant here.

We went on to the Sackler and Freer Galleries to experience some enlightenment before returning to Gee Whiz for dinner. Friday started with one of those house failures that seem some how more magnified in a motorhome.  The hose to the shower head had sprung a leak. Would the campground parts area have one to fit?  I left planning to continue on to Home Depot of they didn’t.  Fortunately they had just what I was looking for and I returned
triumphant to make the simple replacement. It went fine until I turned on the shower head which promptly disintegrated, spraying water all over the shower stall. Back to the store where I found the shower head I wanted in brushed nickel to match the coach and discounted because it was the last unit in stock.  It works fine!

We met Susana, Malena’s mother for lunch at the Old Angler’s Inn. The weather was perfect as we dined on the patio. The meal and company were excellent.  We followed Susana to the Torpedo Factory Art Galleries in Alexandria. After touring several galleries we saw her off into rush hour traffic and proceeded up the street we were on to Steven and Daisy’s house where we were expected for dinner.  This was a lovely evening with delicious food and even more delicious news of their planned wedding in June. I cannot imagine a more perfect end to a brief visit in our nation’s capital.  We have moved on to Covesville VA Dan and Malena’s home and I am sitting in the coach in their yard after a wonderful dinner as I write.