By Shelby
Monday, we worked from the library at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. We love university libraries. They’re usually big, have long open hours, and have lots of seating with power outlets. This college also had free visitor parking, which was great. The only downside was that the parking lot was about a ten minute walk from the library.
The weather was cold and rainy for days this week. We were still getting rain from the hurricane. This was the most rain we had gotten on this trip so far. After work Monday, we hung out at the university library and played Minecraft. Monday night, we stayed at Planet Fitness, which wasn’t too far from the college. It rained all night and the parking lot was loud early in the morning, especially when a street sweeper came through.
Tuesday, we worked from the same library at the college. It was still raining. After work, we went to Rock Salt Grille for happy hour. I really wanted oysters since we were in a coastal state again and this restaurant had a happy hour special where it was only a dollar per oyster. That was a great deal. They’re usually at least double that price. And these were even local Maryland oysters, which is even better. We also got a great deal on a plate of steamed mussels, crab soup, a chili hot dog, and pulled pork sliders. Tuesday night, we got ready for bed at Planet Fitness and then drove over to Anytime Fitness, another 24 hour gym and slept there. It was so much quieter and darker. The parking lot was much smaller and there was no street sweeper. I slept much better there.
Wednesday morning, we drove back over to Planet Fitness to shower and get ready for the day. Then we drove over to the college to work again. The rain was finally starting to clear up, so after work we drove to a nearby park to make dinner. We made greens and beans, one of my favorite cold weather meals. Despite the better weather, the wind was very cold. I wore my winter hat while cooking to stay warm. There was a great sunset at the park. Again, we slept at Anytime Fitness that night.
Thursday, we drove east to do some hiking in Rocks State Park, Maryland. We hiked a 3.2 mile loop trail to King & Queen’s Seat, a large rock formation overlooking the valley. There were lots of rocks on the trail, so I guess the name of the park was accurate. We were hoping to see some nice fall foliage, but it still looked a little early. It was nice to get out hiking again. It had been a while since we had a good hike. We also tried to hike to a nearby waterfall also in the park, but the trail was closed for some reason.
Our next stop was Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Along the way, we stopped at the Pinnacles overlook in Pennsylvania. We got a great view of the Susquehanna River. The Planet Fitness in Downingtown was open 24 hours on Thursday, which didn’t seem very common in Pennsylvania. It’s interesting how in some states all of the Planet Fitness locations are open 24 hours and in other states barely any of them are. The facilities in Planet Fitness also seem to vary by state, like automatic sinks for example. In one state they are all automatic and the same style and in others they are all manual. When we got to Downingtown, we went to the library to relax and play Minecraft.
Friday, we drove 20 minutes to Valley Forge National Historical Park. This is where Washington and the Continental Army stayed during the winter of 1777-1778. The park was much more beautiful than I expected. The hills and valleys were very scenic. The main feature of the park was the 10 mile scenic road with stops at multiple historic sites.
Unfortunately, we started on the scenic road right behind two massive tour buses. At the first stop, we watched dozens of people file out of them and swarm the site. We decided to skip the stop and come back to it later when it was less crowded.
One of the most interesting stops of the tour was Washington’s headquarters. This is the building where Washington and his officers lived and worked during the encampment at Valley Forge. We got to see the room where Washington’s aides, including Alexander Hamilton, worked writing letters and translating correspondence from France and Spain.
Another stop had reconstructions of the wood huts that soldiers slept in that we could walk into. They were very small. The beds were wood planks and were layered three beds high. It looked pretty uncomfortable. Within a month, thousands of these huts were built by soldiers for them to use as housing during the encampment at Valley Forge. They cut down all the trees in the area, which quickly turned into mud pits.
After completing the scenic road tour, we returned to the visitors center at the start of the tour. We found a place in the back of the parking lot and relaxed for a few hours. It was a very good temperature. The sun was perfect and there was a light breeze. Later, we drove an hour north to Allentown to sleep at the Planet Fitness there.
Saturday morning, we drove another hour to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area where we planned on hiking Mt. Minsi. The trail turned out to be much more popular than I had expected. The parking lots at the trailhead were all full. We found street parking down the road, luckily. The trail was a 5.5 mile hike to the top of Mt. Minsi. There were a few nice viewpoints along the way. The leaves weren’t quite peaking yet, but were still nice. From the viewpoints, we could see Mt. Tammany across the river.
After our hike, we drove to a Pennsylvania welcome center just a few minutes from the trail. We were very close to the New Jersey border. We could actually see New Jersey from Mt. Minsi. At the welcome center, we made pasta with meatless meatballs and sauce, with peas on the side. It was really good. After dinner, we relaxed in the car. We slept at a Park & Ride lot across the street. We saw another Prius dweller, along with campervans. It seemed to be a pretty popular area to sleep in your car. It was going to get down to the high 30s that night, so we decided to run the car all night for heat. It worked out well. The sound of the car turning on and off periodically didn’t wake us up at all.
Sunday morning, there was an alarm on the dashboard. Fortunately, it just turned out to be low tire pressure. We hadn’t filled the tires up in a while and it was a lot colder than it had been, so I wasn’t surprised. There happened to be a free air pump at the welcome center. That was convenient. After getting ready at the welcome center, we drove off to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where we plan on working from next week. The drive through the Poconos was beautiful. The colors of the leaves were amazing. We have a couple great hikes planned for next week, as well. Hopefully, we’ll get to see some more great fall foliage. Check out more pictures of Pennsylvania here and Maryland here!
Fun Facts from Week 24:
- The winter at Valley Forge is considered by many people to be a turning point of the American Revolution. Despite hundreds of men dying in poor conditions, the army was trained and unified into a strong army capable of defeating the British.
- Up to 80% of the building where Washington headquartered is original from the time period.
- During the encampment at Valley Forge, the number of people there rivaled the population of New York City, making it the 4th largest city in the US at the time.
