A Week in Philadelphia

 I've just spent a week in the land of Brotherly Love immersed in learning about the Constitution and the Revolutionary War.  We flew into Philadelphia on a Red Eye (which was miserable) and headed straight to Valley Forge. 

 This picture is wrapped around part of the visitor's center.

Washington chose Valley Forge partly because it was on high ground and his troops could keep an eye out for the British camped in Philadelphia.  

 

 I imagined a small area, but Valley Forge covered several miles.  In different areas groups of cabins have been rebuilt to show what the men lived in.  Eighteen men lived in each of these cabins.  Only six were usually in a cabin at a time--others were out foraging for food or on guard duty.

These are replicas of the cabins the men quickly built to have shelter from the winter weather.

 This is an officer's cabin, so it is deluxe.

They are so small!  I'm nearly as tall as the door.

 Bunks were three men deep.  Not much room to sit up in bed.

 Much of the food was cooked in this earthen oven.

 

 These logs show the outline of the incredibly small cabins.

 This man made his uniform.  The woman taught us a lot about the muskets.

 This was a beautiful archway honoring George Washington who was quoted at the top:

Naked and starving as they are

We cannot enough admire

The indomitable patience and fidelity

Of the soldiers.

 George Washington rented this home from a wealthy farmer and used it for his headquarters.

 Washington's aides wrote letters here.  The picture below shows how Washington's office. It was so exciting to see where he worked and lived.  The picture also shows how I look when I've been awake all night and the temperature is 95 degrees and the humidity is 99.  It was Hot!

Slaves and indentured servants worked in this kitchen which was attached to the house through a breezeway.  Hundreds and hundreds of loaves of bread were made here daily.

George and me.

Tuesday we headed to a wonderful Constitution Center that has been built in the last five or six years.  The pictures below show "Signers Hall" with a statue for each signer of the Constitution.  The sculptor made each signer the correct height and grouped the men around the hall conversing with each other.  

When I walked in and read the first groups of names, I started to cry.  These were men I'd read about all my life!  Each woman in my group said she had the same response.  There was a very reverent feeling in this room (until a group of school children entered and then everything became very lively).

Abraham Baldwin is holding the pen, James Madison is in the middle and Washington (partially shown) is on the right. Below: I'm signing the Constitution with Washington looking on.

Wise Benjamin Franklin is sitting, with Gouveneur Morris standing behind.  Morris did most of the final wording of the Constitution.  He was taller than Washington, but the artist wanted Washington to be the tallest in the room, so he has Morris leaning over Franklin.

Earlene, Kara, Meisje and I teach at the same school and came on the trip together.  

We are visiting with some of the signers.

 

 Alexander Hamilton was alone in the middle of the room.  It looked like he was striding hurriedly to the front.  Below: I'm with my good friend James Madison.  We are the same height.

We enjoyed some interactive displays.  Here I am being sworn in as President of the United States.

 We enjoyed lunch at the Comcast building.  This is the entrance.  It is all a big screen that continually has changing moving pictures on it.  We were mesmerized and probably watched it for 15 minutes.

 Once the gears rolled onto the screen, they all started to move together.

This is another sequence beginning.

It doesn't take much to excite me!  More later. . .

Date with Camden and Maris

We enjoyed a fun day with Camden and Maris on Friday.  First, we  made pink/purple pancakes (Maris' choice) with chocolate chips (Camden's choice).  It is true that chocolate makes everything taste better. 

Then we gave Camden and Maris seashells we brought from Oregon, and they listened to the sea.

  Maris started with the pointed end in her ear, but soon figured it out.

Camden thought the seashell must be glass--not real--because it had a price tag on it.  I think we convinced him otherwise.

We created funny faces in our "funny face books", one of our favorite activities.

 We headed to a park we'd never visited--Castle Park in Fruit Heights.  Camden gave it the seal of approval.

 Camden took this picture of the dragon.  Maris took a picture of the castle entrance.  Maris took her tea set with her, so they enjoyed a short tea party before we headed to McDonald's.

Grandpa entertained everyone with a game about getting out of jail.

 Maris was an extremely strict jail keeper.

When we returned home, Camden insisted on playing "Ticket to Ride" (a game for 10 year olds and older), so he and I spent a happy time learning how to play the game.  He was quick to learn and played to the finish--about 45 minutes.  I was so thrilled to have someone who wanted to learn strategy for a new game!

Maris wanted to play "Pretty, Pretty Princess," but decided it was more fun to dress up like a princess than to play a game about princesses.  She modeled one of Alicia's dance costumes to be a purple princess.

What a fun day.  We are so blessed to be grandparents!

Shakespeare Festival

Alan and I are having so much fun this summer, we won't know how to go back to work.  We spent Monday through Wednesday on a short vacation to the Shakespeare Festival to see The Music Man and Richard III. 

On the way to Cedar City, we decided to stop at the Topaz Internment Center and museum outside of Delta.  I was supposed to call "Jane" when we got into Delta so she could show us around the internment camp.  We had no service when we got there, so we tried to find the places ourselves. The internment camp wasn't on the GPS or MapQuest, but we were able to get to Delta thanks to their help.  When we were about to give up finding either the internment camp or museum when we started to see a few road signs.This is what we found:

 The buildings are gone, but there are two markers to honor the Japanese people who were sent to Topaz during World War II.  Eight to ten thousand people lived in barracks that covered less than one mile. Below:  The large marker told where the camp was, and the small markers labeled each block.

We were frustrated because we drove all over trying to find the museum thinking it was at the camp. Finally, we ate lunch by the markers, took pictures to prove we'd been at the camp, then headed out of town to Cedar City.

 

We found the museum by a lucky accident.  It was not by the camp at all.  We glimpsed a sign while driving through Delta on the way out of town.  We asked for Jane, and the museum employees said she had called several times looking for us.  It turns out she is a high school teacher, and she has started this museum.  She's passionate about it, and when she found out we'd made it to the museum, she came over and spent an hour with us.

 Each family lived in an area about 12' by 12'.  This particular room had three cots, a crib, a stove, the green chairs you see below, and a dresser.  If the families wanted furniture, they had to make it. The reddish wooden chairs below were made from a packing box one family sent to themselves. Families were not allowed to cook in their barracks.  They went outside to a mess hall and to the latrine.

 The museum owns one of the recreation buildings that was at the camp.  The government sold all the barracks after the war to try to recoup their costs.  A farmer who had bought one of the barracks to store his grain later donated the building, and the museum began.  (This was just a couple of years ago.)  

The barracks were covered with tar paper, and that was as finished as each barrack got.  Freezing in the winters, hot in the summer.  Each barrack housed 3-4 families.

We were frustrated as we tried to connect with Jane, but I'm so glad we finally found her.  She was a wonderful guide.

Cedar City was next.  We checked into our motel in time to eat and to see Harry Potter.  We both loved the movie.  I went expecting to be disappointed, but I loved almost all of it.

Tuesday we took a backstage tour at the festival.  We learned that a "Vomitory" is a ramp that leads from the theater up to backstage.  We also got a view of the many wigs used for the plays.

 We got to the university early so we could sit on their beautiful campus and read.  I was diligently trying to finish Richard III before the play that night.  Alan was working on George Washington: A Life.

 Our traditional "picture place," by the flowers on the corner of the auditorium lot.

If I ever get big pots in our yard, I want them to look like this:

I learned that all the plants that are labeled on the beautiful grounds are actually mentioned in one of Shakespeare's plays.  I love trivia like this!

Finally it was time for The Music Man with Brian Vaughn, our favorite festival actor, as Harold Hill.  He was amazing!  We also loved Winthrop and the dancing teenagers.   Here I am sharing a moment with Professor Hill. And here are his actual hats in his dressing room.

Fun Facts about The Music Man.

• The story is autobiographical.  When Meredith Wilson wrote his autobiography, he would write a story about his life, it would often turn into a song.  He decide to write a musical with his experiences, and when he was finished he had a 5 hour show with 44 songs.  No one wanted to produce a five-hour play, so Wilson finally gave it to a playwright who shortened it for him.  The extra songs were also made into a musical:  The Unsinkable Molly Brown.
• Marian the librarian was a woman Meredith Wilson met during World War II.  She was a medical librarian from Provo, Utah.
• Robert Preston was not going to try out for Professor Hill because he wasn't a good singer.  He was talked into it, and auditioned by half talking, half singing the "Trouble" song.  Wilson loved it that way, and it has been performed that way ever since.

 In the evening, it was back to the theater for Richard III.  (I did finish the book--just in time.)  The acting was superb.  And I could follow the story!  It helps me so much to read the book.  Here is the set:

It's the story of a man who will do anything to be king.  He kills many people as he claws his way to the top.  But because he has stepped on so many people, he has very few supporters by the time he is king, and he is overthrown in only two years. 

Wednesday morning we drove home by way of Cedar Breaks and wildflowers.  We had a great time!