Philly in May - Final Chapter

Our trip to Philly would not be complete unless I posted photos from Callie's graduation.  Saturday morning, we were able to sleep in before heading across the street to the Crate and Barrel for Jordan to find a Mother's Day gift for his mom.  Of course, I always love to look around that store!

Look what I spotted!  They had several different Charley Harper accessories and I loved these plates by artist Jane Dixon---wish they came in melamine for the deck.

From there, we headed to the Eastern campus for graduation.  Parking was extremely limited, so we had a bit of a trek from our vehicle.

At the last minute, I decided to purchase an umbrella at the bookstore.  While it wasn't raining at the time, it was forecast for later, and I thought it might come in handy on the walk back.  Thank goodness I did!  Right after Jordan and I were seated and Callie was whisked away with the other graduates, the rain started.

It was about this time that the battery in my camera died--yep, I had forgotten to charge it the night before.   Callie sent us a couple of frantic texts after discovering that the bookstore had supplied her with the wrong color hood.  After checking with people in charge, it was determined that I should go get the hood, take it to the bookstore and exchange it for the right one.  So, I rushed through the woods, back to where the graduates were waiting, only to discover that they had already corrected the situation.  :-)

It cleared up long enough for the students to march in and for the ceremony to begin.

But, just as the main speaker began his address, the skies darkened and the winds picked up.

No one was paying any attention to him as the rustle of ponchos (which had been passed out a few minutes earlier) became louder than his voice.  Then the rain began.

 And it got harder and harder.

So did the wind.  So eventually, they had to stop the ceremony and herd the graduates towards the gym.

About this same time, I began getting the 10%  battery warning from my camera, so I turned it off in hopes of saving the last few shots for the actual awarding of the diploma.  Seating was limited in the gym, so I was glad that Callie had remembered to give us the 2 tickets she was allotted.   They were finally able to finish the ceremony, with each somewhat bedraggled graduate marching across the stage to receive his/her diploma.

After we returned to our car, we headed into downtown St. David's, PA to eat a nice dinner and then returned to our hotel to rest and pack.  The trip home was uneventful, thankfully.   With her graduation completed and the school year coming to a close, Callie is now down to one part-time job at Community Renewal.  Perhaps she'll even have a little time to relax before the baby is born because we all know there won't be much time for that AFTER!

Philly in May - Part 3

Friday was a free day for us, so after sleeping in, we decided to make the most of it.  We headed our rental car (actually all they had left was a mini-van, much to Jordan's disgust) a few miles from our hotel, to Valley Forge.  It was beautiful!

Miles and miles of rolling hills and lush greenery, with small Revolutionary era cabins dotting the landscape.

As we drove and walked, we imagined the area covered with tents and more cabins as the soldiers wintered there so many years ago.

These days, the only things that winter there are deer, it seems.

and birds.

From there, we drove to Lancaster County, where we discovered the small town of Bird In Hand.  Settled in the midst of the Pennsylvania Dutch culture, was some of the most beautiful farmland I have ever seen.

We took a buggy ride through the area.

Unfortunately, our companions on the ride were a group of the most obnoxious, rude older adults that I have ever been around.  They were loud, made rude comments and were horribly insensitive throughout the journey.   We did our best to completely ignore them, but they definitely put a damper on the serene ride.  However, despite their unforgivable behavior, our host was incredibly kind and I couldn't help but wonder if the Amish people were onto something.

How peaceful and freeing to live that simple life, surrounded by such beauty.

Our next stop was Hershey, PA, the home of the Hershey Chocolate empire.  We went straight to Chocolate World, admiring the street lights throughout the town.  I'm thinking that living in Hershey must fell a little like living in a Disneyland set.

The factory tour turned out to be a Disney-like ride with singing cows taking us through the process of making candy.  It was a hoot.

We indulged ourselves by stepping into the art of designing our own chocolate bars.
Via computer screens, we each selected the base  . .

fillings (can you guess which one is mine?). . .

and toppings.

We even designed our own wrappers that were placed around our personalized tins of chocolate!  What fun!

 Before we returned to the hotel, we made a swing across the state line so that all of us could say for certain that we'd been in Delaware!

Philly in May - Part 2

Once Jordan arrived, we headed down to Reading Market in downtown Philadelphia for lunch.  We walked through the aisles first, taking in all the sights and smells.

After we had walked the entire market, we each picked food and sat down to enjoy lunch.  I had a homemade pretzel dog, Callie had been looking forward to grilled cheese with the fresh cheeses they had to offer, while Jordan selected a Reuben sandwich.   It was all so fresh and tasty.

Nestled among the new, architecture of downtown, is the historic district of Philadelphia.  The lines were long and appointments for the main attraction (Independence Hall) were hard to come by, so instead, we did our own walking tour of the area, using Jordan as our tour guide (with the assistance of an online tour he found).

Along the way, we saw the outside of Independence Hall . . .

the Liberty Bell . . .

The Tomb of an Unknown Revolutionary Soldier . . .

Ben Franklin's house (well, a conceptualized rendering of it since it no longer exists) . . .

historic Christ Church, which is Known as "The Nation's Church" because of the famous Revolutionary-era leaders who worshiped here. It was the first parish of the Church of England (Anglican) in Pennsylvania. It is also the birthplace of the American Episcopal Church.

Did you know that they actually buried people inside the church?? Me either.

We saw the Cemetery of Christ Church where Ben Franklin and his wife are buried. . .

and Betsy Ross's house

Our feet finally grew weary and we knew we needed to head back to change clothes and freshen up for the Graduation dinner that night.   It was again held at the Eastern library and was a night to relax and enjoy with the urban studies graduates and their families.

Through a comparison of the ideals held by the Timberland shoe company, the head of the Urban Studies Department challenged each graduate to go forth and put the principles emphasized by Eastern University.

Each graduate was given a personal blessing and challenge by the faculty member closest to them.

 It was very touching and such a cool thing to witness how well these leaders had gotten to know their students.  

As a parting gift, and a way to remember these values, each student was given a pair of Timberland hiking boots in their size!  Afterwards, there were lots of photo ops . . .

and gifts presented to their faculty.

The Eastern University chaplain shared a Franciscan blessing as the benediction.  I had never heard it before, but I don't want to forget it.