Road Trip '09, Part Two - Family

On Friday, the sixth day of our travels, we slipped out of Washington, avoiding the worst of rush hour traffic. We headed north on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway and then on Route 1, treating ourselves to lovely countryside and missing virtually all of the heavy truck traffic that keeps to Interstate 95.

We arrived at our destination in the early afternoon. No, not Swarthmore, where Aunt Elinor and Steph live. Our first stop was Anna's Delicatessen on MacDade Blvd. to get our lunch - genuine Philly cheesesteaks and hoagies. These delicacies are not my reason for returning to Philadelphia, but a visit here would be less than complete without consuming at least one hoagie and one cheesesteak. (There are no substitutes, no matter what the menus of restaurants around the country claim.)

We devoted the next two days to visiting with Elinor, Steph, Ed and Barb. Elinor and Steph are the grandes dames of our family. Age has slowed them down a bit physically; although they still enjoy attending the opera, visiting with friends and eating in restaurants. (I think there is not a restaurant in a ten-mile radius of their home at which they have not eaten.) Although the don't move as quick as they used to, they both retain their avid interest in the world around them and are not shy at all about sharing their views. I have always been in awe of their fantastic memories and their ability to recount stories from years past, full of intricate details and insights. Elinor and Steph are great raconteurs who can entertain for hours with their tales of places they've been, things they've done and most importantly family history. We were graced with many of their memories over the next two days.

Elinor and Steph, still going strong.

We got to spend one pleasant evening with Ed and Barb. I wish it could have been more. They took us to dinner at a favorite spot of theirs, and then we returned to their home to stretch the evening as long as we could. We got to catch up on one another's lives. Barb has been waging a battle with cancer for ten years now in her own quiet and heroic way. In recent months, the doctors have ordered an increase in her chemotherapy treatments that place a greater demand on her strength. She rests for a day or so after her treatment, then is up and active again, refusing to let her illness hold her down. She still works, part-time, at the police station that was Ed's workplace for over forty years.

Barb loves to travel, and the new regimen of chemotherapy has taken that opportunity away from her for the time being. We're hoping that soon she also will be on the road again.

My brother, Ed, and sister-in-law, Barb

It wasn't all visiting during those two days. We walked, of course. We saw a good deal of Swarthmore, a pretty town with grand old homes that are shaded by mature trees. We walked past 208 Harvard Avenue, the home where my father, Elinor and their sisters grew up. We wandered the campus of the college and checked out the opening day of their farmers' market. We bought some cookies from a baker, the minister's wife whom we met the night before when out to dinner with Elinor and Steph. She assured us that the tiny market was much more lively later in the summer, when local crops will be abundant.

The Brandywine River Museum

We spent a pleasant afternoon at the Brandywine River Museum, a lovely small museum on the banks of the river that features the artwork of the Wyeth family. By happy coincidence we got to see a special exhibit of the quirky and whimsical artist, Richard Gorey.

And before we knew it, we were heading for Wildwood Villas, home of my sister, Joan, and Wally, the most famous of the Burgett outlaws. (Wally some years ago dubbed Barb, Carol and himself the "outlaws." It stuck.)

My sister, Joan, and the "Outlaw"

The Villas and nearby Cape May is a favorite spot for me. It's just such a pretty place. So we did what people do when they find themselves in pretty places. We saw as much of it as we could. Joan and Wally live in a quiet neighborhood, just a five-minute walk from the Delaware Bay. When Carol and I visit, we somehow find our feet taking us toward the bay each evening when the sun is low in the sky.

This is what draws us to the bay in the evenings.

Sometimes we get silly. No spouses were harmed in the making of this photo.

Joan and Wally gave us a nice tour of Cape May, culminating with dinner at the Wharf and an opportunity for Carol and me to have fresh seafood (almost as important as the hoagies and cheesesteaks).

The Whar...f Restaurant

Cape May Lighthouse

The old concrete ship, near the lighthouse, was one of a few built in the early twentieth century. They actually made some successful crossings of the Atlantic. (Really!) This one was sunk deliberately. (I don't know why. What else can you do with a concrete ship you don't want any more?) Time and tide have taken their toll. I remember seeing the remains of a ship here as a boy; now it's not much more than this ruin, although the sea birds seem to find it appealing.

The flower shop is next door to the gourmet cheese shop. This little patch of Cape May put is in mind of Dordogne.

On Wednesday, day twelve of our trip, it was time to say good-bye to Joan and Wally. The plan was to return to Swarthmore, spend the night with Elinor and Steph and get an early start the following day for our drive to Fallingwater. Elinor and Steph's condo was off limits for the day (contractors working), and Elinor and Steph were out on their own. So we took advantage of the open day to hop on the commuter train to downtown Philly for a day in the city.

It was lovely! We walked down busy and beautiful Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where we had tickets to see the "Cezanne and Beyond" exhibition. The Cezanne exhibit was wonderful, but we were disappointed that the photography galleries were temporarily closed. We consoled ourselves with a pretty good lunch at the museum cafeteria before returning to the train station via the walking path along the Schuykill River.

"Rocky's" view of Philadelphia, from the steps of the art museum. No, we did not run up the steps. There were plenty of twenty-somethings present taking care of that.

The walk along the river was charming. Philadelphia has really done a good job of making itself attractive to visitors. We promised ourselves that we will spend more time downtown when we next visit.

Carol and I had discovered earlier in the week the Bistro on the Brandywine. Barb, we knew, would be resting after her chemotherapy session. We called Ed at the last minute, and he joined us for dinner there. A very nice place. The three of us had a good time together.

The following morning we departed, glad to have had precious time with family and eager to continue our adventure. I'll write about the return home in Part Three, coming soon.