Delaware and Wonder Woman 2

This blog is a bit like Forest Gump's box of chocolates...you never know what you get next.  Of note, this blog includes our visit to the state of Delaware which marks our 28th state - tick. Delaware is a tiny slice of state and its claims to fame are that in 1787 it was the first state to ratify the Constitution of the US. It’s now referred to as the First State. It’s also the state where Joe Biden served as Senator before becoming Vice President to President Obama. And I think he still lives in Delaware. And really important is that Delaware has zero, none, nil sales tax. A lot of people move to Delaware to take advantage of that tax break.

Kalmar Nyckel model

Delaware shares borders with Maryland, Pennsylvania and across the water from Lewes Beach is New Jersey. When I asked around for things to see and do in Delaware, I was met with those same squinted eyes and frowns when I said I wanted to go to Detroit two years ago. Of course, it’s not New York or Texas but for us, it was another opportunity to see something new. It’s on the coast, has beaches and it’s a good 3-hour day trip from DC as you can see on the map. So we took our two good friends A&PH and headed to Wilmington first where we explored some of the landmarks. PH found a great app on her phone that provided a GPS route for several self guided walking tours of Wilmington. The first stop was to the Kalmar Nyckel which had nothing to do with the metal nickel. It was a tall ship named after a small town in Sweden called Kalmar and nyckel is the word for key. Kalmar Nyckel is a re-creation of the Tall Ship of Delaware, built by the Dutch in 1625, that brought Swedish settlers to North America in 1638, to begin establishing the colony of New Sweden (Delaware).

 

the city that built 10,000 ships and 30,000 rail cars !!

 

We were in an industrial type area near the water and drove around a while looking for a big tall ship, it should be easy to spot right. Giving up, we eventually we stopped at the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation which is a privately funded museum dedicated to the Kalmar Nyckel and other interesting maritime things. We were greeted by two lovely ladies (all volunteers) who said we were in the right place but the ship was away sailing. Great, first tour stop to see a ship and there was no ship. However we paid the $5 entry and the lady kindly gave us the express tour of the museum (and we needed a toilet stop as well). They had a model ship collection and interesting history on Wilmington being a major builder of ships and railcars. Our tour lady was interesting, helpful and showed us a few extra things not usually shown to the public. We learnt more than we expected and we were off to a great start to Delaware despite the ship not being there.

We then headed into the small city to a chocolate shop, the next stop on the self guided tour. We parked in the street and walked to the Govatas Chocolate shop only to see the CLOSED sign on the door. This was now getting funny - no ship and a closed chocolate shop. Not off to a great start for the landmarks tour. Never mind, we grabbed a coffee at Starbucks and walked up the street to our next stop – the Casear Rodney statue. And hooray, it was there !! 

An interesting name, Caesar Rodney was an American lawyer and politician in Dover, the capital of Delaware. He was an officer of the Delaware militia during the American Revolution and a Continental Congressman from Delaware and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was also a President of Delaware during the American Revolution.

My post-visit blog research found some good info….In downtown Wilmington, Delaware stands the statue of Delaware’s most cherished patriot, Caesar Rodney. At almost midnight on July 1, 1776, Caesar Rodney was informed that he was needed in Congress regarding Delaware's tied vote of independence. Rodney rode 80 miles horseback to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania without delay. On July 2, 1776, Rodney casted his crucial vote that paved the way for the passage of the Declaration of Independence. Caesar Rodney’s vote for independence ended up being considered high treason and caused him to be branded a traitor to the Crown. Rodney suffered from ill health including asthma and cancer of the jaw in which would have made his ride strenuous. “As history records, Caesar Rodney gave up the possibility of receiving medical treatment in London because he voted and pledged his life, fortune and sacred honor for American Independence”. Rodney’s heroic act was commemorated by a statute and also by his image appearing on the 1999 U.S. Delaware Quarter. Caesar Rodney’s statue stands on Rodney Square in downtown Wilmington, Delaware, honoring him as Delaware’s most cherished patriot.

Next on the GPS self guided tour was the cemetery. I drove in the gates and my nervous passengers were not sure we should be driving the car through the cemetery – where was their sense of adventure - everyone's dying to get in here!!  The sign at the gate said walkers and historians welcome. But I’ve driven through plenty of cemeteries so I pushed forward and my fearful passengers decided that we would be ‘historians’ if we were questioned. The one site that stood out was one with a greyhound type dog statue in front of it. As dog lovers, we took great interest in that. Nothing else jumped out at us (pard the pun) but I finally found the one site I wanted to see…it was right there at the front entrance where we drove in – the gravesite of John McKinley who was the first person to fill the office of President of the State following the signing of the Declaration of Independence.


Having not been arrested for driving through the cemetery, we headed towards the Village at Trolley Square. It is an area with lots of shops and eating places. It wasn’t quite as exciting as I’d hoped but, we found a nice pub to eat lunch. It was clearly tennis day as there were lots of ladies enjoying some drinks and food after their game - or before, who knows how they play in Delaware. When we parked the car, it was behind a mini cooper convertible. I was just about to take a photo of the Delaware number plate when the owner (Di) rocked up. - and I think she had come from tennis also. She was happy for me to grab a selfie with the her car's Delaware rego plate (photo at top of blog). She told us this was her retirement present from her husband and there was something about gin and tonics also but I forget now. She was telling us how great it was to drive with the roof off. So I joked with her that it was pity there were 4 of us as she could have taken us for a spin around the Wilmington sights. She didn’t pick up on my joke and quickly said she had a tennis game later that arvo and couldn't do it. Everyone in Wilmington must play tennis.

With fully bellies, we drove down to the coastal beaches which was the only thing people recommended we see in Delaware. We chose Lewes Beach, pronounced Lewiss - not Lose or Loo's -  which was a very nice cosy quaint seaside town. I kind had the feeling I was on the Amity Beach where Jaws lived. And so you know, Jaws was filmed around Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, a ways north of Delaware. My mission was to find the ice cream shop and Italian deli recommended by a friend. It wouldn’t be hard to find apparently as there were only two streets in Lewes Beach !!  It was late afternoon and busy with the summer holiday beach go’ers. Lots of nice little shops and of course, we found the ice cream shop….vanilla and strawberry for me and vanilla and choc chip for Deb. We explore the area and found Cannonball House which is famous for having a cannonball lodged in its wall from the 1813 war against the British.

We found a clever idea on a street corner. You grab a yellow high-vis flag to wave as you cross the road. You place the flag in the box on the pole on the other side of the road. And the little red box is for you to pay your parking fines. 

 

It had been a long day and we enjoyed the sunset as we drove over the Chesapeake Bay bridge. I love this bridge, it’s like the Sydney Harbour Bridge to me. We got home around 9pm to two very happy hungry dogs. So for me, Delaware was a great place to visit. Going with good friends made the trip even more enjoyable especially since they brought a container full of lollies, chocolate and lollipops. Not many left when we got home I have to say. I would definitely recommend any of the beaches to visit but Wilmington has plenty of interesting things to see and offers some more pieces to the history of the US.

And of course, this is a classic line…

If Mississippi gave Missouri her New Jersey, what would Delaware

On totally different tangent, lets travel to 1984. Last weekend we went into the city to check out the filming locations for the Wonder Woman 2 movie, titled WW 1984. Filming has been going on for a few weeks around DC including Georgetown. We meet our good friends A&PH who had scouted out the streets the day before. I was very excited with even the remote possibility of seeing WW herself. I wore my best superhero shirt. We saw old cars, taxis and police cars and shopfronts were modified to reflect 1984 with signs and even a telephone box. What a blast from the past. We stood on a street corner watching a red Transam doing laps of the block as they filmed the driver and passenger. So, I was convinced the passenger was Chris Pine with lots of makeup on but my friend AH was not convinced. He googled Chris Pine’s stunt double and I have to admit, he looked more like the guy in the car. Bugger it. Kirsten Wig stars in the movie too and I wondered if it was her double in the driver seat as she/he was a blonde with wild hair. Who knows, we will see in Nov 2019 when the movie is released.

 

During our WW2 filming excursion, we grabbed a burger at this very cool place called Lucky Buns. It had a mini Eiffel Tower on the roof so not sure what that's all about. Thanks to PH for her excellent research. I can never resist a burger with egg so it was the Bogan Bun for me and Deb had an Alphie Bun with beetroot and pineapple. And they were not those sweet brioche buns but rather, good seasame seed buns. Very good burgers (buns) and yes a lucky find not too far from work up there on 18th St for any locals. Oh and the chips were fantastic !!!

 

Summer heat and humidity is killing us and sweaty shirts and undies are a daily thing. So too are dog swims. Macey got a haircut and loves it so much. Lots more cuddles now and easy to dry after the daily swims.

 

And here's some recent pics from Deb's camera as she experiments and practices techniques.

 

 

 

 

Capitals Win The Cup

We recently enjoyed Deb's niece and family visiting and got up to some fun adventures while they were here. Most notable (for me) was the Washington Capitals ice hockey team won the Stanley Cup final for the first time. DC was absolutely right behind the Caps and even the buses had 'Go Caps' scrolling on their number boards up top. The hockey finals are played the best of seven games. The other team was Las Vegas Golden Knights so the games were played in both DC and Vegas. When in Vegas, the stadium here opened for free so fans could watch the game on the big screen inside. Well the caps were on a winning streak and the 5th game saw the caps up 3-1. So if they won this game, they win the Cup. It was being played in Vegas but DC went all out and again opened the stadium and also had big screens outside the stadium and at several city street locations.

So me and hubby D left the girls at home and went into the city to watch the game in the street amongst the hoards. OMG - it was 3 hours of people crush and absolute excitement. The game was a nail biter and the crowd got tighter in the last half hour. Everyone was your friend. Team spirit brings fans together better than anything. Well the Caps won as you probably know by now. There were people going crazy with cheering and hugging and chanting like I've never heard. We took the metro train home and it was a rockin' ride of fun. You couldn't hear anything but banter and cheering.

It was a fantastic night and I'm so glad I went. I would not have gone if not for hubby D being here so very grateful he went with me. We both bought our t-shirts and were proudly telling people that 'WE were THERE!!'.

Hubby D was also brave and came flying with me. It was probably the windiest landings ever, so windy that the instructor had to land the plane, not me. But we flew over the Chesapeake Bridge and Annapolis so it was a scenic flight and I enjoyed the view too.

Here's me checking on him in the back seat during the flight - ha ha !!

No sick bag needed.

An update to my flying....I've got about 35 hours now and while my friend AH has passed his solo flight, I am yet to get there. I've got a hiccup with my medical so, it will be another 2 months before I can attempt my solo as I need my medical pass to go solo. However, I will progress with training and do the solo blocks at the end, all going well. So it's navigation and cross country ahead for me.

Another great find in DC was Duck Donuts. An interesting name but the donuts are fresh hot, and covered with any topping you want. 

They have good traditional Aussie hot cinnamon donuts too which were fantastic. Me thinks I'll be visiting Duck Donuts a bit more before heading home.

Speaking of home, the dogs had their first blood test - rabies test. The next step is paperwork in a month or so.

We have more visitors soon so stay tuned for more updates.

Kids train ride with the family visitors

Another Georgetown cupcake...

That Caps Crowd !!

It's a dogs life

Play time

Mummy's Boy

Vancouver and Seattle

  It’s been a long time since I last updated my blog. I’ve been busy with visitors and work. So here we go, all the way back to Seattle which we did after Alaska. The cruise docked in Vancouver and we spend the day exploring. We took a trolley ride around and spent some time at the food markets – as you do.

Vancouver, Canada was pretty to drive around and the city was like most others. The one photo I did take was of the Gastown Steam Clock. Courtesy of wiki…..

Underneath Vancouver, there runs a series of steam pipes connected to a generating plant at Georgia and Beatty Streets. The system provides heat to most of the downtown core, and provides the steam for the whistles of the Gastown steam clock – it blows it’s steam whistle every 15 minutes. Despite seeming like a remnant of the Victorian era and being located in Vancouver’s “Gastown” (which was the original townsite from which Vancouver grew in the 1870s), the Steam Clock is actually from a hundred years later, built in 1977 by horologist Raymond Saunders and metalwork specialist Doug Smith. Saunders was hired by Gastown’s local merchants to build the clock as a monument. It also had an alternative purpose: Placed over a steam grate above one of the aforementioned pipes, it kept local homeless from sleeping on the warm spot. The clock is likely only the second steam clock ever constructed, the first having been built by Englishman John Inshaw in 1859, to draw customers to his tavern.

I’ve seen my sister’s photos of Vancouver and there are beautiful gardens and a suspension bridge that we could have seen but with only the half day, we just trolley’d around and took in the views.

Seattle. Seattle is in Washington State and is often confused with Washington DC. Thus why people often say DC and not Washington. We were both excited to see Seattle for several reasons. It was the home of Grey’s Anatomy (not that we are big fans but just that it’s home to that show), it’s also the home of Starbucks coffee, the Boeing factory and that big space needle tower. And of course, who could forget Sleepless in Seattle. It was a short flight from Vancouver to Seattle, less than an hour. In hindsight, we should have hired a car and drove there. Seattle is also home to a huge tech industry including Microsoft and Amazon. We met a friend for coffee who had recently moved from DC to Seattle to work with Amazon. She told us there were 20+ offices in Seattle for Amazon. Amazing.

We took a tour of the underground which we found really interesting and informative. It set the scene for our understanding of Seattle. To put this in a nutshell, there is a network of underground tunnels and basements in the old downtown area. The city used to be at this lower level back in the 1800’s. Like most earlier old cities, buildings were constructed of wood and fire was a common problem. Seattle suffered several bad fires. The city also flooded badly because it was built on tidal lands too close to the water edge and sewage backups were a problem when flooding occurred - I won't go into more detail on that.  So, after a destructive fire the city leaders decided to rebuild with stone or brick and the streets would be built 1-2 stories higher than the current street level. This helped with the new gravity flush toilet system and avoided the high tides flooding the streets. However, the old streets and city remained below but were used less over time. They remain today and have become a tourist attraction.

We could look above to see sections of street pavement made from thick skylight glass. It was a little eerie being below but I found it fascinating how this was all constructed. It was pretty rundown but quite safe to tour around. If you’re going to Seattle, it’s well worth taking the tour with Bill Speidel - check out the website.

Bill Speidel Underground Tour

We were up early the following day to do the Pikes Place food market tour. Again we thoroughly enjoyed this as it provided more history on Seattle. In hindsight, we get the feeling everything revolves around these markets. Most people think of the Space Needle Tower and markets when you mention Seattle. Our guide was excellent. We had unknowingly bought a coffee at the ‘original’ Starbucks on our way to start the tour. This was a great idea as later in the day the line was down the street. The coffee was still Starbucks but, it’s about saying you went to the original joint. We enjoyed samples around the markets from some food stalls and saw the famous fish mongers throwing the fish. They throw the fish because it’s quicker to get it weighed and priced rather than walk it around to behind the counter.

 

There was a donut vendor on the sample list. Very exciting as it was the traditional way we Aussies are used to donuts. But, to our horror, the free sample was bacon maple donuts !! Deb has become a non-pork eating person and my mouth does not water for such a clash of tastes. BUT, in good spirit, I gave it a go. Yep, my mouth still does not water for it. What the hell were people thinking when they created this combination.

We also found The Crumpet Shop. Yes, it was good old fashioned crumpets. Despite busting at the sides, we bought a hot crumpet with jam and it was good – real good. I also tried a cupcake at Cupcake Royal and no, it’s got nothing on Georgetown Cupcakes. And I found a place called Biscuit Bitch. What a classic name. It specialises in good southern comfort food. The website is worth reading as it explains the shop and namesake. We didn’t eat here but I had to check it out.

Biscuit Bitch

 

We did start a free walking tour but ditched it about half hour in because it was not giving us anything of interest despite walking and walking and walking. Given the other two tours were great, we decided to leave and explore on our own.

 

Rachel the Piggy Bank (on the left) is the mascot of Pike Place Market and is a huge fundraiser. She has been raising money for The Market Foundation since 1986, raising more than $200,000 and counting. The money supports social services of the market. As always, story goes that if you rub Rachel’s snout and make a donation, you’ll have good luck! Her cousin Billy the Piggy Bank (on the right) arrived to the market in 2011 and is around the back near the Hillclimb.

And a trip to Seattle must include a ride up the Space Needle. It gives a great view of Seattle of course. The restaurant at the top was being renovated so our views were a little interrupted but we got the general picture. The Space Needle was built in 1962 for the World Fair and is 184m high. Some interesting facts off wiki tell me that the 6.8 Mw Nisqually earthquake jolted the Needle enough in 2001 for water to slosh out of the toilets in the restrooms. The Space Needle will not sustain serious structural damage during earthquakes of magnitudes below 9.1. Also made to withstand Category 5 hurricane-force winds, the Space Needle sways only 1 inch per 10 mph (16 mm per 10 km/h) of wind speed.

And just to shatter any Grey’s Anatomy fans, the show is actually filmed mostly in Los Angeles. The hospital is based on a Seattle medical center, but it’s not used in the show.

Overall, I liked Seattle but Deb is on the fence. It seemed the markets were the talking attraction and while the Boeing factory is a favourite to visitors, I didn’t get to go there as time was short and tours didn’t align with our plans. I was disappointed but, I’ll just have to go back I guess.

We flew home to DC which took all day as the flight is 5 hours and we jump ahead 3 hours. The plane was also diverted to Baltimore (45mins away) due to a bad storm in DC. So we landed, refueled and took off after an hour. So we finally got home about 3 hours later than scheduled. I managed to chat with the pilots while on the ground in Baltimore and the first officer was a lovely lady, ex C-17 USAF pilot. Me being a nerdy student pilot enjoyed the exchange of career information and was both inspired and in awe of her achievements.

So that’s another 2 states ticked off our quest to get 50 states. There are some more random extra pics below from our Seattle adventures.