The Wainy Statue

After leaving my family behind in Lancaster (they were heading to a family friend's home before going all the way home), we headed to a place near Valley Forge. Before leaving Lancaster, we got pretzels for the road from Immergut and bought a "courting candle" at one of the quaint little shops. It is so cute......A traditional time piece, the Courtin' Candle was used by a young girls's father when her suitor came " a courtin' ". If he liked a particular suitor, the father might set the candle on one of the higher rings, giving the couple a long visit in hopes that this lad might become his son-in-law. If the young man wasn't a favorite, the candle would be set on a lower ring allowing just a short visit. When the candle burned down to the metal, courtin' time was over. Isn't that sweet?

 We set out and arrived early for a change. I don't remember much about the drive although we got there before most everyone else, the girls slept and I didn't (I drove) and we were headed north. Upon checking in (we had a room to ourselves this night), we met up with others and went to the mall for some supper.

Headed to the Chick Fil'A in a food court way on the other side of the mall, we joined up with the group again to enjoy eating and visiting. We even drug along Phineas to try it. She liked it. :) After returning to the hotel, many of them, including Farmer Girl, returned to the mall to the "Fitness Center" for swimming. The Scribbler and friends played cards and watched TV in the lobby. It was so nice for a change. I enjoyed the relaxation and going to bed early. 

In the morning, we awoke to snow. Fitting and appropriate, considering we were visiting Valley Forge to learn about Washington's WINTER there with the troops. We enjoyed a movie at the beginning for background and then did the loop driving tour in record time. We had to meet up and leave at 11 AM for our drive to the train station into Philadelphia.  



We saw MANY cabins along our drive within the park.

This Memorial Arch is at the entrance to the park. The snow diminished as the morning wore on.

A very nice visitor center. I succumbed to buying my only coffee mug here. I had been resisting since my cupboard is full, but this one was so nice and had the perfect rim on it......



The Scribbler was my navigator and Farmer Girl was our narrator. She told us this was the Wainy (her pronunciation) Statue. Sadly or amusingly, it was the WAYNE Statue. :) She is VERY phonetic. I thought it was very cute and made me laugh. We enjoyed our family time in the car.



I beleive this was Washington's headquarters. We did not have time to go inside given our short time before departure.



I just liked this on the Wainy Statue.



One half of an entrance arch that we took the time to walk up to and read.

We returned to the Visitor Center at the appointed time of 11 AM with moments to spare. No one else was there as they had gone inside the headquarters......we decided to head to the train station, not wanting to repeat the mistakes of the past few days of being late or getting lost. I wanted to have some "margin" in my day as it is so much less stressful with it: :) Next stop: Philadelphia!