Not such a harsh winter at Valley Forge

Today we spent some time at Valley Forge. The historic site is only about 30 min. from Craig and Christina's home and I was happy to go. The visitor center was pretty cool and the 18 minute film strip-esque movie provided me with some interesting information and a great nap. When the movie was over it was time to tour the park. There was, like when Haley and I visited Gettysburg years ago, an auto tour. The auto tour was billed as about 20 minutes and three hours later we were finished exploring Valley Forge.

Before we could begin the tour, we had another adventure to experience first, finding sodas for those individuals who need Mt. Dew and Diet Coke iv's. The thing I learned about Pennsylvania is that nothing is easy to get to. In order to get the necessary soad's, we had to take a very windy road to get to a street where we were in the wrong lane, do some creative manuevers and have oh so much fun in the van that no one would admit was a van, that was so lovingly named the aardvark. Once we got the drinks and everyone started chowing down on the cookies we brought with us, things were looking up.

Valley Forge was very cool. It was fun to see the old cabins that the troops built during the winter of 1777-78. There were great monuments and statues at the site as well as a very beautiful church that was apparently used by Washington and the troops to pray and worship during the winter.

When the tour was over, we had all been fed and watered, we headed back towards Philly with a quick stop at the local IKEA...who can pass up an IKEA when one is close.

For dinner this evening, Ross and I fixed quite the feast. Beef Bourgoine, green beans with carmelized onions, sourdough bread and red potatoes with parsley. Dinner was fabulous and we all ate everything in site. Since it is Christmas Eve today, I wish everyone a happy Christmas and a safe evening.