A Strange Vacation 2
On Tuesday, we drove to Philadelphia. This is because George McClary had ties in Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia has a huge library of genealogical records from all over the state.
Ohhhh, the nightmare of driving in Philadelphia! Because the city is so old, the streets are narrow and you pay internal organs for what little parking there is. Even the GPS worked poorly.
With a great deal of effort, we found our first AirBnB apartment and parked illegally to unload. The second-floor place was part of a heavily-renovated building. The entry hallway used to be the alley between two buildings that were combined into a single building. The apartment was completely new, from new wooden floors to new ceiling. It was spacious and bright. This is why we don't do hotels anymore!
I found a parking garage that would "only" charge $25 per day, stashed the car in it, and rode my bike back to the apartment, using my GPS as a guide. It was difficult--the GPS kept futzing out or telling me I was a block away from my actual location. This problem carried major repercussions later.
For the next couple days, we alternated research and touring. Darwin and I love cemeteries (the mystery of the people buried there is irresistible), and we spent hours poking around Philadelphia's many graveyards, including the famous one at Christchurch, where Benjamin Franklin is buried. Darwin's great-something uncle baptized Benjamin Franklin, so he always like seeing Franklin-related stuff.
He was in the right place for it. Philadelphia never lets you forget Benjamin Franklin was the city's most prominent citizen. Every place that he was in any way involved in has a marker or a statue or a plaque dedicated to his work. We read them all and visited the site of his house and enjoyed all of it.
We visited Washington Square, which is the unmarked grave site of thousands of slaves, poor folk, and Revolutionary War soldiers who died either in British captivity or of yellow fever. THOUSANDS. The place is now a park with an Unknown Soldier tomb and eternal flame in the center. I like that the graveyard has become a park. The individuals buried there may not be known by name, but we know what they did, and lots of people visit the place every day.
Darwin also hit the historical library. I helped as best I could, but this time was of limited worth. Darwin searched the database and leafed through dozens and dozens of dusty books. He found nothing useful about George or Margaret McClary. The search continues.
Yesterday evening, we realized a problem--we had no idea where the car was. The garage spat a card as us when we pulled in, but we left it in the car. And since the GPS sent me here and there and everywhere on my way from the garage to the apartment, I had no idea how to get back to it.
We spent a difficult couple of hours. We looked up parking garages on-line, but none of them looked familiar. We even rode our bikes out to check out a few, but none of them were right. This was getting more and more worrisome. Should we call the police for help? But what could they do? I checked the app that I can use to control the car with (turn it on, lock it, etc.) to see if it had a location function, but I couldn't find one. After more frantic searching, I checked the app again and found a phone number for Ford. Desperate, I called it. The customer service person said there was indeed a GPS locator for the car, and she walked me through finding it. (It was hidden deep in the recesses of the app and hard to find.) Success! I had it on my map and we found it. Man.
This morning, we checked out of the first apartment. The place wasn't available through the weekend, so we had to get a second place for Friday through Sunday. I fetched the car without incident (except for the $75 parking fee), parked illegally near the apartment, and we loaded up. More hellish driving through Philadelphia took us to another parking place near the historical library, where I'm writing these words. Darwin is doing more research, and later we'll check in to our new digs.
Tomorrow, we're hooking up with my friend Stephanie, who I haven't seen in nearly 20 years. Looking forward to that!
comments
Ohhhh, the nightmare of driving in Philadelphia! Because the city is so old, the streets are narrow and you pay internal organs for what little parking there is. Even the GPS worked poorly.
With a great deal of effort, we found our first AirBnB apartment and parked illegally to unload. The second-floor place was part of a heavily-renovated building. The entry hallway used to be the alley between two buildings that were combined into a single building. The apartment was completely new, from new wooden floors to new ceiling. It was spacious and bright. This is why we don't do hotels anymore!
I found a parking garage that would "only" charge $25 per day, stashed the car in it, and rode my bike back to the apartment, using my GPS as a guide. It was difficult--the GPS kept futzing out or telling me I was a block away from my actual location. This problem carried major repercussions later.
For the next couple days, we alternated research and touring. Darwin and I love cemeteries (the mystery of the people buried there is irresistible), and we spent hours poking around Philadelphia's many graveyards, including the famous one at Christchurch, where Benjamin Franklin is buried. Darwin's great-something uncle baptized Benjamin Franklin, so he always like seeing Franklin-related stuff.
He was in the right place for it. Philadelphia never lets you forget Benjamin Franklin was the city's most prominent citizen. Every place that he was in any way involved in has a marker or a statue or a plaque dedicated to his work. We read them all and visited the site of his house and enjoyed all of it.
We visited Washington Square, which is the unmarked grave site of thousands of slaves, poor folk, and Revolutionary War soldiers who died either in British captivity or of yellow fever. THOUSANDS. The place is now a park with an Unknown Soldier tomb and eternal flame in the center. I like that the graveyard has become a park. The individuals buried there may not be known by name, but we know what they did, and lots of people visit the place every day.
Darwin also hit the historical library. I helped as best I could, but this time was of limited worth. Darwin searched the database and leafed through dozens and dozens of dusty books. He found nothing useful about George or Margaret McClary. The search continues.
Yesterday evening, we realized a problem--we had no idea where the car was. The garage spat a card as us when we pulled in, but we left it in the car. And since the GPS sent me here and there and everywhere on my way from the garage to the apartment, I had no idea how to get back to it.
We spent a difficult couple of hours. We looked up parking garages on-line, but none of them looked familiar. We even rode our bikes out to check out a few, but none of them were right. This was getting more and more worrisome. Should we call the police for help? But what could they do? I checked the app that I can use to control the car with (turn it on, lock it, etc.) to see if it had a location function, but I couldn't find one. After more frantic searching, I checked the app again and found a phone number for Ford. Desperate, I called it. The customer service person said there was indeed a GPS locator for the car, and she walked me through finding it. (It was hidden deep in the recesses of the app and hard to find.) Success! I had it on my map and we found it. Man.
This morning, we checked out of the first apartment. The place wasn't available through the weekend, so we had to get a second place for Friday through Sunday. I fetched the car without incident (except for the $75 parking fee), parked illegally near the apartment, and we loaded up. More hellish driving through Philadelphia took us to another parking place near the historical library, where I'm writing these words. Darwin is doing more research, and later we'll check in to our new digs.
Tomorrow, we're hooking up with my friend Stephanie, who I haven't seen in nearly 20 years. Looking forward to that!
comments
No comments have been added yet.
