Thursday, September 17, 2009

It is rainy and annoying in Philadelphia

I just got to my hotel after driving through Philadelphia during rush hour and searching forever to find the parking garage which, of course, was only two seconds from my hotel the entire time. FML. But we're moving on! No need to put a damper on my day! (Although I made a preemptive deal with my boyfriend that I will not be driving anywhere this weekend when he joins me in Philly lest he see me simultaneously burst into tears and punch pedestrians and cab drivers in the gonads.)

Except for the past hour or so, today was wonderful! One of my visits had six people! And I had my first fashion merchandising person, who has been on our mailing list for a while but has not visited because we're a tiny liberal arts college and know nothing about fashion. But it was nice of her to drop by. My final visit of the day was with two girls who had just begun to think about college a month into their senior year (seriously?) and were looking at huge schools in the middle of the city and had never heard of my school. I told them a bit about our small liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere, but we switched to talking about college in general after a while so I could help them get out of class. I'm so professional. AND! During that meeting, a man came in and introduced himself as a '62 alum! We wound up talking for a while about how much campus has changed (
he kept mentioning buildings that went up right after he graduated, and I kept saying, "Oh, yes, they just tore that down and have built this new facility..."), and after I talked to the girls he came back and we discussed the local bar that is, almost literally, older than dirt. (Apparently Team Tuesday is a more recent tradition.) And he student taught in the town where my dad grew up, long before they created one centralized high school in the area. And we talked about the wonders of beat biscuits. So he was the highlight of my day.

I finished around 12:30 today, so I decided to meander for a while before my hellish quest for the hotel. I passed a sign for the Brandywine battlefield, and decided that I could always stand to learn about a really big field. Remember that episode of Gilmore Girls with the Stars Hallow museum? I basically visited it today, only the names were changed. I entered the visitors center and talked to a kid who could not have been older than seventeen and asked him (much like a seventeen-year-old would) what exactly I could do there because I "just dropped by and thought it would be fun." Apparently they don't get many visitors like that. He told me that all the buildings were closed until federal funding went to the state or something random, but for $2.50 I could watch a 20 minute movie and explore the one-room exhibit in the visitors center. $2.50 well spent. My favorite part of the movie was when a group of soldiers held a struggling, wounded man to the table and told him, "It's for the cause!" as the doctor brandished a knife to amputate his leg. You have no idea what a struggle it was not to giggle uncontrollably.

So what exactly happened at the Battle of Brandywine? I'm glad you asked! On September 11, 1777 Washington and his troops battled the British in between two Quakers' houses. They lost, but apparently they lost very well. So now you can see the site of the battle and, conveniently, take advantage of the picnic tables they set up to commemorate where people were bleeding 232 years ago. Don't worry, the picnic area is free to use.

1 comment:

  1. Dont you realize that you just experienced someone's dream vacation? I am always amazed by the Battlefield Visitor. Their homelife must be CRAZY!

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