Winter Break Trip - Day 1

We got on the road at 0730 and drove east via I-495 and US-50 (crossed the Bay Bridge at 0810).  Since Mollie had forgotten to get a NPS Passport stamp for the Maryland Unit of Assateague Island National Seashore, we drove there first (via US-50 to Berlin, MD and then took side roads to MD-611).  At the National Seashore, we stopped at the Visitor Center and Mollie ran inside to get the stamp.  We then drove over to the park itself and asked the Ranger at the gate where the wild ponies might be.  He directed us to the campground and we actually did find them there.  Once Mollie had gotten her fill of photos and near-horse encounters, we drove back to MD-611 and then east on US-50 towards Ocean City.  We stopped at Chick-fil-A (1050) and ate a nice lunch inside.  My office started bothering me with requests (lots of texts) but I did my best to ignore them and stayed in the moment with Mollie.  Back in the car, we continued on US-50 until we were in Ocean City itself.  Mollie told me she really didn't enjoy the downtown beach feel and there were many, many traffic signals.  We did find it interesting to see all the instances of the various local restaurants (some familiar and some not).  We eventually found ourselves in Delaware (on DE-1) but never saw the entrance sign.  We continued north, through traffic and small beach towns, along the Delaware Coast until we reached Dover (Mollie fell asleep during this time).  I'd been planning to drive all the way to New Castle but then I saw a sign for First State National Historical Park and decided to try to get the NPS Passport stamp there.  When we drove into the little downtown area, we were pleasantly surprised by the lack of cars and people.  We first stopped at the Visitor Center for the historic downtown (located in the State Archives).  The people there were very nice and gave us walking directions to see some of the city's history.  The weather was very good (low 60s) and we enjoyed walking around the nice downtown area. We discovered that the small city was very walking-friendly.  Mollie told me this was now her favorite city of all the ones we have visited.  A big highlight of our visit was a personalized tour (we were the only guests) of the Old Delaware State House.  We learned about how 30 representatives (10 from each county) met to quickly ratify the Constitution (unanimously) and deliver it to Congress, making Delaware the first state.  We also heard stories about Caesar Rodney and John Dickinson, along with the Delaware land system of “Hundreds” (still used today).  Some tourists from the UK arrived just as the tour was ending, so we left the building and walked around the town green (there were more historic old buildings nearby). Mollie took lots more photos and we lingered in the pleasant weather and atmosphere until around 1345.  We then drove north on US-13 (and along some back roads that paralleled the Delaware River) until we reached the even more historic (and older) town of New Castle.  This was another unit of the First State National Historical Park but was much more connected with early Colonial history.  The town, which was the 1682 landing spot of William Penn when he came to the area to exercise the charter for Pennsylvania, was the original capital of the future state.  When Delaware separated in 1776, the location was expected to be easily captured from the river by the British.  To protect their fledgling government, the founding fathers moved the capital to Dover; we learned even more history when we visited an old arsenal building; the area was first settled by the Dutch in 1651 and later captured by Sweden and England.  Once we started walking, we found there were cobblestones and many old buildings in the colonial style.  We followed a little map to see the different points of interest and got some pretty views of the coast (including the Delaware River Bridge).  Since it was still nice outside and not too dark yet, we walked along a pleasant bike trail that followed the river south of town. Mollie was bored for a lot of the walk and we ended up taking a different route (along a busy street in town) to get back to the area near our car.  Mollie had smelled delicious food in that area, so we followed our nose until we reached Jessop's Tavern.  We were lucky because they had enough room for our small party without a reservation (there was a big line for larger groups).  We ate dinner (lobster mac, burger) and a locally made beer (for me) at Jessop's Tavern, a 300 year old building (built in 1674, the tavern opened in 1724) in the old section of town.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely and even got dessert (ice cream in fancy cones and waffle bowls).  After finishing our delicious meal (1730), Mollie and I got back on the road.  I needed Mollie to help me to navigate (on I-95 and a maze of city streets).  After arriving at the Wyndham Philadelphia Historic District (1815), I checked in and sent Mollie to the room so I could park (1830).  There weren’t any spots left except for the reserved ones but the folks in the lobby told me I could park there (Guest Services actually told me they were overbooked because of a convention and I saw many Cosplay folks who were in the area).  I finally got upstairs to the room and got settled with Mollie.  She asked if she could explore the hotel and I agreed.  Mollie actually wasn’t gone long, though, because she found the same crowds of convention attendees (young people in Cosplay mode).  We spent time watching TV (Hobbit movies) and reading.  Mollie relaxed in her comfy bed.  She informed me later that her cold had gone away (but I was skeptical).  We went to bed at around 2230.