Tree Top Hotel, Wassaic NY to Philadelphia

My friend Helen has a beautiful B&B which is officially in Wassaic, though right next to Kent CT.  The drive was along country roads through beautiful farms and little towns.  

Helen built this house some while ago and only now is getting it set up for a B&B or retreat space, which was her original dream.  

Cloudy day photographs, but you can tell how lovely it is.

The master suite . . .

. . . with a giant hot tub overlooking the flower beds.

Helen insisted I stay inside the house, in another bedroom.  Glad to be staying with her for several rainy days.

Planning my next days heading south, I was intent on finding a location to leave my camper for the day and drive into Philadelphia to see the historic sites.  The first thing I needed to do was to find a place to dump my camper's grey and black water tanks.  The Tri-State RV Park was the closest one -- located where New York, New Jersey and Delaware meet, along the Delaware River:  

When I originally looked at the map considering my route south, I was charmed to see the Delaware Water Gap and thought I'd like to drive through there.  However, intent on finding the right spot to access Philly, I forgot about it.  Then, low and behold, as soon as I left Tri-State RV and Google Mapped my destination campground, I saw that I was headed right through the Delaware Water Gap.  What a lovely drive along the Delaware River in the rain!

I did follow a side road and walk up to Dingmans Falls.  Couldn't take a picture - cellphone chose to run out of battery.  It was raining, the falls were full of water, and the sound was thrilling.  Here's a picture from the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area website:

I have to say I've been feeling a little uncertain about where I'm going.  Not feeling very led or called at the moment, although I'm spending time meditating to make room to hear or see what comes next.  Chancing upon the Delaware Water Gap, which I had wanted to visit but forgot about, felt quite reassuring that I am following along in a good way.  

And on to French Creek State Park, where I stayed two nights.  Howell's Lake in the park (finally a sunny day):

Leaving my camper at the park, I drove to Philadelphia to Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written.  

Touring through the rooms where these amazing documents were argued and compromised about, I was in a group with 60 kids of color and their teachers from a school in the Bronx, and a family who appeared to be Pakistani  The Dad of this family was so enthusiastic!  He really wanted his two little kids to understand how important this place is.  

That's the actual chair behind him where George Washington sat to chair the constitutional convention.

The park ranger did a good job of explaining that the Declaration and the Constitution were radical experiments, which hopefully are still working, and still evolving.  He explained that the delegates compromised on many issues, but the issue of slavery was impossible.  They left it unresolved, for future generations to deal with.

Also saw the Liberty Bell:

"Proclaim Liberty throughout the land..."

And went to the National Constitution Museum, where they have a large display about how the meaning of "We, The People" has slowly been expanded with much effort to mean more and more groups of people -- and we're still working on that.  There's a room in this museum where they have life-sized bronze figures of each of the signers of the Constitution, posed as they might have been during the actual signing.

They are all quite short - my size -- except George Washington.  I remember from history class that he was viewed as almost a giant because of his size.  You can see that in these historically accurate figures.