View of the City from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge
The Philadelphia Free Library
Authorized copy of The Thinker (Le Penseur) by Auguste Rodin
The Promenade and Gazebo at Fairmont Water Works
The Fairmont Water Works, a National Historic Landmark, at the foot of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
See the previous post for more about our 36 hours in Philadelphia
Years ago, in June of 2012 in fact, I started to blog in an effort to document my travels through life. But life, as you know, gets in the way of our best intentions and I shared just one post in 2023, and two in 2024. Now though, I am back and making a go of it. Years from now, when I can no longer journey, I want to be able to read about the places that I visited.
When elderly parent challenges had us canceling our long planned trip to Great Britain, we opted to take two long weekend trips instead. For one of those two weekends, we took the train from Roanoke VA to Philadelphia PA, and knowing that we only had 36 hours to explore, we got right to it!
Philadephia is flanked by two rivers: the Schuykill and the Delaware, and we calculated that we walked over 30 miles going from one to the other and everywhere in between. I particularly loved seeing the contrast of historic buildings set against new ones.
We started the day at Reading Terminal Market where we devoured our cajun breakfast.
We then walked the Benjamin Franklin Parkway past the JFK Love Park, the Barnes and Rodin Art Galleries, The Philadephia Free Library, through the Oval, and to the Philadephia Museum of Art.
We walked back down the other side of the Parkway, by the Dilworth Park Interactive Fountain, and strolled through the City Hall courtyard.
After a Philadelphia Cheese Steak lunch (what else?) we walked to the Old City. Visits to the National Constitution Center (oh how I wish more Americans would remember the Constitution) and Old City Hall reminded us of our country’s history.
As the day began to wind down, we walked to Penn’s Landing on the Delaware River.
After a stroll along the river, we took the pedestrian walkway on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge over the Delaware and halfway to New Jersey. The views of the city were remarkable, and the bridge itself was beautiful.
After an amazing day, we finally took an Uber back to the hotel.
We already know we will return … there are so many wonderful museums dedicated to art, history, and science, and we look forward to checking them out.
… and I could not be happier!
The first image with my Fuji XT3 and the second with my Samsung Galaxy s21
“The Skyline Drive runs 105 miles north and south along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park and is the only public road through the Park. It takes about three hours to travel the entire length of the Park on a clear day”
It was a perfect day to drive through Shenandoah National Park, located just 2 hours from our home.
We took the short, 2 mile hike to the highest point on the Drive (4050′) and enjoyed the views from Hawksbill Mountain.
And then it was time to head home after a day of fresh air, exercise, and gratitude for those before us who had the foresight to preserve these natural spaces.
The New River Trail is a 57 mile linear State Park in Virginia. Created from an abandoned railroad right of way, this bridge is one of 30 along the trail. I recently crossed this bridge on my fairly new gravel bicycle (not the one pictured in my header image) while training for an upcoming ride in October.
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After several false starts, I am determined to get back into blogging (I’ve certainly said that before!). After posting regularly for almost a decade, life, work, and caring for parents seemed to keep me from following through on my goal. Fingers crossed, this time I will succeed!
Life on the Bike started as a travel journal and a place to share photos from the road with friends and family. Sadly, there was a two year time span when I wasn’t able to ride either the motorcycle or the bicycle.
I had also not picked up my DSLR for a year! But two weeks ago, I took a photography class in DC and have been practicing / refreshing daily. When I started this blog back in 2012, I had little more than an eye and a “point and shoot”. I look back at those photos now, and see good intentions but not much more. Hopefully, I’ve improved since then!
I am going to commit to posting once weekly, most likely the same day that I post on Monochromia. If you are a fan of B&W Photography be sure to visit and see the work of some amazing photographers.
I look forward to catching up with the blogging community and friends who have been much more diligent than I in maintaining their blogs.
To see this image (and other excellent images by many other photographers), visit Monochromia.
To see this image in B&W, and for an explanation, visit Monochromia.
Before heading back to the mountains of Southwest Virginia, I took a short walk on the Virginia Capital Trail. The Cap Trail is a 51.7 multi-use, fully-paved trail that runs from the City of Richmond, Virginia to James City County, near Williamsburg, Virginia.
The goal is to add a 7 mile connector to the restored area of Colonial Williamsburg, as well as the College of William and Mary.
Part of the trail runs through a suburban wetland. Please follow the link for more information about the importance of preserving these spaces.
One of the most photographed sites along the Blue Ridge Parkway is Mabry Mill, a 1910 watermill run by the National Park Service and located at milepost 176.2. In addition to the Mill, there is a short trail around the mill which connects historical exhibits about life in rural Virginia. This day though … the tree stole the show!
A new comment brought me back to this 7 year old post. A lovely memory.
A quick trip to Charlotte, NC offered me a chance to have a mini 12 hour vacation. The day was beautiful for driving (I very much regretted not riding the bike) and I met friends in Uptown.
How wonderful it was to walk and wander, to point and shoot, to breathe and relax.
As an aside: I wondered why the residents of Charlotte call it Uptown and learned that this is a common question, one that Brad Panovich, Chief Meteorologist a WCNC-NBC TV answered in this blog post.
While I have many photos to work through and share, I loved the contrast between these two. Without a tripod, I took one with, and one without, flash. The mood changed dramatically in comparison, and the second begged to be converted to monochrome.
The first evokes a lovely evening stroll …
while the second encourages you to turn around and head…
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Life on the Bike and other Fab Things 