East Coast Adventures-Delaware!

Last weekend we headed out on an adventure. Our first thought was to try the Poconos in Pennsylvania, which we have heard are beautiful (especially this time of year), and a fun place to take a hike with the dog (did you really think this trip would exclude the dog?!). Unfortunately, almost every hotel was booked up, so our spontaneous trip almost took a plunge. Luckily Meara can think on her feet, and she set out on a new travel plan (she's pretty good at this stuff, so I just let her take it and run). 

We have a little travel book that suggested Wilmington, Delaware (Delaware being the first state, so full of history), and when we found a Westin Hotel that was dog friendly, we were sold! It was only about a two hour drive (even with some Friday traffic) which is definitely one of those awesome things about the East Coast. It was a beautiful drive down, experiencing the fall colors, and passing through Philadelphia on our way. The weekend promised "Sunny and 70 degree" weather, so we had to take advantage of it! 

The Westin we stayed at was right along the Delaware river, with a great "River Walk" trail. Wilmington seemed like a great little town (although being the largest city in Delaware). Meara, being the investigative person she is, quickly found that Wilmington maybe wasn't as "charming" as we thought. She reported that in 2012 it was named the nation's most dangerous city on a per-capita basis. In 2014, it was rated the most dangerous small city in the country. Well okay then, I think we will just stay in and get room service! (It didn't really slow us down, we just kept Moxie close by, no one is going to mess with a dog like her)

The first day we explored the town a bit, and found a nice big park to explore. 

They built this water tower/observation deck back in the early 1900's. It still serves as the town water tower, holding about 500,000 gallons of water. 

There were some huge, gorgeous houses all along the park.  Some of these were incredible, and you could tell they had been there for a LONG time! 

After the park, we went back and walked along the "River Walk."  There was this cool ship that was a replica of the ship that the first Deutsch settlers of this area came over on.  

After a wonderful afternoon, we decided it was time for dinner (rather I decided it was time for dinner!). So once again Meara worked her magic and found a great little place that had quite the intriguing menu.  What really made me want to go was the Kangaroo they had on the menu! So thus our dinner in Delaware:

We started off with a sampler plate of Buffalo, Elk, and Pheasant sausage. The Buffalo was excellent, as was the Elk. The Pheasant was good as well, but you mainly tasted the herbs and spices that they put in to making the sausage. Our favorite was the Buffalo!

Meara followed it up with a nice cheese plate. Maybe a little boring considering what else was on the menu, but man did she love it!

The main course for me was a Rabbit Burger.  I know, sounds a little strange, and maybe you are picturing the little guy hopping around, but it tasted pretty good! It was definitely the gamiest taste of all the meats of the night, and not sure that I would order it again, but it was fun to try! (You may notice at this point that no Kangaroo made it to the table. This was disappointing, so a trip back is needed to get the Kangaroo!)

Day 2:

There were a couple of huge mansions that we wanted to visit, but unfortunately all the tickets for the day were sold out. So we headed out to the Brandywine Battlefield, which was the site of a one day battle during the Revolutionary War. 

The Brandywine Battle was the largest one day battle during the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, Washington suffered a significant loss on this day, and the British continued from here to take Philadelphia.  It was a little crazy to see that Washington lost about 700 troops this day, and when you compare that to later wars in our history, this would not have been considered a huge loss. 

Meara (and the dog) are standing in front of Washington's headquarters.  This was a family's farm, so he slept outside in a tent, and set up his workroom in their dining room. 

The front of the house. 

Up the hill, there was another family farm set up. The Gilpin family settled on this land, and lived in a cave just up from the barn in the background.  The parents lived in the cave with their son, and their son eventually started to build the barn and the house, and finally finished them after the parents had passed away. So the parents lived out the entirety of their new life in America in a cave!

The homestead in the background. 

A very picturesque setting. Hard to believe a major battle took place here!

This tree on the property has been there since the signing of our Constitution! 

By the end of the day, the weather was changing, and the clouds were rolling in. Our cue to head home!