Salisbury University

It is a awkward time when your children reach that age where they would like to be independent, and you prefer that they not be. Driving is one of those activity that seems tot drive that home. As it was, my daughter wanted to drive to the beach this summer, no parents allowed. While I was confident in her driving ability, I have not actually had her drive the time and distance it would take to go from my house and over to Ocean city, Maryland. So we decided to take this day to give it a try, and to do a short University visit along the way, to Salisbury University.

The University looked pretty small. But it looked interesting enough for my daughter to now consider the possibility of transferring there next year. The weather and the proximity, about an hours drive to Ocean city, may have helped.

After the visit to Salisbury, we continued on with our main purpose for the day. Ocean city was cold and empty this time of year. We did not linger around. We had lunch at the local Burger King, and after 25 minutes, headed back for home. A side benefit of that 7 hour drive was a little Father / Daughter bonding. Always priceless.

Paoli Pennsylvania. Apr 2014

Paoli is a census designated place (CDP) in Chester county, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The civil war era Paoli massacre occurred near Paoli, in an area now a part of Malvern, Pennsylvania. It is also where the home office of the search engine duckduckgo is located.

Visiting Paoli on this day can hardly be considered a vacation. It took more than 3 hours to get there by car, and we could not stay the night. But, as my nephew said, there really isn't much to do in Paoli. A good thing it is just a short train ride from Paoli to Philadelphia. What I did notice was a lot of University traffic as this train route passes a number of Universities like Villanova, and Drexel .

Cramming a sight seeing tour into less than a day can be a challenge. It is good that there are plenty to be seen in one strip or road near the central train station. Be warned though, if you plan to view the liberty bell, then be prepared for a long wait. There was no entrance fee that day (National Parks Day) but the line was longer than I cared to wait in line for.

We would have loved to see the statue of Rocky Balboa but it is too far to walk. And it was a challenge finding a place everybody could agree to have lunch in.

After about 9 hours, it was time to back to Maryland. I do believe that the next time we visit Paoli, we will stay longer to better appreciate the surrounding area.