A Vally Forge Detour
Sunday morning Lin left early for the beach with boyfriend, so I also headed out fairly early. My drive took me right past the exit for Valley Forge which is right off the exit itself. My visit there was mainly to travel down Memory Lane. As a high school sophomore, I attended a conference at the nearby Freedom's Foundation. While there, we received a quick tour of Valley Forge. Either that summer or the next, my family came to visit VF. I asked if we could detour to FF, but we didn't take the time. Now I wanted to see the place again since it had been the first time I had traveled without anyone I knew beforehand. (Sure, my parents had seen me off on the charter bus that filled with high school kids as we made a few stops in OH, but I had been the only student from my high school going.
I pulled over at the Washington Memorial Chapel first; after walking around this neat church, I realized that there was no way I was going to remember how to get to Freedom's Foundation from almost ten years ago when I wasn't even driving. Therefore, I stopped at the Welcome Center in VF and received directions to FF from a friendly park ranger. I then drove around the encampment with a few stops (Muhlenberg Brigade, National Memorial Arch) before heading down the road to FF. It was smaller than I had remembered and obviously emptier since there were no sessions going on. However, it was still a good feeling to be back.
