I had lots to do to get ready to hand over Flo to Joyce, but I still had things to see. I mean, I had to get everything out of Flo and packed up and stuffed into Bart. It was a lot of work!
But, Joyce’s house wasn’t too far from Washington Crossing Historic Park. One day, I decided to take a break from the work and play tourist.
Interestingly enough, the park is located in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania.
Of course, everyone is familiar with this painting, completed by Emanuel Leutze in 1851.
Of course, we’re also all familiar with the parodies.
I have admit that I am more familiar with some of them than others.
I got to the park, but missed the parking lot, so I kept going across the Delaware.
What a beautiful day! Wow! Look at all those signs! I wonder what they say?
I took this picture after got back from the other side. In fact, the bridge was so narrow that I folded the driver’s side view mirror in to reduce the possibility of hitting someone.
Once I was on the other side, I figured that I might as well check out the New Jersey Washington Crossing State Park. There was a small museum that I went through. I have no photos, so you’ll have to take my word that I did it. While I was there, I met some people. They were rangers at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. One of them is still a Facebook friend. I have met so many people in my travels and I cherish all of them.
I headed back across the bridge with my mirror folded in. This time I managed to find the parking area.
One my way in to the visitor center, I passed this monument to Washington.
There was a bronze plaque based on the famous painting.
On the other side was a plaque with information about when it was erected, 142 years after the event. That seems kind of an odd number of years. I wonder if they got it done and just couldn’t wait for the 150th anniversary? Or was it to gin up patriotism during World War I?
I was kind of tired, but I toured the museum and snapped a few photos.
They had a cannon that was made in France for Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1745. They stamped US during the revolution to mark the gun as American property. Frederick had quite the fancy crest on his cannon.
There was also this cannon, which was a gift from Lafayette to the Continental Army. It was used during the battle of Yorktown in 1781. After the was, it was fired again to salute him when he visited Harrisburg in 1824. If you would like to revisit my post about my time in Yorktown, click here. Yorktown was a big deal.
There were some displays, but I wasn’t in the mood to read the information about them. I’m not sure exactly why these chairs were here. They don’t seem related to the revolutionary war, unless Washington sat in them.
This seems more appropriate. I am sure many soldiers needed medical care. 
Of course, whenever I see a reference to leeches, I think of Humphrey Bogart towing that boat through the swamp in The African Queen.
“Leeches! I hate leeches!”
I also snapped a photo of this stone, which I assume was not an actual tombstone. The inscription reads:
To the memory of Captain James Moore of the New York artillery
Son of Benjamin and Cornelia Moore of New York.
He died December 25th 1776 AD
Aged 24 years and eight months
Of course, this is translated from the “Ye Olde” English that was in use at the time.
I decided to stroll about a bit and see what I could see. The McConkey Ferry Inn sat close to the road. I know that’s what it is because I took a photo of the sign.
I walked around it.
There’s the oven and the ice house. I know that because I have seen many of them on my travels.
I rather liked this small door into the ice house.
Across the road there was a house set back from the road at a discrete distance. I liked the bench that they had installed in front of it.
I think this is a nice memorial. So practical!
There was also the Taylorville store. Had I been up on my game, I would have tried to find out if this place had been originally called Taylorville. Admittedly, I was running out of touristic energy. After all, I had dedicated myself to being a tourist for more than three years by this point.
I should have started a file of all the lost things I’d seen in my travels. I hope the person who left these bright green sunglasses behind came back and found them.
Here’s another house with its own oven. They must have been a prosperous community.
They might have not had their own ice house, but they did have a cellar.
I wandered over to the river to take in the scenery. It’s a pretty little river, but it sure played a big roll in our nation’s history.
They had a model of the kind of boat that Washington used to cross that river.
There were several more inside the boathouse.
You could even climb up and look inside to see how much space there was in it.
Before I left, I had one more thing to take a look at.
There was a marker that read:
“Are this spot Washington crossed the Delaware one Christmas night 1776
The eve of the Battle of Trenton
Erected 1895 Bucks County Historical Society”
And with that, I headed back to Joyce’s house.