2009-05-09 40 -75

Participants

Plans

I didn't really plan on doing this geohash. But the weather was pretty good, and my wife needed Evan out from underfoot to do some painting. Going to West Portal gave us an excuse have a picnic, swing on a swing, and other fun stuff. Around 11AM, I posted a message on the Philadelphia geohashers Facebook group, as an open call to whomever might be interested in a meetup.

Expedition

I left the house about 3PM with a package lunch for Evan, a PB&J for me, and cookies for both of us.

The first stop was the geohash itself, where we discovered an old, dilapidated stone building. It was really just a shell of stone walls, with the roof long since collapsed and rotted away. There were few clues about how old it was, but from the size and shape of it, I think it was a small church/schoolhouse. The inside had been completely reclaimed by nature, with shrubbery and small trees growing within the footprint of the building.

We parked on the side street, Snyder Lane, which turned out to be a private drive. It was a narrow gravel road, so I'd parked the van as far off to the side as I could, and waited until 4, not expecting anyone else to show, but leaving open that small chance.

Finally we drove off, spotting a brown rabbit up the road while turning around. (Ah well, no photograph. The rabbit's anonymity is safe!)

We planned on eating in a park, so our second stop was Voorhees State Park, where we ate an early supper and talked about bees and ants. Evan insisted on leaving some food for the ants, so we left an offering of an Oreo cookie. (Evan only eats the icing in the middle!)

Now, to a four-year-old, "park" means "playground", and Voorhees didn't really have that, (not at the scenic overlook where we'd eaten anyway,) so we started heading back closer to home where we could avail ourselves of a swing set. :-)

On the way, my wife called an asked if I could stop at a craft store and pick up a plain flower pot for Evan to decorate for Mothers' Day. (We're taking my wife and my mother to lunch tomorrow.) I made a quick stop at a garden center, but they're more interested in selling the flowers than the containers for them (unless you want something big like a planter.) No good, so we stopped at a small park in our neighborhood for some quality swing-and-slide time, then another store for the terracotta flower pot before heading home.