Went back in time

Our first day with a bit of driving has arrived, our road trip can truly begin! By using the lovely service from Google called "Latitude", I can retrieve a map from our driving, which is sort of somewhat accurate. You can see on the picture below that it doesn't update evenly throughout the day, but it's still nice to get a general idea of where we've driven/walked. I won't add the screenshot to every post, but might add it from time to time.

The driving went well, 3 of all travellers (myself included) got to drive and we got to find out what it feels like when your organs are trying to escape your body through your ribcage! Twice!! You see, Pontus isn't as used to driving an automatic as the rest of us. A casual reminder from me that he needs to hit the brake with his right foot as usual and never move his left leg just wasn't enough. When he needed to stop at a red light after driving for a while, he put his hand on the shift lever and pushed down on the pedal furthest to the left, instinctively assuming it was the clutch. Suffice to say, we reacted strongly =). It didn't happen a third time, which was appreciated by all travellers, including the driver himself.

Our first stop along the route toward Delaware was Philadelphia where I had  scheduled for us to check out "The Liberty Bell". I still don't know its significance, because we mistakenly took the Independence Hall tour instead. I'm thrilled that we did though, because we got to listen to an enthusiastic guide talk about seemingly what he loves most, early american history. I just looved listening to him talk about myths and facts, and how they intertwine in historic events, even happenings so recent as the history of this young nation (come back when you've existed for over a millenia US :p). It was a wonderful tour and we were fine with missing out on seeing "The liberty bell", whatever it is =).
After the fascinating history lesson, we wanted to experience an event that was even more recent - the site of the Rocky recording (as well as musicvideo for Will Smith's "Freakin' it" http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24xxd_will-smith-freakin-it_music&start=203 ), the steps up toward the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We even recorded a video of Pontus and myself running up the stairs, but as I'm writing this, we're in the process of checking out of our washington Hotel and the time just isn't there to even find a suitable place to upload the video, much less edit it. You will all have to be content with seeing this photo

With Philly behind us (and without even eating "a philly cheesesteak"!!) we went on a hunt for something that in hindsight might be a bit embarrasing, but still a necessary part of this grand journey. We wanted to see some Amish folk. We drove westward, to Lancaster county, with the hopes of experiencing that old community. We left Philly 2 hours behind schedule, so all the touristy places regarding amish (buying quilts, riding a buggy, etc) would be closed, but we had high hopes anyway. After driving for an hour and a half, we started seeing farms around us and figured they must belong to the Amish, but they all seemed to have vanished. We entered Lancaster city and aimlessly drove around for 30min before giving up and started driving southeast, toward delaware.
But after driving for a few min, Dan shouted out "arhlghaahl take a right !!" in his best Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonation. When we were driving around in Lancaster, he had been searching on google for where we might spot the kind people still stuck in the 18th century. The driver adhered to his directions and we drove further and further into the countryside. When the website Dan had found told us to drive onto a small winding road, I had my doubts that our expensive car would hold up to the challenge, but alas, we got results! Pontus shrieked out "ay-mish" and pointed fervently to the left of the car. No cameras were ready, but we knew we were on the right path. The small road opened up to corn fields, and all of a sudden, they were there. Grownups working with scythes and picking things up with their hands instead of using tractors, all wearing very simple clothes with big hats (albeit, not Julia Roberts "pretty woman"-big >_< ). We got our photos and left Pennsylvania behind, with a big relief.

We got a better photo with Dan's camera, but my laptop wont accept his cardreader =/

We arrived late in Rehoboth, Delaware and checked into our little hotel. I was expecting a small little place that wouldn't offer much more than a bed and a bathroom. Boy was I surprised! It was very nice considering how hurried I was when booking it. I just went for the cheapest hotel I could find in rehoboth with only 5 days notice, and it was great! We started  off by diving into the pool, which was still open even though we arrived after 23:00 (11pm for those so inclined).

Our stay in Delaware was short, which was expected. We arrived late, left early (after I had finished writing on a certain blog) and went down to the beach with our luggage in the car. Getting to swim in the atlantic, IE on the east coast, was a wonderful experience, something I had never done before even though I have been to the states 8 times before this trip, with 3 visits to New York and 1 to Orlando, FL. We were however very surprised to see the amount of beachgoers. You see, it was pouring down outside and expected the beach to be basically empty, but in the rain, it had more people than Fria Bad has on a sunny day! We had a lot of fun, and jumped back into the car all sandy and sunburned. 

A beautiful 2h drive through Delaware and Maryland had us arrive in the capital around 20:00. More on DC on the next post though...