US-50 East 2022:
Day 4 - Delaware

	Monday, September 19, 2022: We made breakfast in the tent and watched the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, ...
	... leaving camp around 7:30 AM. The sunrise was beautiful (again), ...
	... especially over Shawnee Lake (again).
	We passed the Lincoln Motor Court just like we had last week, ...
	... as we drove the Lincoln Highway east ...
	... toward the Turnpike (again).
	There was a forest of cherry pickers along the southern side of the highway access ramp.
	We continued to stream the Queen's funeral as we headed east, ...
	... through the Tuscarora Mountain tunnel, ...
	... the Kittatinny Mountain tunnel, ...
	... and 600 feet later, the Blue Mountain tunnel. This one snuck up on us, so we had to get a picture through the back window as we exited.
	That's the Sesquehanna River, just south of Harrisburg, PA.
	As part of a new photo series tentatively named "signs for places we didn't visit," we present to you the sign for the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, ...
	... and the sign for the Valley Forge National Historic Park. We hope to bring you more signs for unvisited National Something Somethings in the future.
	We did, however, stop at the King of Prussia Mall in northwest Philadephia.
	By now, we were able to identify LEGO Stores by the profile of the red block LEGO sign on the front of the store.
	Baby shark, doo doo duh doo doo. Tom sings this in his head, and occasionally out loud whenever he sees this.
	There was an entire section of the Pick & Build wall devoted to Halloween bricks! Debbie was thrilled!
	We left the mall by this tiny side entrance, after missing the hallway only once as we tried to get back to our van.
	Debbie added three Build-a-Minifigs to her collection as well as a cup filled with Halloween bricks.
	As we left the mall, we drove right past the entrance that we should have used. It was large, well marked, and we're sure it would have been easier to find.
	Maersk! Oooh, a pretty white one without the Sealand branding. Score!
	Our route took us right past the Philadelphia Museum of Art, ...
	... across the Schuylkill River, ...
	... and into Philadelphia.
	We missed a turn, ...
	.. and the next thing we knew, were were on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge headed into New Jersey.
	A quick-ish U-turn in Camden got us headed back to Philadelphia, ...
	... to the Independence Visitor Center at the Independence National Historic Park. We parked under the mall, and walked ...
	... to the Mather plaque set near the eastern doors of the visitor center.
	In 2014, the Superintendent of Whiskeytown National Resource Area had made a new mold of the Mather plaque that is at Berkeley, and this is one of the five that were cast from that new master mold. This one was requested by the National Parks Travelers Club, and it was placed here 2016 for their annual meeting in August of that year.
	On the south end of the mall is Independence Hall, which was where both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Consitution were adopted.
	At the north end is the National Consitution Center, an institution dedicated to providing information about the US Constitution in a non-partisan manner to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution.
	Our visit complete, we drove past the United States Mint, which is right across the street from the National Constitution Center.
	We got back on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, intentionally this time, ...
	... and drove into New Jersey.
	We took another slight detour to the Cherry Hill Mall, ...
	... to the LEGO Store, one of five in New Jersey and the only one anywhere close to our route.
	The sign at the base of this build says that it is made from 21,840 bricks, it weighs 81 kilograms, and took 82 hours to build.
	This employee was living the dream, building Halloween minifigs as part of his job.
	Debbie carefully curated another cup, ...
	... getting lots of gray shield-shaped parts that she thought would make interesting floor and roof tiles, among other possible uses.
	New Jersey makes it very hard to turn left, so we settled on the first fast food on the right side of the road, which was this Wendy's. The drive-through employee referred to caffeine-free Diet Coke as "gold Coke," and said that she refers to all of the other types by their color as well: gold Coke, silver Coke (Diet Coke), black Coke (Coke Zero), and red Coke (plain Coke). How efficient!
	We headed south, crossing the Delaware Memorial Bridge, ...
	... looking at Wilmington, Delaware, off in the distance, ...
	... as we crossed over into Delaware.
	Jesus! That's a big statue. Okay, it's actually a 34-foot tall statue of Mary, named "Our Lady, Queen of Peace." It is made out of stainless steel and stands behind the rectory at the Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church in New Castle, Delaware.
	We were driving right past the Christiana Mall, so it would have been wrong of us to not stop ...
	... at Delaware's only LEGO Store.
	Debbie looked over the Pick & Build wall, but was unable to find anything that she didn't already have, ...
	... and settled on minifigs from the Build-a-Minifig stand. A helpful employee told Debbie that the B-A-Ms don't need to be complete minifigs, just 15 parts. Delighted, Debbie built some headless minifigs and got some great accessories to go along with them.
	We drove south on Delaware Highway 1 across the Willam V. Roth, Jr. Bridge, over a canal that connects the Delaware River with the Elk River at the north end of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.
	As we neared Dover, we passed the Dover Motor Speedway, which can seat 135,000 spectators, making it the largest seating capacity of any sports venue in the mid-Atlantic region. The track is nicknamed "The Monster Mile," and primarily hosts NASCAR events.
	We left the highway and headed into downtown Dover, marvelling at the huge old houses in the area.
	This quaint area, known as "The Green" is home to the Old State House, which was the state capitol building from 1792 until 1932.
	The building was restored in 1976 to its original appearance. It's hard to imagine that a building this small was big enough for a state capitol.
	The current capitol building, known as Delaware Legislative Hall, sits a few blocks away to the east.
	As we continued south out of Dover, we passed the American Legion Post where there was a small Statue of Liberty replica out front.
	Our route took us past Dover Air Force Base, ...
	... which is the largest and busiest air freight terminal run by the Department of Defense.
	We were back in the land of crab-themed restaurants, with names like Crabby Dick's.
	The ocean was just to our left, over that small dune, ...
	... as we entered Delaware Seashore State Park, which is where we were staying this night.
	We crossed the Charles W. Cullen Memorial Bridge, ...
	... passing over the North Campground and the Indian River Inlet, ...
	... toward the South Campground.
	That's our spot, right there, just to the right of the building between the top and middle rail of the bridge.
	We made our way into the campground, ...
	... parked the van at our site and went for a walk.
	The bridge was beautiful and looked brand new, and was actually just a little more than 10 years old. These are the south towers of the cable-stayed bridge, ...
	... and those are the north towers.
	The land we were on is part of a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian River Bay and the Rehoboth Bay, which is just to the north.
	There were huge numbers of sea birds diving in the turbulent waters of the inlet.
	This cormorant was closer to the southern bank of the inlet, ...
	... and every now and then she would dive under the water and disappear for about 30 seconds. She almost always came up chewing something.
	We walked along the great big boulders that formed part of the seawall, ...
	... and watch the tide wash over the corner of the beach.
	We stood there for a while, watching the birds skirt along the waterline, and watching the waves crash onto the beach.
	Debbie is always on the lookout for a good photo, ...
	... but wasn't quiet prepared for a big wave that surged across the beach all the way to our feet. Luckily, we were able to stay dry above the waterline on the seawall.
	There were a few people on the beach, ...
	... and plenty of birds.
	We walked back to the campground and set up our tent.
	The bathroom building was within a very short walk away, literally right across the road. A line of seabirds stood watch on the roof.
	There was no electricity at our site, so we set up the camp stove to boil water for our dinner. The wind was moderate, so we set up the camp stove's case as a windbreak.
	Dinner was Beef Stroganoff and ice cold caffeine-free Diet Cokes, or maybe we should say gold Cokes.
	Sunset was strikingly beautiful, and we once again slept without the rainfly.
	Once the sun was down, the bridge lit up with pretty blue lights. We could also hear the wind blowing through the cables on the bridge, which made a very pleasant whistling sound. The noise of the campground gradually quieted down, and we drifted off to sleep. Day 5 >