#6: [18-Mar-06]

#5: [05-Mar-06]

#3: [19-Mar-04]

#2: [06-Jan-01]

#1: [07-Jul-00] (incomplete)

26-Nov-2004 -- A visit to relatives for Thanksgiving dinner brought me within 15 miles of this location. The following day, rather than observe the traditional Black Friday, “start of the Christmas season” day of shopping with my wife and her sisters in the malls of three different states [four states, if you count the state of exhaustion], I decided to enjoy the absolutely fantastic weather by visiting confluence points in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

After initial success on a New Jersey golf course, I again skirted Center City Philadelphia, and headed out the Schuykill Expressway to break the trip with a quick visit to Valley Forge National Historical Park [ for further information see www.nps.gov/vafo]. A highlight was a drive across the circa 1865 covered bridge over Valley Creek. Then it was onto Route 30 and a ride toward Gap, PA.

Turning north on Hoffmeier Road, just a few hundred yards from the CP I passed an Amish school whose many sized students were enjoying recess on the playground. [A little later I heard a real live bell ring to call them back to their studies. Now that's a common old time event seldom experienced these days!] I pulled into the driveway of the nearest home, hoping the novelty of having confluence hunters appear on the front porch had not worn off. A sign to the right advertised “AKC German Shepherd pups,” but no dogs were to be seen or heard. After knocking on the door, I asked in turn the young son, daughter, and finally the mother for permission to “walk up to the corner of the woods and take a few photos.” Once again the mother was quite cordial and accommodating.

The temperature was in the upper thirties (F.), but with little wind and not a cloud to be seen, I had a quite pleasant walk up the hill through the cornfield stubble. I tried to make my pictures a little different from Joseph Kerski’s quite thorough photographic record from last March. I did have the advantage of really clear skies. It would be hard to find a day with better visibility, and I had a tough time pulling myself away.

I stopped in Gap for gas and again to take a picture of the famous Gap Town Clock Tower, a local landmark. I then headed back to the “Mushroom Capital of the World” for some leftover turkey with all the trimmings.