Blah Blah Brandywine - Day 54

I took to the road with my parents for a day trip to the Brandywine Valley scenic byway. About an hour southwest of home, on the border of PA and DE, is a short scenic drive that was touted as unforgettable. At only a dozen miles, we could have driven in about 20 minutes.

We stopped first at Longwood Gardens, a horticultural display garden. Because I had been there a few years ago, and because we didn't want to commit to the hours it would take to explore a reasonable portion of the grounds, but mainly because it was a sweaty 90 degrees, we simply went through the visitor center, saw the 4 minute video presentation, perused the shopping area and returned to the road for the next attraction.

The next attraction was the Winterthur Estate and museum. This was a DuPont family property, as practically the entire state of Delaware was. The tram tour of the gardens was pretty good, made better by a loquacious tour guide, but early spring was surely a better time to catch the blooms. The tour of just a part of the 170+ room mansion, was a bit longish. I suppose if I were a history buff, or if I had a greater appreciation for antiques, I would have more enjoyed all the possessions we saw. But I'm neither, so it was just a somewhat interesting tour. Lets just say DuPont is not Hearst, and the Hearst castle was much more entertaining.

The best part of the excursion was spending the entire day with just me and my parents, something we really haven't done much of lately. We had a nice dinner at PF Changs, and then came home and watched the National Spelling Bee. I am not smarter than those eighth graders.