Basketball and Bridges

This week Edie is working at a basketball tournament for high school age boys that brings teams and college coaches from all over the United States and Canada. Since we spent our vacation touring several states, it is interesting to now meet the people coming to the tournament from those same recent vacation locales. Upon meeting someone from Philadelphia, Edie remarked that she was very impressed with the courteous driving there, to which the coach replied "You must have been there on a really good day." Oh... evidently Philadelphia does have some driver and traffic issues, but we still stand by our previous comments and how polite they are -- until they prove us wrong.

Edie also met a coach living in Toronto, but originally from New York. She mentioned that she was in Toronto recently and it gave her a headache. The coach defended Toronto, saying how great it is. Edie remarked that driving downtown Toronto is like driving on a ball field while a game is being played. There's action happening right in front of you, but there are also spectators on the side -- pretty much, people all over the place. The coach did agree with that and said that downtown Toronto is a lot like being in New York City. Hmmm... note to everyone -- if you are going to be driving in New York City, bring aspirin.

Another coach at the tournament is from Quebec. It was apparent by his name that he had family roots in another country so Edie asked him about its origin. He stated that his family is from the Ukraine and he is first generation North American. She asked if he could speak the language of Ukraine and he said yes, and that he spoke five languages. Very impressive.

There are teams from Nebraska at the tournament. Out of kindness, Edie said nothing to them about Nebraska. She didn't even mention her vacation to them.

Also on the subject of our vacation, Sandy looked online to see if she could find the bridge that spans the Delaware River between Philadelphia and New Jersey. It is the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, and we've posted a couple of pictures. For those of you who do not suffer from gephydrophobia (fear of crossing bridges--we looked it up. It's good to put a name to our neurosis.), these pictures may not seem daunting to you, but we wanted to pull the car over to the side of the road and cry when we thought we were going to have to cross it.

Third installment of Founding America: A Timeline of Events Leading up to the Revolutionary War and the Beginning of Our Country

1767 - In June and July, Charles Townshend, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduces a new bill to tax the importation into America of such goods as lead, paper, glass, and tea. American opposition to the Townshend duties is led by John Dickinson's Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer.

Until next time...