A Weekend to Celebrate

I needed a Ryan and Erin (our kids) fix.  You see, I’m a father that’s not only doting, but demonstrative.  Every so often I have to actually be able to physically hug them.  A phone call helps but does not quell my thirst for their prescence.  So we decided to diesel up the RV and make plans to drive to Philadelphia to see Ryan.   It so happened that Erin was planning to drive there the same weekend as Ryan’s girlfriend (Carolyn) was running in a half marathon and wanted to celebrate the occasion.  I can’t imagine running 13 miles let alone 13 blocks so kudos to Carolyn.  This was going to be the perfect set up as both my children would be in the same city at the same time enabling seeing both of them together.

The Best Daughter a Dad Could Have

Next we had to find a campground near Philadelphia as that’s where the ING marathon was being held and we too wanted to cheer on Carolyn as well.  She lives in New Jersey and we tried to find a campground near her as well.  Timberlane Campground was the nearest to downtown Philly located just across the river near Clarksboro, NJ

Timberlane is a quiet place, with well placed trees and a large pond as the focal point of the park.  I noticed quite a bit of the occupants were full timers staying there and commuting to work.  Although a large part of the inhabitants homesteaded here, the grounds were well maintained except for some ducks that created quite a rucous on their way to the lake for a morning swim.  Nevertheless, if visiting Philadelphia, I would recommend this campground, located only a mile from I 295.  We spent Friday evening and most of the day Saturday with the kids, listening to their missives and rants about everything in life you could expect from your children. Sunday morning was off to the bowels of Philly and by this time Erin was growing a bit unnerved with her dad.  Sometimes I don’t know when to leave well enough alone.  The ING race saw approximately 20,000 runners take part in the spectacle.  I later found out that Carolyn had run for 15 minutes just to get to the starting line as there were so many runners lined up before her and that many later.

She finished in a time of 2 hours and 15 minutes of which just amazed me.  This is the first time in her life that she ever ran in a half marathon and I was so impressed by this performance.  As out of towners, Carolyns mom and dad had invited Robin and I over for dinner.  Ryan said he would stop by the campground to pick us up as tooling around inner Philadelphia in a 40 foot RV is not my vote for Sunday afternoon entertainment.  However, weren’t we suprised upon learning that after the race Ryan had proposed to Carolyn.  Yes, I am going to have another woman in my family.  I welcome her wholeheartedly, she will make a fine wife and I can see why she appeals to Ryan.  He has no shame. He is his mother’s son.