Washington Ate Here

    

     It was a beautiful Autumn day here in the Keystone State.  I decided that I would get out on my chrome pony and check out the fall foliage at nearby Valley Forge National Historical Park.  Located just 20 miles NW of The City of Brotherly Love it is the site of the Continental Army's winter encampment in 1777-78.  Washington had decided to temporarily withdraw from battling the British during the American Revolution (1775-1783) and quartered his troops in small huts they constructed on the 3,500 acres of rolling hillsides of Valley Forge.

 

     It was during those cold winter months that the troops under Washington's command persevered through suffering, hardship and privation.  They came under the tutelage of charismatic Prussian General Baron von Steuben who trained and inspired the soldiers.  During that time they acquired a new found resolve, tenacity and determination and in the summer of 1778 went on to fight victoriously at the Battle of Monmouth.

 

     Had the G Lodge been there during that time Washington's men would have certainly been better fed.  I stopped there for breakfast before entering the park.  Located on Route 23 just outside Phoenixville it has been in operation since 1922 and serves up breakfast and lunch seven days a week.  It is a deceptive looking little non-descript building, appearing like it could only hold a dozen or so patrons.  But once inside the room is large enough to sport long tables and a long  counter that combined can easily accommodates nearly a hundred hungry diners.

   I was able to take the last available seat at the counter, near the cash register and enjoyed listening to Dennis greet each diner as they walked through the door as he peered up over his reader cheater glasses.  In keeping with my breakfast tradition I ordered my usual: scrapple, home fries, 2 scrambled eggs and whole wheat toast with coffee.  It came out of the kitchen promptly and hot from the large flat top.  Even the toast was still warm, buttery and flavorful.  And the home fries were the real deal, cut from new potatoes with a thin brown crust on the outside with a still tender and creamy interior.  The slice of scrapple was generous and cooked just the way I like it, not hurried or poached, but fried over a low slow heat.  But as I was enjoying my morning meal I happened to glance at the diners beside me, an older couple who were enjoying the weekend special.  Had I known of the unadvertised lump crab meat omelet or the crab meat eggs Benedict I would have had a new morning favorite.  But that's all the more reason to return once again and sit at the counter to enjoy a sumptuous meal as I watch the kitchen crew perform their culinary magic.

 

     Feeling content from my morning repast I toured the park and reminisced of the days gone by when I ran the 5.5 mile loop trail for exercise or the time back nearly half a century ago when as a Boy Scout I attended the 1964 National Jamboree there.  I stopped at Mad Anthony Wayne hill by his statue on horseback and gazed over the hill where I took my daughters sledding and realized how much fun we had sliding down that steep incline and trudging back up it to do it all over again. 

 

     The leaves were a bit past their peak but it was still an exhilarating morning to breathe in crisp clean air of Autumn and to remember, not only the history of our great nation, but also a bit of my own past.