For those of us who live in the area, we know what the biggest draw Delaware has over PA, NJ, and MD. There is no sales tax in Delaware! When it comes to buying large appliances, computers, or other expensive items, Delaware is the place…Read More

For those of us who live in the area, we know what the biggest draw Delaware has over PA, NJ, and MD. There is no sales tax in Delaware! When it comes to buying large appliances, computers, or other expensive items, Delaware is the place to shop and buy. The two main arteries to shop are Concord Pike (US Rt 202) and Kirkwood Hwy (Rt 2). (There are plenty of other large areas to shop as well.) It would be fruitless to go into much detail because there are hundreds upon hundreds of places to shop, from large chains to specialty stores.

The two largest gathering places are the malls, of course. Concord Mall is on rt 202 near the PA state line and is a run-of-the-mill mall. There is no large food court here, though there is a small gathering of eateries near the north end of the mall. It is anchored by Boscov's, a budget superstore, Strawbridge's, and Sears.

Going south on I-95, about 15 minutes from Concord Mall, is the Christiana Mall. Christiana Mall is fairly large and more asthetically pleasing than Concord. There is a large enough food court with many choices. It is anchored by JC Penney's, Macy's, Lord and Taylor's, and Strawbridge's. The stores here are perhaps slightly more upscale than Concord, but only by a hair. Neither of the malls are intimidating to your wallet any more than other malls around the country.

For antiques, I recommend Rt 52 going north out of Wilmington. There are a couple small towns on the way that have a good handful of antiques and specialty shops.

Rt 13 south of Wilmington is also a very heavy commercial area, but the choices are a bit slimmer and the area just looks kind of worn out. Though crime is not a widespread problem here, it does seem to happen more frequently here than other areas.

For car shopping, Rt 13 south of Wilmington is chock full. Also try Cleveland avenue in Newark at the northwest corner of the state. For luxury vehicles, shop at Pennsylvania Avenue in the city of Wilmington.

If Early American 18th and 19th century antiques are your passion... Chester County is the place to head. A good place to start your tour is on Rt. 30, one of the main roads that connects most towns of Chester County. Starting in the…Read More

If Early American 18th and 19th century antiques are your passion... Chester County is the place to head. A good place to start your tour is on Rt. 30, one of the main roads that connects most towns of Chester County. Starting in the town of Wayne, The Pembroke Shop at 167 W. Lancaster Ave. is reknowned for custom made English and Continental estate furniture. A few miles down the road and off of Rt. 30 at 329 East Conestoga Road in Strafford is Wilson's Main Line Antiques who do great metal polishing and can advise you on repairs,etc...They also carry a fine variety of imported antique furniture.

Travel down Rt.30 a few more miles and turn left onto King road in Malvern. This is an antique-lovers paradise with King Street Traders and Gallery at 16 E. King St., Dixon-Hall Fine Art on Monument Avenue, a fine old Victorian house chock full of fine art pieces. At Van Tassel/Baumann American Antiques and Early Schoolgirl Needlework on Sugartown Road, you will find lots of examples of furniture and decorative arts as well as a large selection of early schoolgirl needlework.

If you retrace your steps and get back to Rt.30, head west and you will come to town of Frazer and Steven's Antiques. It is full of 19th and early 20th century furniture and accessories. I once bought an antique smoking stand that I still use as an end table.

Another diversion is to take a left off of 30 at rt.100 and head into west Chester,the county seat. On Oakbourne Road you will find Olivier Fleury,Inc. and their collection of 18th and 19th century Provincial French antiques housed in a renovated Chester County Bank Barn. Stop at Monroe Coldron and Son at 723 E. Virginia Ave. for copper, iron and brass works. They are known for hardware, lighting, architectural elements, mantles and fireplace equipment. Good if you are shopping for or renovating a large house.

Heading back out to Rt.30 and on to Exton, is shop of John Bunker and Son at 411 E. Lincoln Highway. Here you will find more knick-knack type antiques, one of a kind items like samplers,vintage ship models as well as tin and brass accessories.

If you aren't completely exhausted by this tour, you can spend the night and start over again for day 2. This time I would recommend you take the route from West Chester along Rt.52 and head into the Brandywine Valley. In Chadd's Ford you will find Jan Whitlock Antiques, right on Rt. 52 and Fairville rd. She is noted for her lovely antique textiles and you can find the most exquisite tablecloths here at most reasonable prices. She carries a lot of folk art and up-scale decorative accessories. At the same intersection is J.&L. West Antiques who carries a great assortment of furniture,accessories and paintings but is only open by chance or appointment.

Finish up the tour on Rt.52 by continuing on into Delaware where you will find Jackson Mitchell,Inc.,a purveyor of English period furniture of 17th, 18th and 19th century. The emphasis here is on wood color and surface. Their pieces are of superior quality and they also feature metalware accessories and botanical engravings. If you collect Victorian Staffordshire animals they always have a large selection. If you aren't completely exhausted or over-saturated, enjoy a wonderful meal and evening in a local bed and breakfast and return home with your new quality antiques.

Parking at Rehoboth Beach! What a confusing mess, right? All the meters that line Rehoboth Avenue are mostly 3-hour meters that cost 75 cents per hour to park. On a hot day, doing the `quarter run` can be a pain in the butt. Below is a…Read More

Parking at Rehoboth Beach! What a confusing mess, right? All the meters that line Rehoboth Avenue are mostly 3-hour meters that cost 75 cents per hour to park. On a hot day, doing the `quarter run` can be a pain in the butt. Below is a map of Rehoboth Beach area. When you first turn onto Rehoboth Avenue, drive all the way down until you can almost see the Boardwalk, turn RIGHT onto First Avenue and you can find 10 hour meters on both Wilmington and Delaware Avenues on the left. They also cost 75 cents per hour. If you go one more block towards Brooklyn Avenue, they have 10 hour meters, but ONLY 50 cents per hour to park. Close

To anyone who has ever order from this giant TV shopping show this was a dream come true. We got to tour the studio where the shows are filmed, and we even got to go out on a deck and watch a show in progress.…Read More

To anyone who has ever order from this giant TV shopping show this was a dream come true. We got to tour the studio where the shows are filmed, and we even got to go out on a deck and watch a show in progress. Bob Bowersox and Paul Deasy were hocking Today's Special Value. It was fascinating. QVC is located in West Chester Pennsylvania only a short drive from Phili and from Wilmington. We were escorted through what looks like a giant doll house with a kitchen that we will all recognize, the garage, the fashion set and many more. We were also given tons of facts like they have 3000 employees, the building is the size of 17 football fields, product central has 200,000 items. They also have a store that sells lots of stuff, jewelry, electronics, makeup, etc. Prices are the same as on air but there is no shipping. If you love QVC the tour is a blast.They ship out over 6 million items a year and my husband told our guide Marie that 2 million came to our house, another husband there says he can account for the other 4 million. Husbands just don't get it. The tours are done hourly from 10am til 4pm and the store is open 9:30am-6pm.Close

The new Broughton Masterpiece Presentation at the Riverfront Arts Center in Wilmington is a stunner. It brings together more than 1000 works of art from over 30 private collections and museums around the world, including the Royal families of Sweden, Britain, Bulgaria and several German…Read More

The new Broughton Masterpiece Presentation at the Riverfront Arts Center in Wilmington is a stunner. It brings together more than 1000 works of art from over 30 private collections and museums around the world, including the Royal families of Sweden, Britain, Bulgaria and several German princes. The FORBES Magazine Collection of New York, and the State Hermitage and Moscow Kremlin Museums of Russia also made major loans to this exhibition.

Peter Carl Faberge was the legendary jeweler and goldsmith who created the famous Faberge eggs for the Czars of Russia. A stunning array of these fabulous treasures provides the focal point of the Broughton exhibition. Among the eggs on display is the first egg created for the Romanovs by Faberge in 1885, as well as the Orange Tree Egg of 1911 and the Cross of St. George Egg of 1916, which was brought from Russia by the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna at the time of the Revolution.

The exhibit tells the story of Faberge's rise from humble beginnings to head an international business empire, until his ultimate escape from Russia and tragic death in Switzerland. His influence on jewelry design and fashion of the day is also explored. Master works created by Faberge's contemporaries - Lalique, Cartier, Tiffany and Boucheron - are included in the exhibit for contrast.

Besides eggs, many other precious objects created by the Faberge workshops are on display in Wilmington, including a delightful menagerie of animals and exquisite miniature floral arrangements made of gemstones.

The Faberge exhibit continues through February 18, 2001 at the Riverfront Arts Center. Admission is $14.50 for adults, $13 for seniors, $5 for K-12 and $9 for college students. Family and group rates are available. The exhibition is open daily from 9am to 7pm, except Mondays. Ticket prices include a 10-minute orientation film and a 45-minute audio recorded tour. Both adult and student versions of the tour are available that touch on different aspects of the exhibition, and many adults like the student tour. Call 1-888-395-0005 for advance reservations.

Many area hotels offer a Faberge package that includes tickets to the exhibition, a night's lodging and various other perks. The most prestigious of these is the four-star Hotel du Pont in downtown Wilmington. Even if you don't stay at the du Pont, your ticket stub from the Faberge exhibition will get you a 15% discount on lunch, dinner or Sunday brunch in the hotel's famous Green or Brandywine rooms (reservations required). More information can be found at www.faberge-exhibition.com/ In addition, Amtrak offers a special discount on rail fare to those traveling to the Faberge exhibition. Ask for Fare Code X-81N-966.

Covered bridges are a rare find in north Delaware, and they can both be found in the Brandywine Valley. Brackenville Bridge is on Brackenville Road near RT 82 and the Ashland Nature Center. Be sure to drive carefully as there can be children…Read More

Covered bridges are a rare find in north Delaware, and they can both be found in the Brandywine Valley. Brackenville Bridge is on Brackenville Road near RT 82 and the Ashland Nature Center. Be sure to drive carefully as there can be children playing around the bridge as they are visiting Ashland.

The second is Smith's Bridge, which is on Smithbridge Rd. It may be in PA, but it's really darn close to DE if it's not. This bridge was recovered a year ago after a year-long reconstruction. The bridge was covered at its beginning and then became an uncovered wooden bridge. Time weathered it and the boards warped. Though it was sturdy enough, the look of the bridge was enough to frighten some people from attempting to cross it. The restoration project changed everything.

This bridge is now a state of the art covered bridge. It is still one lane. It is a gorgeous bridge stretching over the Brandywine River and the boards run lengthwise now rather than across. This provides a very smooth ride across that is not at all remiscent of the rickety sounding Smith's Bridge of old.

Ok folks.. this is no laughing matter. The waters off of the Delaware coast have very strong under-currents and often, there are rip-tides to go along with that. I was there on Saturday, August 12th 2000 and I witnessed 4 rescue attemps by lifeguards. I…Read More

Ok folks.. this is no laughing matter. The waters off of the Delaware coast have very strong under-currents and often, there are rip-tides to go along with that. I was there on Saturday, August 12th 2000 and I witnessed 4 rescue attemps by lifeguards. I am a great swimmer, but I was raised to respect the water and its moods. It was VERY moody that day, the currents were pulling me and that is no laughing matter. It scares me to no end that some parents were NOT paying attention to their children. If those currents can pull this 5`11` and not that thin, great swimmer adult in, imagine what they can do to a child. PAY attention to the lifeguards and feel the mood of the water. If it`s not safe, just stay at its edge. Be safe! Close

In the out-of-doors, people belong to one of two castes, and nowhere is that more evident than a campground. As opposed to wilderness camping, campgrounds have the advantage of amenities: water, usually a bathhouse, maybe a general store. They also have a distinct disadvantage: people.…Read More

In the out-of-doors, people belong to one of two castes, and nowhere is that more evident than a campground. As opposed to wilderness camping, campgrounds have the advantage of amenities: water, usually a bathhouse, maybe a general store. They also have a distinct disadvantage: people. Whether its a business or state-run, the operator is trying to make money or needs money to operate, and more people means more money. There's the rub: most people go into the out-of-doors to get away from people, not find more of them. Which brings us to Ralph. Ralph is a beetle-browed Delta-minus, maybe a union roofer, and Ralph is, in a every sense of the word, a boor, not the South African kind, but the South Philadelphia kind. Wherever Ralph goes, Ralph needs for everybody to know Ralph is there, so when Ralph talks, Ralph talks LIKE HE IS THE DEFENDING CHAMP AT THE SPIVEYS CORNER HOLLERING CONTEST. And so do all of his children, and his woman, and the clutch of Ralphians in the mobile home on the campsite behind the patriarch's. Ralph is of the caste that cannot stand nature's sounds or its quiet. They fill the space around them with noise, jibberish, laughing at jokes that are not funny, and crashing about. Instead of enjoying the out-of-doors, they change it into a familiar environment; in Ralph's case, a tap room. By 10 o'clock at night, the Ralphians have enough beer in them to drown whatever vestigal inhibitions they might have and they take up a game of electronic darts, the board hung on the outside of the camper, beeping and booping, the Ralphians arguing with one another and with their females, explaining for all to hear the 52 REASONS WHY WOMEN CAN'T PLAY DARTS!!!!! Fortunately, there were a number of empty campsite well away from Ralph's Ale House, and we relocated to one amongst people of the other caste, those who understand and respect others' privacy. They sat in communal circles around their fires and spoke to one another, not the entire campground. When something struck them as funny, they laughed, honestly and friendly, not forced drunken guffawing. Instead of a boom box, somebody was working out a 12-bar blues acoustic riff. A child cried, but children do that, and the mother went into the tent to comfort her. On the other hand, one suspects, Ralphians were the first to posit the let-them-cry-themselves-out theory so as not to miss a turn at darts. Ralph and his ilk are avatars of the future, spawned in the Sixties and still chanting the mantra, "If it feels good, do it." The physical law of entropy tells us that a closed system eventually will disintegrate, and the Ralphians are evidence of that de-evolution of the human species. They've no concern for anything other than themselves, and they respect not even that. And sometime before the extinction event that will leave insects in charge of the planet, the Ralphs will rule. But until that time, you will find the anti-Ralphs at the far end of the campground, celebrating the sacrifice of some creature comfort in return for spiritual benefit. Close

I went up to Delaware U to visit a friend and was prepared for a relaxing, ie boring, weekend. I mean, who's heard of nightlife in Delaware? We went to Dewey Beach, and I have to admit, I was mistaken. This town swells to over…Read More

I went up to Delaware U to visit a friend and was prepared for a relaxing, ie boring, weekend. I mean, who's heard of nightlife in Delaware? We went to Dewey Beach, and I have to admit, I was mistaken. This town swells to over 20,000 people on the summer weekends. That is a lot of drunken people in a small area. If you want to party and are in your 20s or 30s, this place is for you. The only picture I have is of Delaware U, since I was too busy having fun at the beach.

Website: www.deweybeachlife.com

One of the joys of being at the ocean in the spring, is the changing weather. Instead of having to deal with heat, sand, and crowds, you can explore the beach and surrounding areas, and appreciate the quiet (except for the sound of the waves,…Read More

One of the joys of being at the ocean in the spring, is the changing weather. Instead of having to deal with heat, sand, and crowds, you can explore the beach and surrounding areas, and appreciate the quiet (except for the sound of the waves, of course). This was a first for me, and was probably one of the best and most relaxing visits to the ocean we've ever had.Close