{"id":298,"date":"2017-04-03T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T19:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/2017\/04\/03\/program-visit-vafo\/"},"modified":"2017-04-03T15:55:00","modified_gmt":"2017-04-03T19:55:00","slug":"program-visit-vafo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/2017\/04\/03\/program-visit-vafo\/","title":{"rendered":"Program Visit: VAFO"},"content":{"rendered":"

ProRanger Stephanie Hudson was the only ProRanger this summer to get a visit from not one, not two, but from three members of the ProRanger Program staff!  <\/span>One hot summer morning in July, Adrian Fernandez, Tony Luongo and I met at nearby Valley Forge National Historical Park for a visit.<\/p>\n

After a tour of the Visitor Center and a screening of the park\u2019s movie, we headed to park headquarters for meetings.  <\/span> <\/div>\n
It was great to meet with long time program supporters!  <\/span> <\/span>After interviews with Chief Ranger Mike Valora, Supervisory Ranger Lofton Wiley, we presented the program plaque to Acting Superintendent Pat Madden.<\/div>\n
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Luongo, Fernandez, Hudson, Wiley and Valora outside headquarters<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Stephanie had clearly done her homework and planned a visit to the park that covered a lot of ground that none of us had ever seen!   <\/span>We saw several areas of the park where Stephanie has been working and also checked out the Bone Cave and some ruins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Checking out some ruins<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Stephanie shows us how to identify crawfish<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The \u201cCrayfish Corps\u201d at Valley Forge works to remove invasive crawfish species from the Valley Creek.  <\/span>So, we donned waders and joined the corps!  <\/span>Stephanie taught us how to catch the crawfish, determine if they were native or invasive, and to remove or release them as appropriate.  <\/span>She kept a careful count of efforts for the park\u2019s resource management staff.  <\/span>We also had a little friendly competition amongst ourselves (I don\u2019t want to brag, so I won\u2019t tell you who won!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Cool water on a hot day!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
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Measuring our catch<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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A private carillon concert up close and personal!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Crayfishing in the cool water on a hot day seemed like the highlight of the day.  <\/span>But, Stephanie had one more surprise for us.  <\/span>There is a church, Washington Memorial Chapel, that is encircled by VAFO, but not actually part of the park.  <\/span>The carillonneur, Doug Gefvert, took us on a tour of the chapel.  The chapel houses the Justice Bell, which is a replica of the Liberty Bell commissioned by suffragists – the bell’s clapper was chained to remain silent until women were permitted the right to vote.<\/p>\n

On the Veterans Wall of Honor, I was excited to find the name of my great-(not sure how many greats to put in there)-grandfather, Abraham Miller, a Revolutionary War soldier who was part of the winter encampment at Valley Forge.  Finally, we<\/span> ascended the carillon tower for a better view and got to watch up close as the carillonneur played a private concert for us.  <\/span>Well, as private as an instrument that broadcasts its music from a tower can be!  If you’ve never seen a carillon played before, it is quite amazing to watch!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Fernandez, Hudson and McGarvey at the end of the day!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
Since it was well into the evening, all the offices and conference rooms we closed, so we finished up the day with a meeting in Valley Forge\u2019s [air conditioned!] gym!  <\/span><\/div>\n
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Up next:  <\/span>OZAR<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ProRanger Stephanie Hudson was the only ProRanger this summer to get a visit from not one, not two, but from three members of the ProRanger…<\/p>\n

Continue readingProgram Visit: VAFO<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,75,74,83,63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-80","category-adrian-fernandez","category-anthony-luongo","category-valley-forge-nhp","category-vicki-lewis-mcgarvey","entry"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Paul Paire","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/author\/paire\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/prorangerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}