Did you guys know that Pennsylvania is super hilly? Well, we did not. I remember driving to the Warwick Hills campground in Warwick, Pennsylvania, that was located just 45 minutes outside of Philadelphia, and being surprised by the winding roads and huge hills that turned into rolling hills when we were almost to Warwick.
Funnily enough (well, at least I thought it was funny- Tyler did not), I somehow selected a setting in our phone’s GPS/navigation to avoid highways so you could say that we took the backroads to our campground. I thought it was nice, however, since we got to see what felt like thousands of horses, which led me to look up that Pennsylvania has more horses than people in its state- isn’t that interesting?
Anyway, we got to our pretty empty campground (since the off-season had just begun) and to our surprise, it had a terrifically strong wifi connection. YAY! It even allowed us to stream episodes of Selfridges that my friend Chris got us started us on when he sent us the first season.
Back to Pennsylvania- right when we crossed the state border, the architecture, particularly in the country, turned Dutch real quick. That’s the beauty of an epic road-trip such as this, by visiting all states, you begin to pick up on the differences and subtleties, while also noticing consistencies.
After having a day to settle into our new site and explore the area, visiting an adorable coffee shop in a nearby town and going for a walk through the country, we went to visit the Navy Yard where FS Investments, our Pennsylvania sponsor, is located. I’m not sure how to explain the investment firm except that it’s what dreams are made of. That might have come across as a bit dramatic; let me try again. FS Investments invests more than just for their clients; they invest in their employees. A company that “get’s it,” they understand that healthy and happy people will lead to better work performances and an inspiring work environment.
Vice President of Design for FS Investments and AIGA Philadelphia’s President, Christine Sheller welcomed and showed us around the company’s new building that included beautiful works of art from the owner’s personal collection, innovative conference and work rooms, a gym with on-site trainers, a cafeteria with a team of chefs that makes an assortment of delicious and healthy meals, and my personal favorite: SNACK STATIONS with coffee, fruit infused water, packaged snacks like Lara Bars and (beans), and fridges stocked with La Croix, chia pudding, and freshly made energy bites.
I think I got a little side-tracked by the food. In all seriousness, you could really feel the positive vibes of the place and I never thought I’d say that about an investment firm. Breaking the mold, I tell ya.
After a delicious lunch with Christine, Manager of Corporate Communications Mia Fioravanti who helped coordinate FS Investment’s sponsorship, and Video Producer Endrit Faslliaj, we decided to go explore more of the Navy Yard.
Skip this paragraph if you’re not into super cool tidbits that you can use to impress people you meet. A little history of Philadelphia’s Naval Shipyard: The original shipyard on Front Street was founded in 1776. Yep, like, the year this country was founded.
It officially became a Naval Shipyard site in 1801 when the Navy was born (“I didn’t know I was pregnant!” said the United States) and for years it was the production center of various vessels, including ships for the war of 1812 and the Civil War, but as ironclad ships became the norm, facilities needed to expand and the whole shebang moved to its current location on League Island.
As you can imagine, WWII was a bustling time for the shipyard as tens of thousands of people built and repaired warships, but when the war was done, well, then came the yard’s decline. Through the years and America’s wars, shipbuilding started to be contracted out to private companies and as the number of workers lowered to a few thousand in the 90s, it was closed in 1995.
The Navy still conducts business there; there are Naval support entities with the craziest acronyms (NAVFAC MIDLANT PWD PA and NISMF- OH, MILITARY, YOU AND YOUR ACRONYMS) that do things like maintenance and whatnot. Now the Navy Yard is home to more than a hundred companies, including FS Investments, and its continuing to develop.
