Niko in the City of Brotherly Love

 

This morning I packed my shamrock fanny pack with my wallet, my sunglasses, and Niko, and then Tiffy and I figured out how to use the Philadelphia bus system. The stop was right by our hotel room, and you can use your credit card to pay. This sign by the bus stop looks like it says "Sin City."

We went to the old part of the city, where we saw a cute trolley and waited in line forever to see the Liberty Bell. The guard told me it would have rung in E flat.

Such cool old buildings!

And modern stuff too!

We went to the Reading Terminal Market and had soft pretzels, which were chewier than the ones I've had before but very delicious, and the best latte I've ever had. Then we went to Chinatown.

We both had noodles with seafood. Our (nonalcoholic) drinks were so pretty.

Then we went to the mint, which had lots of cool stuff. Here are some photos.

At the end we got free bags of shredded money. Then we walked to Elfreth's Alley, which is a narrow street with houses preserved from the 18th century.

We also went to the Betsy Ross house and bought some stuff in the gift shop. Here we are in front of Independence Hall.

Then we caught the bus back to our hotel. Oh yeah, on the way into the city, we saw a train way up on an elevated track, and then their light rail train came along and blocked our view of it.

Here is some stuff I got today. A stuffed American flag.

I got yet another bucket hat, but this one's patriotic.

A couple of magnets and the shredded money.

I've been keeping up with my DuoLingo too.

This evening we took an Uber with some of Tiffy's family members to another hotel where a lot of the other wedding guests are staying. There was a pre-wedding party with food and drink, and there were people there I hadn't seen in a long time, and people I'd never met before who were fun to get to know. Tomorrow is the big day!

Famous Hat

Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy

 

I remember what I was going to blog about yesterday: we passed a house that someone had painted: "Bob the I in Kind" on, and I was puzzled until looking again and realizing it said: "Be the I in Kind." So I was going to call the post "Bob the I in Kind," but I could not recall the story yesterday evening while blogging.

We wondered if our room had a poltergeist because we kept hearing strange sounds, like someone was trying to break in the door. I thought I saw a piece of white cloth fall, and even heard it, so I went over to check, but there was nothing there. Tiffy pointed out it was probably light reflecting off the plastic over her dress, which was moving from the ventilation in the room, and the sound was probably the plastic flapping. That was fine, but then after the Brewers won she turned off the TV and we went to bed... and then the TV began to flash. She unplugged it, and we slept soundly with no more incidents.

Today we thought we were too late for the hotel breakfast, but it didn't matter because we had our leftover Chipotle to eat. I was so enamored of the view out the windows of our hotel that Tiffy didn't push the button for the elevator.

But suddenly the elevator opened, and nobody was on it. That was convenient, but when we were checking out, a floor below us was lit up like someone had pushed the button... BUT NOBODY WAS ON THE ELEVATOR. Oh, and there was still food left at breakfast, so we had that and our leftovers.

I did get a video of the beautiful foliage as we drove along.

We drove past State College, and wow is that gorgeous! We could see the Penn State campus up on the top of a hill, but it was too quick for me to get a photo. We drove to Harrisburg but couldn't find a place to park, so we just took photos of the Capitol from the car.

That second one was taken by Tiffy. I'm sure it's lovely inside, but where do people park? 

We drove to the Dutch Haven in Lancaster, but it was already 2:30 in the afternoon and we hadn't eaten lunch yet, so we went to the restaurant next door. Even at that hour we had to wait, but it was a delicious buffet with fresh chicken and lots of vegetables. Everything was so tasty, because it was probably really fresh. They had TONS of desserts, but I was only going to take the apple pan dowdy to go with the shoo-fly pie (like the song); however, I had to try little bites of some of the other stuff too. So then we went for a walk before having the shoo-fly pie, and I saw this weird little cloud. Or is it steam?

Then we went back to Dutch Haven, and I got the classic shoo-fly pie while Tiffy got the chocolate shoo-fly pie. I really liked it, and I can't compare it to anything I've ever had before. They heated it up for us and put lots of whipped cream on it, so it was a little like a very gooey molasses cookie with a crust, covered in whipped cream. Then I shopped there a little, getting Travalon a shirt that says "Intercourse, Pennsylvania" and just what I needed for myself - another bucket hat. But it's tie-dyed and matched my Key West shirt. Here I am in front of Dutch Haven.

We went shopping some more, and one place advertised "quillows," which I assumed were quilted pillows, so I got one.

But it unfolds to be a quilt! That's nothing to see - it's just dark green. We walked around and saw lots of other stuff too, like very old buildings and very old gas pumps.

And I found this colorful dead bug which is apparently invasive.

Then we drove some back roads where things looked exactly like paintings I've seen of Amish Country, heading toward King of Prussia. The traffic was really bad outside of Philly, so the phone suggested an alternate way that took us across a flooded road. It was really scenic though, going through Bryn Mawr, which is apparently where the wealthy people live. I really had to powder my nose, so we stopped at a Wawa that was not a gas station, just a convenience store, and it didn't have a bathroom. Finally we got to the hotel and used the bathroom quickly before checking in. The people who work at this hotel are very friendly, and the view outside of our room is so pretty.

Then we went for a short walk to find the bus stops near our hotel, and we found some lit-up buildings.

We went down to the bar for a late, light dinner (I just had hummus and falafel), and we watched the Brewers. Then we got tired, so we moved up to the room. Our TV doesn't show that station, so Tiffy is watching them on her phone and updating me. If they win this game, they will be in the World Series for the first time since 1981!

Famous Hat

Roadtrip to Philadelphia: Days 1 and 2

 

Yesterday there wasn't much to say, so I didn't blog. Travalon brought me to the airport to pick up my rental car, then I drove to Tiffy's house, and after lunch at Sooshi Bay we went to the car rental place nearby to get her added to the contract so she could drive too. Then we drove, stopping for dinner at an oasis, until we got to Maumee, Ohio, outside of Toledo. We got to the hotel seven minutes after the pool closed, so we just went to bed. The one annoyance was that I had gotten a I-Pass from the rental car place, but it didn't work, so we just had to pay all the tolls.

Today we found a way to go that avoided the tolls, and was that ever scenic! The fall colors are at their peak now. At one point we were right behind a tow truck that looked a lot like the little train engine in Tomahawk.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Galaxy, thinking that sounded interesting, but it was just a sports bar. The food was fine, but what I really loved was this weeping redbud outside.

That was in Wadsworth, Ohio, and we were going to go for a walk in a nearby park, but when I put the address in, it just brought us somewhere downtown. So I put the name of the park in, and it said it was permanently closed. Huh? So we took a short walk downtown and found this cute clock.

Just as I was taking a picture of it, it suddenly started to play "Volare" with chimes.

There was also a lovely Lutheran church.

And this very opinionated vehicle.

Sorry that I don't have any photos of the stunning foliage, but it wouldn't have worked that well from a moving car. Maybe a short video would have worked - I can try that tomorrow. There were a couple of things I said were blogworthy besides the Volare Clock, but now we're having trouble remembering what they were. Tiffy's phone kept calling the Ohio Turnpike the "East West Ohio Turnpike East," or something like that, and we passed some signs for extremely long memorial highway names. Right now we are in Bellafonte, Pennsylvania, and I took a vigorous rosary walk around our hotel, but it was challenging because the sidewalks kept petering out. Tiffy is watching the Brewers, and I need to do DuoLingo. I've been trying to keep up with it. It put this message on my home screen today.

Wish I could remember what I was going to call this blog post. Guess I'll call it something boring and descriptive.

Famous Hat

What I Asked For

 

Today was my last day at work for a week... or a year? Last week at our department admin meeting, my coworker changed my comment on the meeting agenda to say I was leaving for a year's vacation, just to see if our boss would notice (not my actual boss anymore), and he didn't, so I guess I'm good! Last Monday I sent an email to the whole department saying I'd be gone the next week so please get things to me right away, but it was eerily quiet. Too quiet. Then this morning I came in to find a whole bunch of requests. Fortunately my colleague in FART 5 can handle these requests, and we had a meeting today to talk about them, and then we went for a walk outside. It was very hot, so she cut the walk short. 

On my way home, I stopped at Walgreens to pick up a few things for my trip. The cashier asked if I would like a bag, and I said sure, but then she didn't give me one. Finally I asked for one, and she said, "I did ask if you wanted one," and I said, "Yes, you did, and I said yes." Her response? "Interesting." I chalk it up to a long day, and the woman before me in line not wanting one, but now I'm thinking she believes I was lying. When I told Tiffy this story, she told me about how once she was at a restaurant with her family, and her brother ordered a steak. She told the waitress, "I'll have the same thing," and she got salmon. I didn't think either of us mumbled...

Travalon went to Governor Nelson State Park before work and took some photos.

The colors are really starting to get good around here. I'll miss the peak, but maybe we'll see some fabulous colors on the long drive to Philadelphia.

Famous Hat