Roadtrip to Philadelphia: The Way Home

 

Sunday morning I set my phone's alarm for 7 am, but Tiffy and I were up well before then. We ate our leftover cheesesteak sandwiches and had lattes down in the bar, and then we hit the road, stopping to use a bathroom at a gas station. They had lime Bang there, so I got a can, and hence I was very happy during Mass at Sacred Heart of Jesus in Cornwall, PA. (We had to do like an hour of research the day before to find a Mass along our route that had a parking lot and was at a reasonable time.) Then we got on the tollway and drove and drove, stopping at every rest stop. We got most of the way through Ohio, finding first one and then another AM station carrying the Packers game, and we stopped for the night in the same town we'd been in on the way out, Maumee. Then we watched the rest of the game on the TV in our hotel room. Despite all the unfair penalties against them, the Packers prevailed over the Cowboys. Yay!

When we had stopped for dinner at one of the oases, Tiffy had gone to Jimmy John's and gotten a sub, and they gave her a second one for free. She came to give it to me, but I had already ordered a Thai chicken rice bowl at another place, so we saved the sub and ate it for breakfast today. Looking out the window as we sipped our hotel coffee, I saw a chocolate-colored slug bug, and Tiffy said it did look like a giant chocolate drop.

It had a California license plate, but when I tried to blur the numbers, it just erased the whole license plate.

Yesterday at one of the Pennsylvania oases, there was a mini Amish market outside, so Tiffy and I bought cookies. They also had vegetables and pies, and there was a large shoo-fly pie and a small one, so I got the small one to bring home to Travalon. Today we also stopped at all the oases in Ohio and Indiana, and one on the highway in Chicago. We had a late lunch at Sooshibay, then we took a walk at Petrified Springs. Here I am in the outfit that a guy in the hotel this morning said was "Very colorful!"

Then I drove home on backroads to avoid the interstate, and that was wonderful and relaxing. I drove home, mostly unloaded my car, but left my big suitcase in it so Travalon could carry it up the stairs for me. But then I ended up having to drag the suitcase around the airport with me when I went in to return the car key and get a refund on the $10/day we were supposed to pay for our toll transponder that didn't work. Travalon came and picked me up, then we had my first home-cooked meal in days and shoo-fly pie for dessert as we told each other about our week apart. He got to hang out with his high-school buddy one night and Cecil Markovitch and the Single B-Boy another night, and then he and Cecil went to La Crosse to watch trains and check out the fall colors on Saturday. On Sunday he went to Rochelle to watch trains. Two things I forgot to blog about were the Amish who were a little more modernized, like they'd be driving a tractor, and my favorite was a young man on a bike, wearing the traditional hat and a high-vis vest. The other thing was the Indian wedding going on at the hotel we stayed at in Philly - there were lots of women in saris and men in traditional outfits with orange stoles with goats on them. On Saturday morning they were outside the front of the hotel, dancing around in the cold to Bollywood music - we could see them out our window. And then - a third thing - early yesterday morning a bunch of beauty pageant women were gathering in the lobby of our hotel, like Miss Philadelphia, Miss Pennsylvania, and Ms. Pennsylvania. Tiffy wondered how anyone could look that perfect that early in the morning.

The tiny tube of toothpaste I got with the travel toothbrush from the Benefits Fair last week actually lasted for the whole trip!

Isn't it adorable? And I wondered if the stuffed flag would glow under blacklight.

Answer: kind of? The red stripes don't glow, but the red edge does. Also, I think I forgot to answer the question of whether the Brewers won their game. They did, and they will be in the World Series! Our college friend is a season ticket holder, so she can get Tiffy a ticket for just a few hundred dollars. If you have to buy one on the open market, they are several thousand. Travalon looked into it, but we can't afford to go at those prices.

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Tiffy's Niece's Wedding

 

I forgot to mention that yesterday, as we were riding the bus into the city, we saw what I thought was a tourist bus with people on the top hollering. Then we realized they were throwing T-shirts down to the people on the street, and those people were running into the middle of the street to catch them. It was people from the 76ers basketball team doing this, and I hoped we'd see them when we got off the bus, so maybe I could get a free T-shirt, but we never saw them again.

Today Tiffy and I had a lazy morning. We eventually went down to the lobby to get coffee and some food, and we saw some people from her brother-in-law's family who said they were going to the closest place to get a Philly cheesesteak. We all admired this mural in the bar area.

Tiffy and I decided to walk there, since it was only about a mile, but it was a harrowing walk with lots of traffic so we decided to get an Uber back. The Philly cheesesteak was supposed to be a six-inch sandwich, but there were two halves, so we each saved a half. We did see this sign on our walk: Hamp On!

The big thing we did today was go to Tiffy's niece's wedding. It was in a park with an inn, and we all had to pile on a big yellow school bus to get there. Worse, we'd all been told that the bus was leaving at 4:15, but the bus driver herself had been told we were leaving at 4:05, so we had to beg her to wait for several people who thought they weren't late. It was a very long, beautiful, but harrowing drive to this park, and then it was cold so I had to wear my hoodie over my carefully curated flapperesque outfit.

It kind of ruined the effect, but I wasn't going to freeze out there. Too bad it wasn't warm like yesterday. The setting was so beautiful.

The cake was so beautiful.

Tiffy's niece made her own wedding dress. It was a Quaker ceremony, so people would stand up and say something when they felt inspired. I wasn't going to say anything, but I thought of how I was the "responsible adult" one time years ago when the niece was a little girl and wanted to canoe with her friend, so I went out with them. So I got up and told that story, adding that Travalon and I had bought a canoe right after we were married and someone said it was the perfect metaphor for a marriage, because you have to have balance and work together. Then I wished the couple a very stable canoe and sat back down. Tiffy said, "You would have made Pa Hat proud!" and many other people commented that they really liked my story, including the happy couple. 

Remember Cherry Minnie? She's the one who invented Tiffy's blog name. She was there in her own wedding gown!

Tiffy gave her to her niece on her third birthday. After the wedding we all signed the certificate, and then I asked the trio playing Irish trad music if they could play both Ballydesmond polkas, so they did. We ate dinner under a big tent with heat lamps, and then after dinner there was a caeli with the Irish band playing, and one of them calling. Tiffy and I danced, and so did a lot of other people, and one guy knocked over a heat lamp. I met a lot of people I may never see again who were great company, and we had wonderful conversations. We were all stuck there until the bus would take us back at almost 11:00, but then Tiffy's brother, sister-in-law, and niece (not the one getting married) decided they wanted to leave around 9:30, so they called an Uber, and we all got into it. The driver was from the Dominican Republic and very friendly. Tiffy and I also had a very friendly Uber driver this afternoon. I have to say the Uber drivers in Philadelphia all seem great.

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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!

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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!

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