Philadelphia, PA New York City, NY and Springfield/NorthHampton, MAA

Ode to Rollerblading

There is the Liberty Bell through the glass

Recently we have hit some major cities here in the US. Anna and I have been pretty burned out so I hoped that these places could serve as a place to recharge and regain a sense of vigor for the road. In New York we had booked a few days at a Hotel so I knew we would have some good accommodations while we explored the Big Apple.

Streets of Philly kiid

More Philly ya hear?

First we must address Philadelphia. We had planned on going to Baltimore, Maryland but the weather was horrible and we had no idea what would be good to see in Baltimore. We ended up just zipping by and seeing what the city looked like, nothing special. onward up to Pennsylvania. As we made our way up the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song kept popping into our heads and we would spontaneously just start singing it over and over. I've noticed if there are some type of song or saying associated with a location that I am close to or on the way to I often will find myself muttering it over over just to occupy myself. It was fun and who doesn't like singing that song?

Cutie being cute

Ben Franklin was assigned that spot
at the church

I was hoping that Philadelphia would be a great experience. I really don't know much about the town but know that a lot has happened there. They have the Liberty Bell there and apparently Ben Franklin called it home and was buried there. They are known for their Philly Cheese steaks hence being named after the town. We knew we had to see the Liberty Bell, go to Love Park and get a Cheese steak, other than that anything could happen.

Ben Franklin's Grave

Nom Nom on dem
Tasty Kakes

We parked and started to make our way around the town. Anna and I agreed that the feel and look of the town was exactly what we imagined Philly to be like. We first headed to the Liberty Bell. Turned out everyone goes to the Liberty Bell. The line to go see it was huge! So long I knew I had no desire to wait. We could see the Bell through a window anyways. You couldn't see the crack very well but enough where I was satiated. We took a pic and were on our way. From here we mostly meandered. We ended up walking down a street and getting to the River that separated Pennsylvania from New Jersey. At a park right by the water was a memorial that commemorated all the struggles Irish emigrants went through. It described the potato famine and all the challenges they had in the new world. The Irish were mistreated basically. We headed back and now our destination was to go see Ben Franklin's grave and Love Park.

There Lady Liberty be!

Streets of Manhattan

We saw the church where Ben Franklin attended and then walked over to Love Park which is right by City Hall. This has a special place in my heart because there has been a lot of footage shot here from rollerblading. I wanted to see all the skate spots see how big they are and get a pic with the Love sign. Once we got to the park I texted Buddy to let him know and then he told me he always wanted to go there and try Tasty Kakes, Water Ice, and a Cheese Steak. I had no idea what were Tasty Kakes and Water Ice. I felt like I had to experience those so we went on the hunt. Tasty Kakes is a brand that makes different baked goods like donuts, pasteries, etc. Bought that and then Water Ice is just a snow cone and it was cold so I didn't feel the need to get that. Before we left the town we of course got ourselves that Cheese Steak. According to Yelp there was a really great spot towards the North West part of Philly so that is where we headed. The place was just a corner store pretty compact and it was sooooooo good. They had a bunch of things you could add to it but you don't want to over do it with those things. Anna and I each got one and they were quite large. With bellies full and satisfied we found a Wal-Mart to spend the night at.

From the Jewish Deli
Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese
on an everything Bagel

Wall Street where our economy
fell to it's knees!

The weather ended up being horrible. There were severe weather warnings for tornadoes but according to my weather program we fell outside the danger zone. The rain was dumping and the lightning would strike ever so often. Then the sirens started to go off. I was stressing badly on what exactly those meant. In Sacramento we don't have those so I didn't know how severe or the type of warning it was. The warnings we had on the weather program were possible flooding from higher than normal tides, which I was pretty sure we were in an area where we were ok from that. Then the warning about tornadoes but that didn't extend to Philadelphia. I doubted they would ring the sirens if it was the flood thing so I was worried that it was referring to tornadoes. I went inside the Wal-Mart and asked a guy saying, "Ummm, I'm not from around here... What are those sirens about? Do I need to be worried?"

Memorializing the FDNY and NYPD of
the Sept 11 disaster

Time Square playboy!

He responded with, "Usually they are because of fires." .... great.... I know it has nothing to do with fires the rain was absolutely dumping. I go up to some other employees on break outside I approach them and ask the same question and the just turn away and don't say anything, ignoring me.... yeaaahh customer service. Nothing came of the sirens except for me stressing for most of the night and Anna not being too worried about it. It is funny how a couple can balance each other. In Raleigh she was worried about the warnings and I was chill and in Philly vice versa. Turns out we got out of North Carolina just in time. Don't know if all you know but they had like 150 tornadoes about a week and a half after we left and there has been tons of damage.

This is GE's building which is 30 Rock

Anna and I have had to deal with a bunch of severe weather over here which is not something we are used to. It is actually really draining on us during the trip. As I have said before rain really gets in the way and these past few weeks have been on and off really bad weather. Without a warm bed and a fresh shower everyday you really just long for Sunny California and home. Yea sure we could snuggle and try and keep each other warm but with us being together always we are constantly butting heads. Not to say we are having relationship troubles it is just that not only do we have to deal with environmental challenges but the challenges of working together to accomplish the task of traveling to a location and everything that goes along with it. Since a lot of this trip is improvisational we can have different ideas of how to go about something and that can lead to some bruised egos. Anna and I are getting to know each other in a different way than before. We were married for 3 years before this yet I feel like I am gaining access deeper into her psychy than ever before.

On the Ferry to Staten Island

Grand Central Station

Finally to New York. I was really excited about this place. We had a long list of must sees here and we would be spending 3 days here. Luckily Anna's cousin lives in NYC. We knew he could give us some suggestions and kinda serve as a crutch while we meandered NYC. We rolled into Staten Island about noon after paying 16 bucks worth of tolls rolling through New Jersey and New York. In this part of the country it is unavoidable to escape tolls. The roads are just as crappy if not more crappy and you also have to pay to drive on em. Necessary evil but we check in get situated and then their shuttle took us to the Staten Island Ferry which dumps ya right into Manhattan. Navigating initially was stressful and we were kinda like chickens with our heads cut off. Eventually we made it to Anna's cousin's Apt in the East Village. He was watching his fiance's son for the day so he met us outside and we headed to a park. He got us familiar to the different parts of NYC and good places to check out. We ended up hitting up a Jewish Deli and getting some Ukranian coffee. The streets of NY are so close to the way they are portrayed in movies. You have hot dog carts all over cars/taxis zipping by honking and tons of people walking. It was an exciting experience. We got out of the dreary weather and headed inside Noah's Apt till his fiance got off work. We socialized for awhile then it was time to jump back on the subway to jump on the ferry then meet up our shuttle to the hotel. About an hour and a half of traveling to get to the shuttle finally and we passed out in a luxurious bed.

Water Reseviour in Central Park shot towards the West Side
of Manhattan

The second day is where we hit up the big sites. We went to Central park, the World Trade Center, Wall Street, 30 Rock, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Time Square. When we got to Time Square, which is a huge tourist area, a guy succeeded in selling us some comedy show tickets. No prob we knew it would end up being quite a bit of money but as long as I laugh I am cool. After hitting some of the big things we laid low at Noah's until it was time to jump on the subway to where the comedy club was. Pretty late in the second day we soon felt like pro's navigating the town. The show was funny and we had some nice drinks but for 4 drinks the bill was $53! ouch and now back to the hotel at midnight. We got to Staten Island too late for the shuttle to pick us up, so we had to go by Taxi which was $24 when all said and done. I calculated and just making the decision to go to the Comedy Club was an extra $100 bucks for the day. I knew we would end up spending quite a bit in NY so I wasn't too mad at myself for that though it is always nice to have money :) Food wise we had a NY Slice, and I had an Italian Sausage dog from a cart and we had a Knish oustide The Met. All the food was very good.



On the third day we didn't feel so obligated to see things. We hadn't seen the Empire state building so we wanted to do that and maybe check out Central park more but that was it nothing more we stressed about. We got to the Empire state building after stopping by Grand Central Station and headed inside. $21 to go to the top and we decided that looking up at it was good enough for us instead of looking down. Went to Macy's on 34th Street which is the biggest store in the world apparently. Then we jumped on the subway and headed to Harlem which is on the north part of Central park. We walked along Central park and saw Harlem then headed down Central Park more on the Eastside. We did a ton of walking and once we finally got to the bottom we were both starving. We knew we wanted to get a Kabob, a Falafel and another NY Slice. We finally tracked down a cart that had a Kabob and Falafel. We were so hungry that after eating those we were still very hungry. Time to get a NY Slice. On our way to a hole in the wall place we saw a nicer Pizza joint that would serve full sized pizza instead of by the slice. We decided to go for the whole pie. The pie was great and we were happy. From there we headed back to Staten Island and were quite happy with our time in NYC.

Reseviour again towards the East Side of Manhattan

Belvidere Castle in Central Park

From NYC we followed Noah to their place in Springfield, MA. Drove through Connecticut and the scenery is changing once again. We haven't had mountains in the longest time but there were actually some hills. It was stupid windy on the way there and Maander was getting pushed really badly. We finally made it and made ourselves at home at Noah's and Chiala's. Yesterday we spent most of the day in a place called North Hampton which was recommended to us by Chiala, a native of Massachusetts. It was a nice place with a bohemian feel to it. We went to some Antique stores which was really interesting because there is so much history in this area.

North Hampton, MA
not the most scenic view of the town, sorry

We just rolled into Boston and the rain is going like crazy. It is supposed to rain the whole time we are here and Anna isn't happy about it. It looks like once we get back from our week in Sacramento we will just be zipping back home as best we can. This has been an amazing experience even though we feel like we have now, "experienced" the road. When we get back to Pittsburgh on May 10th I hope that the weather has decided to stay summer and there isn't any severe weather we have to deal with. Getting back to the wilderness will be interesting and I hope we can appreciate it even though we want to be home.