Last Wednesday morning Lisa, Shawn and I jumped in the car for the 8 hour drive to Philadelphia. We made it to our hotel near the King of Prussia Mall about 10 miles from downtown at about 4:00pm and then rushed to see the historical sites before everything closed for the evening. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to explore downtown Philadelphia but we did manage to see the Liberty Bell, Freedom Hall, the first house of congress, Betsy Ross' home, the cemetery where Ben Franklin is buried and we made it to the mecca of the Cheese steak. The walk from the historical area to the area in the Italian Market area where Gino's and Pat's was about half a mile but since we were in Philly we had to sample the famous Philadelphia Cheese Steak. But since I taste tested both establishments, you don't have to. Neither Pat's or Gino's were close to spectacular. Both use the same bun, Gino's uses sliced beef while Pat's beef is chopped up. Both offer a choice of American, Provolone and Cheese Wiz (they call it Wiz) but Pat's does offer a few variations such as extra meat, or with mushrooms. At Gino's we split a Provolone with (means sandwich with onions and provolone) and at Pat's we went with the more traditional Wiz with. The winner was definitely Pat's. I wish I would have ordered at Gino's with Wiz so I was comparing apples to apples because I think the Wiz actually made the difference.
We never made it to the mall but from what I hear and what I could see, it is one of the largest malls in the U. S. We did make it to a Rock Bottom for a late night dinner though which was connected to the mall.
Thursday morning, I had a meeting with one of our larger customers that went very well and then off to the train station to pick up an Amtrak train into New York Penn Station. The train ride was enjoyable and is relatively short (1 hour 20 minutes). Our hotel was only a few blocks from the train station and we were able to check in right away which was a plus. We wandered around a bit and ended up at the Harry Potter exhibit at The Discovery Museum at Times Square. The exhibit was a bit on the pricy side; I think it was in the neighborhood of $85 for the three of us and it took us about 1-1/2 hour to tour it. There was a ton of props and costumes from the movie to check out and of course a gift shop at the end. How do they get away with charging $40 for a plastic replica wand that doesn't even cast spells? After the exhibit, we wandered around times square and Rockefeller Center then ate at Bill's Bar and Burgers. Burger were pretty tasty and the beer wasn't bad either. I found a local beer call Pork Slap Pale ale that was tasty. We wandered around a bit more and then headed back to the hotel to prepare for the marathon on Friday.
Friday morning we headed down to Central Park at 6am for the Good Morning America concert featuring the American Idol finalists. It was pretty interesting watching the television production. Funny how the stage manager would cue the audience to cheer and clap. Unfortunately, we only really heard 4 songs that they ended up singing over and over again for the television audience. We then strolled through the park and then took a subway to the World Trade Center Site. We ended up walking from the WTC to Battery Park to Wall Street to South Street Seaport to Chinatown over to Chelsea Market, shopping in Soho and then hopped a subway back to Rockefeller Center and the Lego store. I think we must have walked 15 miles that day. We headed back to the room to relax a bit and then wandered around some more looking for a restaurant that peaked our interest. We ended up in some bar a few blocks from Times Square and had just an okay meal. Finally as we walked through Times Square heading back to the room, we had a portrait done of Shawn by an older Oriental guy who did a really nice job. We did get taken a bit. The price started at $5 for a quick caricature to a $40 charcoal portrait with matting.
Saturday was the train back to Philadelphia and back in the car for the long haul home. We made it home just before 1am on Sunday morning. Sunday was recovery day to say the least.
Yesterday, we started Cody on allergy shots. I have to give him two shots currently every other day and as the concentration of the shot and amount increase I give them to him less frequently. Eventually we will work him up to two shots every 30 days. The first set of shots I purchased will last about 8 months and were a mere $229. I'll pay the $229 on the dog if it means he will stop scratching so had he bleeds and tracks it all over the house!
Shawn's first day of 5th grade was today and his first day of being a latch key kid! He was actually excited to go to school and see his friends. I'm sure the excitement will end tonight when he has his first homework assignment.
Friday, Lisa and I have an 80's dance to attend. We are dressing up retro and will try to post some pictures next week. I bought a new pair of boat shoes, some plaid shorts and a couple of rather loud polo shirts that I will layer and turn the color up on. Lisa's outfit is every changing so I'm not sure what she'll end up with other than rubber band bracelets and Madonna style fingerless gloves. I should be fun.
New York and Philadelphia trip pictures are located here.
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