It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Sunday we left New York City and made it to Philadelphia within a few hours. We initially tried to get a hotel room and stay there the night, but we ran into many hotels with no availability or high rates for places that were normally very reasonable. We weren't sure the reason, but one of the hotels we stopped at was right by the baseball stadium and there was a game getting ready to start as we were pulling up. The irony was that they were playing the Oakland Athletics (go A's!)! Kyle had put on his "Philadelphia" shirt which gives homage to one of his favorite shows It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but the thing we never anticipated was that his green shirt might be mistaken for an Oakland Athletics team gear (he got some interesting looks, and as we understand it Phillies fans are some of the most ruthless)! As headed downtown we passed through the streets of South Philly and all its glory: Philly cheese steak stands with enormous lines into the streets, the Italian market with fresh fruit and vegetable karts, one way streets that run into other one way streets, and brick row houses. After finding parking we walked downtown and saw Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed, a small brick building amongst tall sky scrapers. We would have liked to see the Liberty Bell up close, but the line was about a mile long and we could see it through the glass wall of the building, so we called that “good enough” and I got a photo as proof that we have seen it. We took in the city, had lunch, then headed out of town, south towards Washington DC. Sunday we went through 5 states: Starting in New York, then New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and eventually landing in Maryland, just outside the District of Columbia. We got a hotel for 2 nights so we could wake up early and hit the historical sites of DC.

The skyline of Philly across the Delaware River

South Philly

the line for Philly cheese steaks

this is the neighborhood we parked in

these row houses were right by Independence Hall

Independence Hall, getting a little renovation work on the bell tower

Independence Hall from a distance (you can really see the renovation on the top)

The line on the right of the photo is the line to see the Liberty Bell

The Liberty Bell

The Philly skyline from the west

Susquehanna River

The Big Apple

Yesterday we left Brooklyn, NY after a fun-filled, action-packed two days in NYC. After going back and forth about a dozen times about whether or not to drive into the city or leave the van outside of the city and take a train in, we decided to put our apprehensions aside and fair the traffic into The Big Apple… and it wasn't without a few stressful moments. Not only did we run into a height problem on several roads leaving Connecticut (we are not 100% sure how tall the van is with the sky box on top, but it’s probably somewhere in the 8’ – 8’6” range, but for sure under 9’ because we successfully went under a 9 foot over pass) causing us to take several random scenic routes, but the bridge from the Bronx to Queens was being worked on which meant lanes were narrowed and closed, then once we got into Queens the traffic came to a complete standstill on the freeway long enough for cars to start off-roading over medians and making the shoulders into extra lanes. But we finally made into Brooklyn and found parking on the street where my old friend from Sophomore year in High School, Kira, and her husband Nino and their 6 month old daughter, Olivia live and where we would be staying the next two nights. Once parked our stress level went down about 95%. We grabbed lunch at Bark, a cutting edge hot dog shop that grills their dogs and the buns in butter… so there is no question as to why this was by far the best hot dog I have ever had (thanks to Kira for the recommendation). After that we made our comical subway debut by taking the first train the wrong direction, then after getting turned back around and going the right direction, letting our next train come and go as we stood there unsure of our decisions… but we eventually got where we were trying to go, which was the Museum of Metropolitan Art or The Met. The Met was simply amazing. We could have spent 3 days there, but we only spent 3 hours. We didn’t see the whole thing, but the exhibits we did see were fantastic. We spent most of our time in the Ancient Egypt/Nubian wing which included the Temple of Dendur. We may never get the chance to go to Egypt, so this really felt like the next best thing. My other favorite was the modern art exhibit and specifically Georgia O’Keefe’s florals, which are some of my favorite art ever and give me some of my best inspiration. I was also able to check off seeing a Pablo Picasso painting from my bucket list. On Saturday we spent the day in Brooklyn with Kira – which was cool because she is a friend I had semi lost touch with after she transferred schools in 10^th grade and then went far away to college at NYU, but in the last several years we have reconnected. So she showed us some local favorites including the Grand Army Greenmarket (or Farmer’s Market), New York Pizza under the Brooklyn bridge, a walk in the park along the Hudson River with great views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty and finally dinner at her parent’s house, which was a treat because they are a family of chefs. A special thanks to Judy and Robert, Kira’s parents, for having us over for dinner Saturday night and for the delicious shark & steak tacos. And an even bigger thank you to Kira and Nino de Paola for letting us stay while visiting what many consider to be the greatest city in the world.

The traffic going across the bridge from the Bronx to Queens

The Temple of Dendur

Georgia O'Keefe

Pablo Picasso

I am not sure who did this stained glass,

but I couldn't take my eyes off it

Kira & Nino's apartment complex

The Brooklyn Library, near the farmer's market

Grand Army Plaza

The Greenmarket at Grand Army Plaza

Judy (Kira's mom), Kira, Olivia and me at the Greenmarket

The Brooklyn Bridge

Lower Manhattan

Also lower Manhattan

The Brooklyn Bridge going into Manhattan

The Statue of Liberty

And us, in the Big Apple!

Paradise In Connecticut

Completely by chance we found this wonderful private campground in Clinton, Connecticut called Riverdale Campgrounds where we stayed for 3 nights. We tried to get a site at a state park close by but they were full, so we ended up at this place and it turned out to be a really cool spot. Our site was at the very end of the property, right on the Hammonasset River, with our own dock. While there we witnessed a beaver in the early morning swimming in the fishing hole by our campsite, a blue heron fishing for dinner, a family of geese, an owl catching breakfast, several trout jumping out of the water for bugs and a variety of smaller birds. In addition, when the wind blew in the right direction we got the sweet smell of honeysuckle from a huge bush across the river. It felt like we were in paradise. We took in the summer activities including fishing, playing bocce ball & cards, sun bathing, and of course, BBQing! We considered ourselves lucky for being graced with good weather, but it didn't last the whole time. Our last day there it rained all day and all night. Today we got a hotel in New Haven (home of Yale University) so we could let our stuff dry before taking a train to New York City for 2 nights.

Our camp site in Clinton, Connecticut

The river was right by our site

"our dock"

Kyle trying his luck...

he caught one blue gill, but that was about it.

I had no luck at all!

He decided to get in...

And it got deep

playing cards

The family of geese

There they go!

Wompatuck State Park

I meant to post these photos from where we camped in Boston prior to the Cape Cod post...

There were ponds all over the park and you could hear frogs any time of day or night.

It was very wooded and lush

with miles of bike trails

Our campsite

I was playing around with night shots

and long exposures and got a couple shots I liked.

This was the other...

P Town

Yesterday we left Hingham, Massachusetts and headed towards Cape Cod with the intention of going to Martha’s Vineyard for the day and possibly overnight. Once we arrived at Cape Cod we found camping at Nickerson State Park, which is on the bay coast about halfway to the end of the island. Kyle and I decided to stay there for the night and play the next day by ear. We spent the rest of the day driving up the island, stopping for raw oysters and shrimp cocktail, and eventually landed in “P Town” which is what the natives, locals and even the tourists call Provincetown. What’s the difference between natives and locals you ask? Well, we learned yesterday, that a native is someone whose ancestry is from Cape Cod and basically the pilgrims who came here on the Mayflower – they also distinguish themselves by tying a rope to their front bumper. As badly as I wanted to see an Amish horse buggy when we were in New York, I wanted to see this too with my own eyes… but I did not get the fortune of seeing the infamous bumper rope. A local is someone born here but whose extended family is from somewhere else (clearly not a true native). And, obviously, a tourist is not from there at all. We stopped to check the rate on one of the adorable, tiny, one room cottages that sit on the sand dunes with a clear view of the bay ($135 a night) and the woman who owned the establishment followed me out to the van while I told Kyle the price, and as soon as she saw the van said in a heavy east coast accent, “Well, you sure ARE a tourist!” I guess we kind of stand out. I would describe P Town as a mix of New England and The Castro – it had an energy that was electric. We parked our car and rode our bikes around - or at least tried… the crowds were so thick you could only go a few feet before needing to stop completely from running into someone. We hung out for a few hours, even getting our feet wet in the crystal clear waters of Cape Cod bay before heading back to our campsite. When we woke this morning we decided Cape Cod gave us the best of the islands and we didn’t need to go to Martha’s Vineyard, so we headed south.

P Town from a distance

a sail boat in Cape Cod Bay

Cape Cod light house in the distance

As you enter P Town

This is one of the less congested streets

the water was so clear and inviting

the pirate museum

I don't know the history of this tower,

but I really enjoyed photographing it!

This was one of the types of rentals you could get:

a condo with a patio and water views

This was the other (that I inquired about)...

quintessential beach cottage.