Busy, Busy, Busy!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been so busy!

When last I left you, I was in Philly. Tuesday morning was my last day. Sarah took me to one of the most unbelievable chocolate shops I've ever been in: Lores Chocolates. I was quite impressed with myself; I restrained myself pretty well. I have to admit, though, that part of that was due to luggage space. Ha! Sarah and I went to MilkBoy for brunch, and then it was off to the train station! I just have to say again that the Philly train station is remarkable.

Then I was off to Baltimore! I wasn't really staying in Baltimore, but it was the closest train station to Stewartstown, PA, where my friend, Angela, lives. Angela's hubby, Dan, works in Baltimore, so he picked me up and drove me home. Stewartstown is about 45 minutes from Baltimore, and is sort of out in the country. The fall colors were absolutely stunning!

Once I was in Stewartstown, I was so busy! Ange has two little girls: Ellie, who is 6, and Annalise, who is 3 (but almost 4!). I spent a lot of time reading books and playing school! Ange and I got in some games of Scrabble (which we played incessantly in college), and she beat me twice (which she always did in college).

Then, weather struck! Yesterday, Saturday, it began snowing in the morning and didn't let up until late at night. I don't know how many inches we got. We were supposed to get 6-10, and we were definitely in that range. In fact, when Ange drove me to the train station this morning, there were huge tree branches all around that had fallen from the weight of the snow. It was absolutely gorgeous, but...we lost power around 5 or 6 yesterday. It was nice and cozy until the house started getting really cold. Dan rigged up an inverter from the car (I have no idea what that is) to get the gas fireplace going and to plug in one lamp. Those were turned off when we all went to bed, and we dug down deep in our blankets.

When I woke up this morning, I couldn't believe that the power was still out, but when I called today (Sunday), Ellie told me it was back up later this morning. Thank goodness!

Now I am back on the train and on my way to Charlotte, NC, to visit my roommate from Richmond, VA, right after college. Her name is Blair, and she has two little girls also. I haven't seen Blair in so long that I've never met the girls! I can't wait.

Pictures and more later.

Philly Pictures!

Pictures! But first, some confessions. I have a terrible time putting pictures in this blog. I can't figure out how to control picture placement, so these are in no particular order. Also, some of the text came out mysteriously blue and underlined. I have no idea why, and I can't figure out how to fix it.

Given those two things, enjoy! You can click on a picture to see it in a larger format.

Nothing to see here. Just me and the sculpted fountain people. Move along, folks. Move along.

I am trying to rebuild this amazing Lego bench that I really wish I had in my own home! Heave!

The famous sculpture in the City of Brotherly Love!

Philadelphia City Hall with the Occupy Philadelphia protestors outside. Camping on cement. Hard core!

Do you read Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books? This is in Trenton. No Cluck-in-a-Buckets, but look! Cluck U Chicken! Ha ha ha ha ha! Also notice the awesome Jersey car with flames in the parking lot.

Of course I am a big library nerd, so here I am at the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Sarah and I with the Liberty Bell!

Rocky has nothin' on us!

(Below) Holy crap! The Liberty Bell has a crack! Does anyone know about this?!

Just call me Stephanie Plum

I'm in Philly! I am having such a good time. I arrived in Philly, and let me tell you that train station is gorgeous. By far the most beautiful train station I've been in so far. Nice job, Philly. Sarah picked me up, and we headed back to her place.

Since then, I've been quite the tourist. After I arrived on Saturday, we went to see the Liberty Bell. It's quite the job to get in. We had to lift up our coats and twirl around (I guess to make sure I wasn't packing in the back of my pants, or strapped with bombs), and they search all of our bags. Luckily I was not branded a terrorist, so in we went. The Liberty Bell is very cool to see. I will have a picture, but I am currently in a Starbucks and forgot my camera cord. Sigh... This evening I'll have an entire blog post of pictures.

Sarah walked me around to see different neighborhoods. My favorite was Old City, and I have determined that if I ever moved here, I would live in Elfreth's Alley, which is the oldest, continually occupied residential street in the US.

On Sunday I got a great tour, with pictures to come. Occupy Philadelphia is camped outside City Hall. And props to them, since they are all camping on cement. The City Hall is gorgeous, by the way. I have been in Seattle for so long that I forgot how much I love old (relatively speaking -- "new" to Europeans, of course) buildings and history. We saw the famous "LOVE" sculpture. I stopped in at the Free Library of Philadelphia, the main branch downtown. As expected, it's a gorgeous building. I wasn't a huge fan of the children's department. It's an old branch, but I felt there was a lot more they could have done. But it was packed, and I was insanely jealous. The space was not particularly big, but they had FOUR staff people at the reference desk, and another one shelving. And they had their OWN SECURITY GUARD. Sigh...

We went on to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Again, the building was gorgeous, and even more amazing as we got closer. There was beautiful, detailed painting on the building that you can't see from a distance. And of course, at the bottom of the stairs, was a statue of Rocky. I hope it goes without saying that we took a picture. Behind the museum was the Fairmount Waterworks, a hydroelectric plant on the river, and a lovely park. Actually, I loved this historic center of Philly. It's sort of a massive park/mall surrounded by historic and/or old landmarks: the art museum, library, the Benjamin Franklin Institute, the science museum, the natural history museum, a gorgeous old cathedral, etc. It was very beautiful and fun.

On the way home, I saw the most hilarious thing. There was a couple standing on the sidewalk. I think they were waiting for something. Now I am not kidding about this: the woman was standing there squeezing her boyfriend's manboobs. Just standing there, squeezing away. Her boyfriend gave her an irritated look and stepped away. Then she says, all whiny, "Why are you mad at me?" Well, gee, I don't know? Maybe because you are out in public squeezing your boyfriend's manboobs?!?! You think? I thought he was actually very restrained. If I was him, I would have had a bit of a stronger reaction.

Then, of course, it being Sunday we went to a bar in Society Hill, which I also loved. It reminded me a lot of Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia, except a bit newer. The Steelers won (Go Stillers!).

Today, Monday, is a fantastic day. Sarah is working...in Trenton, NJ! Those of you who read Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books can imagine the heaven I'm in. We were early, so we got to drive around. Most of Trenton is exactly like I imagined it. Of course, Sarah and I were looking for specific things, one of which was Cluck-in-a-Bucket. We didn't find it, but we DID find "Cluck U Chicken." I was just as happy with that. I took a picture, which will be posted later. I also noticed what seemed to be an awful lot of fire stations in a relatively small area, but Sarah reminded me that this IS the hometown of Stephanie Plum, so of course. Now I am sitting in a Starbucks, which isn't very Trenton-like (although this place is busy), so my dreams will probably not come true, but I am waiting to see a Grandma Mazur, Lula, or, in my beautiful, beautiful dreams, a Ranger. We did see a black SUV with tinted windows, and I choose to believe Ranger was in there, although I would have been happy with Tank, too. Later I'm going to take a walk to the Public Library, which is just a block or two away, so maybe I'll get lucky.

Okay, pictures later, but I'll let you know if I have a Sighting.

The Pillow Fight of '95

What a difference being on time makes! I actually made it to the Pittsburgh train station on time and learned a number of things:

1) Another reason I love the train is that loved ones can go right up on the platform with you! In fact, remember how great it was when people could meet you at the gate at the airport? You can get that feeling on the train! In fact, I even saw someone with no ticket at all help a family member on to the train and then get back off once the family member was settled in. Right on the train! With no ticket!

2) Do you remember how I wondered how people know which car to get on, on the Capitol Limited since the cars weren't labeled? I found out! It turns out there are nice, helpful people stationed along the platform who ask you where you're going and direct you.

3) You get to choose your own seat! But the experience isn't all panicky like when you fly Southwest Airlines. Why? Because every seat is huge. Every seat has so much leg room that I (at 5'2") can only reach the seat in front of my by stretching out my tippy toes. And there are no middle seats. Basically, the only choice you have to make is aisle or window!

To make this train, I had to get up at 5am. Those of you who know me well know that such an hour is torture for me. Well, I'm learning each time I have to sleep in coach how to do it better. This was the second time. I brought earplugs, first of all. They made a huge difference. Luckily, the train wasn't full, so the seat next to me was empty, and I knew just how to set myself up to snooze! By the end of 30 days, I'm going to be a total pro.

Those of you who know me well also know that I am almost never cold. As I tried to go to sleep I was freezing cold. As a car attendant walked by, I asked if there were blankets and pillows available. Here was his awesome answer: "I'm sorry. We haven't had pillows and blankets since the Pillow Fight of '95. It took two days to clean that car." He was dead serious. Of course, I was immediately filled with questions: How did the pillow fight start? Did everyone join in? Was it violent? Did anyone get hurt? Anyway, I love that there is an event in history called "The Pillow Fight of '95."

As the car attendant walked away, he turned back with a twinkle in his eye and said, "The reason it's so cold is to get people buy more coffee and hot chocolate. It's a marketing ploy." Then he turned and walked away. What?! Was he kidding or serious? I have no idea. If it is true, it's mean and brilliant all at once.

Just a quick note, FYI. On the train, I ate my Double Trouble cupcake from the Oakmont Bakery. Oh, my heavens to Betsy. People, this may have been the best cupcake I've ever eaten in my life. It was a moist chocolate cupcake, infused with chocolate mousse, with a mound of chocolate mousse on top, covered in a chocolate shell. Holy Toledo.

The Burgh

I am at the end of my four days in Pittsburgh already. Sigh... Allow me a small rant really quick. For those of you not familiar with Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh is NOT "right next to" Philadelphia. It is a six-hour drive from Pittsburgh to Philly. The cultures are completely different, and they really have nothing to do with each other except for being in the same state. Got that? Pittsburgh. Philly. NOT the same city.

Anyway, right now it's gorgeous here. The fall leaves are fully on display. However, for every beautiful leaf, there also seems to be a construction cone. Good grief, there's a lot of road construction! Much more than in Seattle. It was a pain to get anywhere. I have never seen so much construction!

Some highlights of my trip include lunch at the Harmony Inn (it's haunted, Blythe!) in historic Harmony, PA. To anyone traveling through Western Pennsylvania, I strongly recommend visiting Harmony! My Dad and I went to see the movie "The Ides of March." It was fantastic, and really depressing (just FYI).

Today was a really fun and busy day. Through sheer chance, my Mom is in town for a wedding and to visit friends. I met up with her and family friends at the Chelsea Grille in Oakmont (Killy, look! Their home page has a squirrel on it!), which is just about the cutest town I've ever seen. It may also be the home of the most amazing bakery I've ever been to in my life: the cleverly named Oakmont Bakery. It may have been the hugest, most filled-with-baked-goods bakery I have ever seen. People, I could easily live there. And eat there. And live there.

This evening I met two high school friends, Kim and Chris, for dinner so we could catch up. Later this evening my Dad, his wife, Sue, and I all went to the 3rd Anniversary Party of the Bottlebrush Gallery, which is owned by my friend, Miranda. All of the art they sell is made by Pennsylvanian artists and craftspeople, and most of it is made in Western Pennsylvania. As usual, I bought way too much stuff. Please notice they have an online store!

My visit to Pittsburgh was very relaxing, but way too fast. Tomorrow already I leave for Philadelphia (yes, Philly, despite my above rant) to visit my friend, Sarah, who just moved there from Seattle (Kirkland, actually). Sarah is originally from Pgh and, in an interesting twist, the sister of the husband of the high school friends I had dinner with this evening. Did you follow that?

The oh-so-aptly-named Pennsylvanian leaves at the disgusting hour of 7:20am. Yuck.

Onward to the Burgh!

I didn't have a sleeping car to Pgh; I was in coach. Let me tell you, coach is lovely during the day. The seats are huge and are actually recliners with leg rests and all. The train provides pillows and each car has a water dispenser and cups. However, coach sucks overnight.

I got on the Capitol Limited so late that there were no dinner reservations left, so soon after leaving I headed down to the cafe to eat a little pizza. When I got back to my seat, I read a bit and then tried to sleep. The key here is "tried." Sleeping in coach was really hard. Even with the recliner sleep was impossible! We were told that the car attendants would wake us up when our stop was imminent, so we had to be in our seats at that time. After we were well on our way, I moved across the aisle to two empty seats. I set my cellphone alarm clock for 4:10am so I would be awake and back in my seat in time, and was able to fall asleep cuddled up in that pair of seats.

When I woke up, I had 20 minutes before my stop, so I went down to find a bathroom to freshen up. The bathrooms were amazing! They were huge, with a dressing room, toilet, sink with vanity. There was tons of room in there!

Despite leaving a half-hour early waiting for those of us transferring from the Empire Builder to the Capitol Limited, we were 20 minutes early to Pgh! In fact, my Dad was just arriving to pick me up, walking up the stairs to the platform, as I was going down the escalator.

On the way home, Dad and I stopped at Eat 'n' Park, a Western Pennsylvania restaurant that 'Burghers love. I don't know why it's special to us; it just is. After a delicious breakfast, we headed back to my Dad's place and we both went back to bed. My visit to Pittsburgh had begun!

Will we make it?!

When I woke up on the last day on the Empire Builder, we were still 2.5 hours behind. At this rate, I was going to arrive at the Chicago train station just when the Capitol Limited was to depart. Midday, the conductor got on the PA and announced that two groups of people heading north to different parts of Michigan would be taking buses instead of trains, because they'd be missing their connections. Then he ominously announced that he didn't know the status of the Capitol Limited, and would let us know.

That day at lunch I ate with two very interesting people. One is an author! I checked, and Seattle Public Library doesn't have his book, so I put in a purchase request. The reviews on Amazon were really good. His name is Peter Olsson, and he's a Doctor of Psychiatry. The book he talked most about was "Malignant Pied Pipers of Our Time."

After lunch, all of the Capitol Limited passengers were on pins and needles. I wouldn't have worried so much, but I did NOT want to ride a bus overnight from Chicago to Pittsburgh. Only a half-hour outside of Chicago, the conductor announced that...the Capitol Limited was being held! Yahoo! The minute we pulled into the station there were red caps waiting for us in their trolleys. I hopped on one, and I'm so glad I did. The red cap asked to see our tickets, and let us out at the appropriate car. I didn't see any signage at all, so I have no idea how I would have found the Pittsburgh car on my own. Others headed on to the South Bend, IN, car, or the Cleveland car.

Life. was. good.