I'm on time! (photos to follow) Well almost...the previous post was actually after this trip, but hey, ya win some ya loose some. I really want to get this all down and blogged before too much time passes. It's so much more fun to write, and easy!, when it's fresh in my brain.
My last day of work was super wonderful. Well, let me rephrase, I felt super wonderful leaving. It was actually a pretty rough last couple of days. But I worked really hard on my crap, and left feeling really caught up and ready to go. My attitude has been a little tough, but a break definitely did the trick and I feel way better today being back at work. I moved SO fast today being back, I don't think my fingys stopped moving!
Day 1
I left work at about 12:30 with lots of rain, and my heart and brain instantly went into panic mode. I was gonna miss my flight. Of course that didn't happen. What ended up happening was J's mom offered to meet me in her parking lot, she drove me to the terminal, and it was the fastest security line I literally have ever experienced. Yahoo! I missed my zone because I was looking at houses on Zillow...that's a story for another day. But soon I was off! I got in about 6:30, and took a taxi to the city center. It was a great intuition practice for me...I started walking towards the taxi, and a guy said you need taxi? I take you, so I followed him hesitantly, asked him how much (40), then he lead me to the elevator, and I was like..um why are you up, why not by the taxis? And he said it's too hot down here and I said ok, bye, I'm going to the taxis. And he fought a little, but eventually let me go. Dodged that! And took the $28 real taxi to the city!
Once I got to the hotel, which was a really nice Lowes, J and I said hi for a bit, and then went to L'aquillad 'café for carbonara and gelato. It was really good! I forget how amazing carbonara is. Then we walked through Rhinehouse square and went back to the room and chilled. The city center area was really cool! I'm bummed we didn't go back there, and would love to hit that up again if I go back ever. There were a lot of cute looking bars with patios, and the city was bumpin' by the time we were wandering around.
Day 2: The beach!
We woke up early, got an uber to the train station, and found our way to the rental car shop. We were prepared for this looooong drive to the beach, and everyone prepared us for crazy traffic, but it ended up taking us only an hour and a half! We were so excited! We got to the beach house in Avalon, NJ and it was ADORBS. It's very light and touristy feeling, but the friend we visited told us that their house is the original! And the mansions all around it have just rose up slowly. It was only a block and a half from the beach! There were a couple other couples there, they made brunch and then we headed to the water.
You have to have a paid tag to get onto the beach, but the family buys a bunch every year, so we just used the extras. After a bit, the boys went shopping for sea food and the girls took naps on the beach. We had a super late dinner, which I actually didn't really eat sadly! I'm experimenting with a cayenne sensitivity, and the soup made seemed a bit risky. But it was an awesome meal and everyone loved it! After dinner the boys watched the bball game (thunder lost, poor J), and the girls talked about birth stories. LOL. Late that night we went back to the beach to try and see the blood moon, but we didn't last long enough because it was actually pretty chilly! Solid day, we didn't' want it to end.
Day 3: We woke up slow, J and I walked to the local downtown coffee shop and bakery to get coffee and sticky buns for everyone. Then we got to hang out at the beach for a bit longer and then made our way back to the city. We were really sad to go. But a tropical storm was rumored to be coming, so we were happy to leave before rain. Once we got back to the city, we showered and went to Pizzeria Alvetri to meet J's manager and wife for pizza and gelato. It was great!
Then we walked in the rain to a little bar called Tria, which was really cute. Kinda fancy, trendy wine and cheese place. We just go drinks, but ended up getting free drinks because their system went down. Holler! Then we started to walk home in the pouring rain, and eventually J called an uber. Our next two nights were actually free at the Marriot, awesome! They were in an awesome spot too, in the historic neighborhood, Old City, by the liberty bell.
Day 4: We woke up very slow, with the intent of sleeping in since it was supposed to rain ALL DAY, like 90-100% chance. But we woke up to none-a-that! It was a bit cloudy and super muggy, but it didn't rain! Our plan was to go to the science museum since it was supposed to be crappy, but we ended up exploring other stuff instead. We walked about 20 minutes to a place called Sabrina's that has great reviews. It was cute! A bit of a wait, but a fun place to go. We walked to the Magic Gardens, but of course didn't pay and go in :) It was still really cool to see from the outside! It was this huge mosaic place that this guy built himself, pretty awesome. Next we took an uber (with a really high driver...) to the Art Museum area. I ran up the rocky steps, which was very disappointing and easy. We walked along the river and Boathouse row, but it was honestly SO hot and muggy. We even looked into going to a movie to cool down, but there weren't any theaters in the city. After some passive chatting, we decided to call an Uber back to the hotel to watch shark tank and shower. It was a great afternoon, not gonna lie:) Our plan was to go to The Reading Market, but it was closed for labor day. So instead we walked to Revolution house for some drinks, Olde house for oysters, fries and drinks, and then ending up walking down to Spruce Harbor by the water! We were planning on going to this area the next day, but ended up there just by instinct. It was great! We played games in the arcade and hung out. Then we walked to National Mechanics, but it was closed because of the holiday. Instead we went to the Little Lion across the street which ended up being super cool and hipster inside! And then this is the best part, we really wanted to go to a bar called Khyber pass that looked super cool and had great reviews...but we walked over there and I was like, I honestly want ice cream more than a drink. So gma and gpa walked back to the gelato place instead, J picked out the BEST combo in world, shoot I forgot what it was, and I got to eat the left overs, score...and we went back to the hotel to watch TV. OMG! SO much guilt...but then we remember that we are on vacation, and it's OK to do what makes us happy, not what is expected from tourism! It was a fantastic night.
Day 5
After we woke, we walked to Reading Terminal, finally, to see what the market was all about, and it was super cool! Honestly, it would be cooler if you lived there. It's interesting to me when markets are tourist destinations, because they would be way cooler as locals! But still cool to see. Everyone said go to Dinics Roast Pork, so we found that stand and ordered some sammys. They were HUGE. Super good though! I got a standard roast pork and john got the Italian sausage, his was WAY better just FYI. After Reading we went back to the Spruce Harbor area again, played some bags, giant jenja, and hung out on the hammocks. We also grabbed some drinks on this cool patio boat thing. Then we headed back to pack! We had another hour to kill, so we ended up going to National Mechanics (the place that was closed the night before) and had some killer afternoon drinks-omg mine was like a smoothie heaven, so good-before we called an uber to the aiport. When we were waiting outside, this cool lady was like can I just come with you guys to the airport? She saw our luggage and had some too, so it turned out great. She actually ended up being the owner of National Mechanics too!
All in all it was a great short weekend! Not my favorite city ever, but I still just love collecting places and memories, always. :)
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