- Park City, UT for Sundance in January
- Philly, PA for reunion in April
-Quality time with my Beaver Bud Allison
-Much needed visit from my Megan Bostonian
-Historical & Pop Culture tour of the land
-Oh and of course, playing on random game pieces
On the calendar:
- TBD – May
- Cabo San Lucas – June (I spent about 8 hours here on a cruise before, that’s it)
- Dallas & Austin, Texas – September
Repeat Awesomefenders:
- Seattle, WA - Girls trip!
- Newport, OR -Seafood & Wine Fest
Enough Reminiscing of times had, let's look at the current adventure.
I went to Philly to visit one of my ole pals from OSU, Allison, and meet Megan, an old pal from Greece (she’s not Greek, we were roomies there) as well who drove down to Boston in a terrible 7+ drive to meet me in the City of Brotherly Love.
Day 1/Night 1:
Took my first red-eye ever, leaving PDX at 11pm PST arriving in DTW at 6:15EST and then arriving at my final destination at 9am EST. I thought I would be exhausted and in desperate need of a nap as I was engrossed in ‘Game Change’ and maybe slept 3 whole hours. Turns out, adrenaline conquers drowsiness and after I dropped my bags off with Allison at school (she had to finish class for the day), I headed out into Philly solo-without a map and a Droid with a low-battery. Dad, if you’re reading this, you needn’t worry, as you can see, I got back in one piece.
I knew I’d be seeing the sites with Megan and Allison, so I decided to stalk out the set of ‘Dark Fields’ starring Robert DeNiro and the delicous Bradley Cooper. All I was presented with were sets and a very cleverly labeled on-set bathroom which were titled ‘Desi’ and ‘Lucy.’ On my way to the set however, I was greeted by the infamous LOVE sculpture smack dab in JFK park. What a feeling. To be walking along in search of something else, thinking you might have a clue where you’re going, then just like that...
Love sneaks up on you.
After some aimless wandering, I found my way back to Allison’s school to meet her to drop off some stuff at her place and then to find my cheesesteak. Al lives in Center City, a fab locale. Her place, as most others, is built in this row house fashion where there are 4 moderately sized floors, one essentially for each roommate (not including the basement-that’d be 5) that are connected my micro-spiral-step staircases. Of course, she was on the top floor. Good thing I packed lightly or I would’ve been commuting to my luggage on the main floor. Not that a commute is anything new to this one.
Mission Cheesesteak: Allison took me to the infamous street where two rival cheesesteak joints call home. We opted for Pat’s because the menu was a bit more expansive. I know, what really is there to expand on in a cheesesteak? Trust me, there was a difference.
It was greasy. Flavorful. But just okay. I felt kind of like the first time I had a voodoo donut that everyone had raved about in Portland. Kind of the, that’s it? A bit anti-climatic, but necessary nonetheless to consume. My appetite has been filled and for the sake of my arteries and desire to live a long beautiful life filled with adventures to strange lands, I think I’ll lay off the greasesteaks. I mean cheese.
We then took a stroll through history. Found that bell that’s on all of my ‘Forever’ stamps. Stood in the courtyard where our independence was declared. Visited our home girl B. Ross’ house where she first sewed up our flag and she apparently resided with her cats, as there were 2 cat statues, I kid you not, in her courtyard. Al and I are also convinced that she is buried with a flag that contains a map to a very important national treasure. Thank you Nic Cage for making us paranoid about every important document or artifact of our nation’s history.
After making a good first-day tour, we sat down to chat in Old City at a pub over some adult beverages, good conversation and yes, spotted an Oregon license plate (my homeland), an Alaskan license plate (Allison’s native land), and California plates (where Allison recently resided). After we scoped out some cheap grub in Center City we went home to call it a day.
Day 2:
Allison had class and Megan wouldn’t be arriving til that evening, so I took this opportunity to have some QT with Philly. I started off with a cheap breakfast at a diner while watching high school aged kids take their sweet time eating at 10:00am on a Friday. Either they were skipping (our idea of Cruisers, CHSers? What? We never skipped..well, not for breakfast…) or it was probably one of the many inservice days that our public school system observes. Preventing children from learning and honoring budget cuts, one inservice day at a time.
I thought I’d get lost in a completely new direction today and pleasantly found myself on the Avenue of The Arts where the amazing Kimmel Center is located. In addition to this grand architectural feat, I found quirky tinier theaters, music shops and beautiful buildings. I stopped into a café called, ‘More than just Ice-Cream’ to read and eat a float, and oh yes, stalk out set #2 of ‘Dark Fields.’ Again, during my mission to find this, something else came my way. Possibly one of the most entertaining conversations I’ve ever eavesdropped on. Two 50 something gay men were sitting very closely behind me, discussing everything from their disdain of having a movie filming there and blocking off ‘all the f’ing streets’ to their theories of Oprah’s sexuality.
Man 1: She’s obviously a lesbian.
Man 2: Obviously.
Man 1: That’s why she’s quitting her show. When she does, she’ll come out.
Man 2: And her “best friend” Gayle? Definitely her lover. Poor Steadman is just along for the ride. He likes p______. But, so does Oprah.
If this ever were to happen, which is highly unlikely, I tip my hat to you, incredibly loud-opinionated seat neighbors at ‘More than just Ice-Cream.’ Your store name doesn’t lie. What a conversational treat.
When I finally left to do some window shopping, buy some souve’s and what not, I found myself craving a little libation. I walked into the first bar I saw, plopped down and started reading. A loud voice from behind me with so much character it could not be ignored, startled me when he excused my sneeze. At this point, I looked up to find myself in a bar full of men. Hmmm…I thought, interesting. Women don’t enjoy an after work drink? Nope, not at this bar Teela. This bar in particular is where men come to meet, well, other men. I finished my drink, watched a little Oprah (funny enough playing in the bar), and hit the road.
Later that night, Megan was still en route and I grabbed happy hour drinks with Allison and her boyfriend AJ at a bar in Old City.
By the time Megan finally made it through the treacherous road conditions (there was a rainstorm) and hellish traffic, Happy Hour was over. After our dramatic reunion, we got some more food and went to our hotel where we entertained ourselves with made-up list games in pure Megan-Teela fashion.
Day 3:
Today was Megan’s day to soak in as much of the love as she could. Being that I had wandered the streets and have come to have a great sense of direction, I suggested that I take her on a tour to the cool things I’d seen and to the other places I was waiting for her to explore. We walked oh, about 10 miles. The Art Museum, where Rocky was filmed on those infamous steps, looked a lot closer than it really was. Which was just fine as we had a lot of time to catch up in between.
In addition to the sites Al and I went to, we went to LOVE park again, City Hall, Art Museum, The 1st Bank in the US, 1st “free library” in Philly, US Mint, and the Constitution Center.
After a day of playing the tourist role, we decided to delve into the local scene. We feasted on an Uh-May-Zing Mediterranean meal then hit the night scene. This was a pure source for entertainment in both positive and negative ways.
Positive:
Free drinks from a guy who simply wanted to buy us drinks. No conversation necessary. Score.
The DJ had a similar obsession to Jay-Z as this one. “Onto the Next One…”
Guys in Philly like to actually dance and CAN dance. There were no attempts at abrasive grinding. How refreshing.
Negative:
A guy pretended to be drunk in order to slump over the chairs that were housing our purses. When they moved, he moved with it. When he saw we weren’t wasted broads, he moved onto the next one, in true Young Hova fashion.
Megan’s toenail got ripped off by a big foot.
Day 4:
The only thing that really justifies the last day in Philly is described best by one of the last conversations I had. A lady sat down next to me in the subway while I was waiting for the train that wouldn’t be coming (apparently, the train doesn’t run to the airport on the weekends-Yes Philly, that makes perfect sense).
Geographically ignorant woman: Where are you from?
Me: Oregon.
Geographically ignorant woman: Ohh..where is that?
Me: West coast. Above California.
Geographically ignorant woman: ::Looking up into space, as if thinking. Trickster:: Is the climate there similar to Jamaica?
Me: ::SMH:: No, unfortunately not. (Last time I was in Jamaica it did rain though).
I placed by earphones back in their ears.
I got a good dose of Philly in my long weekend trip that I spent out there. Just like every place I go, I appreciated the people (good and bad-someone DID tell me to shut the hell up, unprovoked), the story of the land, the food (Mediterranean deliciousness, Cheesesteak meehh), and of course, the awesome and irreplaceable company of my wonderful friends who took time out of their lives to meet in the city of brotherly love.
For the sake of keeping this entry positive, I will not discuss the children who took residence in Row 26 Seats B&C who made my life hell for 4 hours and 15 minutes, and not a minute less. I'll save that for a future post. Had I been a therapist, their father would’ve received a nice pamphlet on ‘Parenting’ from me.
