TGI... S? ;P
(Not so) quick update about the 4th of July weekend:
Went up to Pennsylvania (2.5 hour flight turned into almost 5 due to delays). The time spent in the air was Hell. We were on the very last row with a very loud, very restless screaming two year old in the seat in front of ours. Never in my life had I the intense desire to jump out of a moving vehicle. Gorramit! I am SO not ready for kids! Best birth control EVER!
After not so much arm-twisting, we changed our rental from a compact car to a Sebring convertible (glorious!). The hotel was nice, a little bit on the small side but the location was excellent. Smack downtown Philly. Parking fees were outrageous, though. $23/day??? Are they insane?? The first night we went to a very pretentious steak place. The food was good but very overpriced. P didn't even get to enjoy his porterhouse due to a toothache.
On Saturday we drove to Gettysburg. Very interesting little town. Had lunch at a Pizza place for our first taste of a local cheesesteak (had to do try'em, right?) and took a Civil War tour of the area. I didn't know General Lee's horse was called Traveller. We seemed to be the only ones in the group oblivious to that fact, because the tour guide made a joke about his name being Elvis and people actually smirked. In our defense, we were the only foreigners. I wonder how many people in that same bus could name General Franco's horse... if he'd had one. Point is, my High School didn't cover the American Civil War in great detail, and college concentrated more on World History. Do I really need to justify myself? I think not.
At night we took a ghost tour of Jennie Wade's house and surrounding area (Jennie Wade being the only civilian casualty in Gettysburg). Well, I didn't see any ghosts, but the stories the guide told were pretty spooky. He was quite an actor, the house was downright creepy and it was night time to boot. Add all that to my active imagination and you had me looking over my shoulder the entire hour and a half. We took some pictures. Out of the nine or ten we snapped, there's one that has some strange glowing orbs all around. Not sure what they are. I'm sure they're just flash reflections, or a visual effect created by the camera under limited light conditions, or... Well, see for yourslef:
It is not a ghost or anything remotely supernatural. *sarcastic, dry chuckle*
Got several comments on my Serenity t-shirt. Turns out there are a high number of Browncoats wherever I go. Gave me the warm and fuzzies because there's this unspoken camraderie among us that is hard to qualify. Whacky fun! :)
The Poconos was a bust. Between the floodings and the fourth of July crowd we didn't get to go white water rafting, canooing or any of that good stuff. No. Instead we were stuck in traffic for nearly an hour until we drove past a timeshare resort that offered a bunch of recreational stuff. We played a game of mini-golf (P won), a game of foosball (P won), a game of pool (I should have won, with all the practice I get at dad's house, but P was lucky), a car race at the arcade (I won once! HA!) and finally, a game of PacMan for old time's sake.
The following morning there was a huge commotion at the Quality Inn. They stopped serving breakfast at 9:30am. To be perfectly honest, by the time we got there at 9:23am it looked as if the marabunta had ransacked the place, so we had to order from the menu. Other guests were not as gracious. They started complaining that breakfast should've been complimentary until 10am (and they were right) and they demanded some service. The waitress made the mistake of arguing against it, and rowdiness ensued. P and I just watched from our secluded table in the corner. Turned out we got breakfast and a show. First a couple of guests (an Asian guy and an American) furiously asked to speak to the manager. When the manager came out things became even more heated. He screamed at the guests for harassing his employees, and the Asian guy screamed back "Where is the Quality? Where is the Quality?" In the end the guests got their way (as they should have). On the other hand, those of us who ordered off the menu got a two dollar coupon and ended up paying less than $6.00 for a $12.00 breakfast - show and all! ;)
Stuffed and amused, we headed to Lancaster (Amish Country), where we took yet another tour. The Amish are really interesting people. Although I could never live in their community (no PC? are you kiddin' me??), I do admire their work ethic and community spirit. Did you know they have NEVER collected a penny from the government? Not in form of welfare or Social Security. They do pay into the system, but will never rely on the government for assistance. That is fucking awesome! True Libertarians! :) Families have really close ties, and do most their activities together. It sounds nice at face value, but if I had to spend all my waking hours with my own mother, I think I'd go insane. Plus, I'm too much of a loner to be an Amish. That's why P and I have the perfect relationship. We respect each other's space and private time. Match made in Heaven. :)
Their Pretzels are out of this world! They are soft, and warm and buttery and delicious... and they are a perfect complement to their mouthwatering homemade lemonade. Yumo! As far as the rest of our dining experience... not so much. A couple of people recommended Miller's as a great place for dinner. "Make sure you come hungry!", they said. First of all, I'm not a big fan of buffet restaurants. I just don't believe in the whole quantity vs. quality philosophy - not to say I prefer Nouvelle Cuisine, because I find that type of dish quite pretentious. But, since people spoke so highly of the place, we decided to give it a try. Well... bleh! My opinion regarding buffet restaurants stands. Not worth it. We were seated at a pretty cool table, though. It was overlooking an Amish farm. We saw a little bird with a worm in its beak and, soon, we realized it was about to feed a nest of tiny baby-birds in a tree that was right in front of us. Again, a meal and a show. It was really cool. I tried to take pictures, but the glass prevented a crisp, clean photograph.
Finally, we spent our last day in Philly. We stood in line to see the Liberty Bell and caught a 4th of July parade. There were a bunch of re-enactors and some Navy guys who marched right along with them at the tune of the drums. People started cheering and clapping as they went by, and it must be my Spaniard blood boiling, because I found the gesture overly corny. I know. I know. How un-patriotic of me on the 4th of July, but I couldn't help rolling my eyes (figuratively) at the gesture. I did clap anyway. You know what they say: "When in Rome do as Romans do." So I forced out a chipper smile and clapped along with everybody else. After all, these kids are not to blame for Washington's international policy. It's just the hypocrisy of it all that gets to me. They give their lives for their country, and their country keeps playing this fucked up political game offshore. I wish more people saw past the sugar-coated pretense and bothered to see the USA in a little more critical light. Too much to ask during Independence Day weekend? Yeah, I know. That's why I let it slide. If there's one day to love your country above all others, it should be on its birthday. ;P
To top our day off, we went to Geno's for a taste of their legendary cheesteaks. The lines went around the block and they only took cash. You know what else? You are not allowed to order in any other language because, according to them: "This is America. Order in English." Not only had they posted a couple of signs around the restaurant, they had employees wearing t-shirts with that statement. While I do agree with them conceptually, I must point out a couple of things. A) America is not a country, it is a continent in which, incidentally, Spanish is more widely spoken than English. And B) the simple word 'please' would've gone a LONG way in that request. I would have said something (because very rarely do I bite my tongue when things bother me), but there was a live band and it was so loud I could barely hear myself think. In conclusion, the quality of the meat was above average, but the sandwich as a whole was better in Gettysburg (jucier and less sourpussed).
On the way back to Orlando, we saw some fireworks from the airplane as we were landing. Then, on the drive home, we caught the ones from Sea World and some from, what I assume, was probably Disneyworld (although it could've been Universal Studios). It was nice to be back home. The totes certainly missed us. They ran to the door the moment we stepped in. Spooky gave us the cold shoulder for an hour or so - how dared we leave him here alone for four days with just food and water and no cuddles whatsoever! - but he got over it soon enough.
Overall, the trip was great. I'll give it two thumbs up.
I got to finish "Flowers for Algernon" on the flight back. Cried like a baby at the end. P made fun of me. I hate it when that happens. The book was outstanding! Thank you so much for recommending it, Eli! You were so right!