Philadelphia

September 15-18, 2016 Days 27-30

Philadelphia Phun – Our Alaskan MoHo trip friends Jim and Sherrie live in New Jersey and met up with us for a nice day visiting their part of the world. We had an escorted tour through eastern New Jersey – a beautiful, green and rather rural part of the state. We enjoyed a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant then continued our exploration of the area. We spent some time walking and driving through the White’s Cranberry Bog in Brown’s Mill N.J. This was one of the first places in our country to grow cranberries and to successfully cultivate blue berries.  This is part of the region referred to as the Pine Barren Area – it is 60 or so miles from the coast, but the soil is sand and it looks like there should be ocean just beyond the tree line (there was several thousands of years ago).

Friday Mike and I ventured into the city and spent the day as tourists: Saw the liberty bell, toured Independence Hall, rode the “hop-on hop-off bus, saw the beautiful skyline of Philly from the 57^th floor of the Observation Center One and enjoyed a good Manhattan at the Red Owl Tavern on Independence Square

Saturday we drove into the city of Philadelphia and met up with our kids and their families: Marq, Steph and Peyton flew in from the Bay Area of California and Kris, Laura and Eliza trained down from Connecticut. We enjoyed catching up with everyone and seeing the sights of the city of Philly. We walked around seeing Love Park, the Redding Market (huge farmers’ and crafters’ market in the old railroad building), and enjoyed the varying cityscape of old and new buildings. We finished the day with a great dinner at La Viola, an Italian Restaurant that Steph had eaten at when she was in Law School in Philadelphia – YUM!

Race Day – Sunday September 18, 2016, warm and HUMID. Our day started early (4:30am) we needed to get the Boyz up fed, exercised and ready to spend the day in the rig while we went in to see the kids run their 10 k (13.2 mile) race. We got into the city and parked at our car park by the visitor’s center and then took a taxi to race start. 18,000 runners – Wow who knew there are that many people into this kind of FUN?  This was Marq’s 6^th Rock and Roll Race this year; Kris 1^st R & R race. We were lucky enough to get to see the kids start the race and then see them again as the looped back around at the 3 mile point then at the finish line which was in front of the Art Museum. The kids both ran great races, they were a little disappointed with their times, but the humidity really takes a toll on the body. This race is one of a series that occur both in the US and internationally every year, amazing organization, nice looking race medals and many support staff around to help the runners, should they need it. After resting a bit in afternoon we reconnected for a nice dinner and enjoyed a few more hours together. Watching our grand daughters Peyton and Eliza play was a real treat; those two girls are really special. Grandma and Grandpa really appreciated seeing them.

"Rocky"

Monday morning marked the end to our family weekend, Marq, Steph and Peyton flew out and we picked up the girls and Motor homed them back to Connecticut with us. It was a rainy drizzly day – we were so lucky to have had nice weather while in the city. The 270-mile drive back was long and bit slow, but uneventful. All of us were glad to get home and unwind that evening. The Girls would have work and school the next day so they needed to get back home and re-boot for their busy week’s schedules.

rainy drive to New London, CT