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April 22, 2009
philly, traffic, cheesesteaks
We finally made it down to Philly to visit Brother Matt, a trip that was hastened by his roommate's imminent departure for D.C. and our campaign to bring him north to Boston.
But, we can't do that just yet. His life down there is far too cool.
His house has a bar in the basement, a beer pong table, and a keggerator with multiple kegs inside. They have a deck. They live in a suburb with a whole street filled with awesome bars and microbreweries. And downtown Philly is awfully fun.
First, the brief downsides: the trips down and back were both brutally long. It should have taken just over 5 hours from where we left Boston, and instead, we spend 8 on the trip down and 7+ on the trip back. The Cross-Bronx Expressway and GW Bridge at rush hour are to be avoided, and there's no getting around the perpetual 91-95 backup at New Haven--why do all these major intersections only have 2 lanes? And furthermore, on the Cross-Bronx, why on earth would you ever go from 6 lanes down to 3? And further-furthermore, speaking of the trip back up, whose idea is it to take Rt. 95, the major north-south artery on the east coast, down to a single lane on a Sunday night?
But, we made it down and back, and that's the important part. Flying and trains are just not practical; next time we'll try 84 further west to 87 south and try to go wide around NYC. It was nice to see the skyline, though.
We didn't do nearly as much touristy stuff as we had originally planned, but that's only because we were having too much fun doing everything else. When we arrived on Friday night, Matt had turkey burgers and corn on the cob all ready to go, with plenty of beer to go around. The burgers had a nice sharpness to them that I later discovered was jalapenos and bleu cheese--I didn't realize I liked bleu, and I'm not sure that I'd gnaw on a hunk the way I like sharp cheddar or habanero jack, but I certainly like it in burgers.
The night was like an episode of some sitcom--people just showed up at their house. The night turned into a party.
The next morning, we had breakfast on the balcony and ended up having a couple of beers. We made the executive decision that Matt should just drive us around Philly so we could get in a quick driving tour, and then take advantage of the 70-degree weather, apartment deck, and copious amounts of beer. Downtown Philly is really neat; it's bigger than I thought, and we saw a lot of people out in the many parks and open spaces taking advantage of the weather. Nothing like some cities, where "downtown" is a ghost town, except for the homeless (here's looking at you, Atlanta).
We went through the sketchy neighborhood, the one where you don't get out of your car, and it reminded me a bit of Baltimore--boarded-up row houses everywhere. Philly sure loves their murals, though, and interestingly, the graffiti artists don't touch them.
We stopped at the ACME for food, which included each of us getting a deli pickle to eat in the car, and many flavors of Pringles (they have this new "extreme" edition of chips that are flavored like other things, like dill pickle, Mexican dip, buffalo wing, and mozzarella sticks), and we had a chip tasting while we were hanging out in the sun. Also, Manayunk has a drive-through beer distributor. You sit in your car, and they put the beer in your trunk. Obviously, we brought back some cases of Yuengling.
Saturday progressed with hanging out, the neighbors coming over, some food and beer down by the river in Manayunk, and me going to bed early while Kara, Matt and Derick went out and got another beer--yes, I was officially too old to hang. But it was an amazing afternoon, and one of the highlights of recent vacations.
Mom and Dad drove out, too early, on Sunday, and after a bit of recovery, we headed to Pat's and Geno's for our Philly Cheese Steak Comparison Lunch. Both lines were long but moved fast. At Pat's, somebody complained about onions getting onto his steak "witout" and, after an exchange of profanity, ended up clearing the kitchen for what might well have been a brawl on the other side of the restaurant.
Thoughts about cheesesteaks:
- We all generally preferred Pat's
- Pat's fries were extremely good and very crispy; Geno's were more traditional shoestring
- Neither was nearly as greasy as I expected, and, really, would have liked...both were closer to a roast beef sandwich than the type of steak bomb you usually get from your local sub shop
- The area looks exactly like what it looks like on TV
- It's touristy, but certainly not bad, and worth checking out
On the way back to Matt's, we drove through the Italian Market; we'll make a point of actually stopping there next trip. Then it was back to the house (via a stop for ice cream on pretzel cones), and then back on the road.
So, great weekend. Philly officially has my respect. And, Matt's got a great life down there: lots of cool people and a cool place to live. I'm quite proud of how well he's doing.
We're going to try to visit again, but I have to get over the 16 hours we spent in the car for this last trip first. Stupid NYC right in the middle.
Posted by Mark at April 22, 2009 10:51 AM
Comments
A great time indeed! I'm glad you guys were able to make it down and also develop an appreciation for a decent city. Hopefully, you'll be able to make it again soon without the travel troubles.
Posted by: Matt at April 24, 2009 12:48 PM
Mark - Next time you are in Philly tell your Brother to take you to Mamma's pizzeria in Bala Cynwd --- Take the Green Lane Brigh across Manayunk to the over side and follow it up the hill (Belmont) until you hit Mamma's on the left. I lived at that place in college and it showed. I can only eat one or two a year but they are so much better than the tourists trap of Geno/pats.
Posted by: Jeff at April 24, 2009 01:09 PM
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