Kirsten's Nickel

I was going to say I'm putting in my two cents, but I think you'd all agree I'm gonna have more than that to contribute on this trip. =) Yesterday was a fine beginning. I'm not sure I've ever flown Continental before, but I certainly will in the future. The flight attendants were frequent, smiling, and eager to, well, attend us! We got breakfast, which is getting rarer and rarer in the industry. Bodie and Julianna have no idea that used to be the norm when flying! Newark was quite foggy when we landed, and visibility was not great, but it was one of the smoothest landings I've ever experienced. Our rental car is not the cleanest I've ever seen, but there's room for all of us, and all our luggage, and an input for my ipod, so that's really all that matters. Although we did find a pretty good local radio station to listen to for the first part of our trip, cuz the input cable was deep in my suitcase. Although it took us longer to reach our goal, I think it worked out even better than we were planning (because God often does that!) By the time I asked Tony's iphone to tell us how to get there, we had missed the connection to the highway we wanted. But the scenery was beautiful - green and lush - along the way. And had we been able to get into the park before it closed, we would have had to drive all the way through it to get to the Delaware. As it was, we just drove around the perimeter, and then turned left on "River Drive" - not to be confused with "River Road", you understand.... There are houses there that face the River - wouldn't that be beautiful to see every morning! And then we found a small parking area with two dirt paths leading down to the river. It was dusky, and foggy, and not too hard to imagine George Washington's men crossing the river, then clustering within the trees, waiting for the General to lead them on their surprise - and very successful - attack on the Hessians. We then got back in the car and drove across the bridge that took us to Pennsylvania. There was a lovely restaurant right there, but we were too late for dinner - small towns, you know.... So that led us to Friendly's. I will say the waitress was Friendly, but that was all it had going for it. I won't even tell you about the overflowing toilet in the women's room... Our hotel in downtown Philly is nice (Dina, you'll be happy to know we have a lovely view of Macy's)- but we just spent a terrible night. Our next door neighbor got in at 3 am, and suffice to say, he is apparently a mean drunk.... Nearly an hour of yelling, at his girlfriend on the phone, I think, and swearing, punctuated by a little door-slamming. Then we think he went out again, only to come back yelling an hour or so later. We're looking into changing rooms, or hotels, for this evening. Our goal today is Independence Hall; cheesesteaks and Pat's and Geno's; Betsy Ross' home; the oldest residential street in the nation; and the Phillies/Red Sox game tonight. Pray for little or no rain, please! Have a good day!