Colorado trip report
Whenever there’s a chance for someone else to pay for any portion of a vacation, I’ll jump at it. And so it was that we vacationed in Colorado in April. I had a work conference to attend in Denver, and tacked on a few days before and a day after. As always, click the photos for better pics.
Saturday:
We were supposed to leave Richmond around 7:30 a.m., but were delayed with a mechanical issue. We made our connection in Chicago with little time to spare, but all was well. We flew into Denver, and took a shuttle to the Enterprise car rental. (I was to become quite familiar with that shuttle.) This was the first time I had rented through Enterprise, and it was a good experience. I rented through Costco, and got a really terrific rate.
We had planned to grab something to eat in Chicago, but that didn’t work out due to the delay, so by the time we landed in Denver, we were ready to gnaw off our arms. On the way out of the area, we stopped at the Sporting News Grill. Not bad, not great – typical chain food, with pleasant service.
Then it was off to Colorado Springs. I had reserved a king room at the Lodge at the Garden of the Gods Club for three nights. This is a members-only club that happened to also have a small hotel. I had liked them on Facebook prior to booking, and got a great Facebook deal which included breakfast each morning.
The view from our room literally took our breaths away. We looked out directly onto the Garden of the Gods, from a hill across the road and above the Visitor’s Center. Seriously, it was an amazing view. We saw lots of rabbits on the hill outside our window.
The room itself was also amazing. And big. Huge, really. In addition to the comfy bed, there was a loveseat, end table, coffee table, desk and chair, and small round table in front of the gas fireplace, over which hung a good-size tv. And plenty of extra space in addition. The wall of sliding glass door had full-length shutters on tracks, and the balcony had a table and two chairs. The bath had a separate room was toilet and shower, then two separate sinks and vanities, a makeup area with mirror and stool, a walk-in closet, and a wall of cabinetry for clothing that also held the coffee supplies, safe and mini-fridge. Did I mention that the room was big? I overheard one of the sales agents later telling someone that the smallest room was over 500 square feet. One neat thing about the bathroom: it was wired with speakers for the tv, so I could hear the news while I was getting ready.
We headed to Mass at the local Catholic church, which was a pretty vibrant parish and an enjoyable service. Then began the hunt for food. For some reason, I hadn’t really done my usual planning for restaurants in Colorado Springs. We drove around a bit, stopped in nice looking Italian place, but realized it was more food than we wanted that evening. We wound up in the downtown area, and stopped at a neighborhood place called Panino’s, which was a bit better than adequate. Driving back to the hotel, I was quite taken with the beautiful homes around the Colorado College campus.
Sunday:
We woke up to snow! It quickly melted from most the areas around us, though Pike’s Peak remained clouded over most of the morning. We later learned that the summit of Pike’s Peak had remained closed due to high winds, so I was glad we hadn’t made our reservations for today!
We had reservations at 1 p.m. for brunch at the Broadmoor Hotel, so we spent the morning at the Garden of the Gods. The visitor’s center people were helpful, and they have a nice video there for $5 that explains how the garden was formed.
Then it was off into the Garden. It really is a beautiful place, and you can spend as little or as long as you’d like there. The road through it is about 3 ½ miles long, I think, so if you just drive it, it can be quick.
But why would you not want to get out and walk among the rock formations? It was quite a site to us Easterners, unused to red rock formations. There are trails of varying intensities throughout the park, and it doesn’t take a far walk to really be in the middle of giant formations. I saw a sign warning about staying on the trail due to the possibility of rattlesnakes, and even though it was April and the snakes were undoubtedly snug in their homes, I thereafter kept straight to the center of the paths!
On the other side of the park from the visitor’s center is the Trading Post, which is quite large and offers a good selection, including some better art and jewelry.
Next it was onto the Broadmoor. I had actually wanted to splurge and stay there, but there weren’t rooms (of the cheaper variety) available for all the nights we were in town. My brother had gotten married at the Broadmoor several years ago, and mom’s pictures were so pretty that I wanted to see it. And Charlie, of course, was in heaven with the variety of food. The Sunday brunch is pricey, but worth a splurge. Be forewarned: if you park on the property, there’s an additional parking charge.
We arrived early, but didn’t have a problem getting seated. The dining room was exquisite, the servers were extremely pleasant and attentive, the presentation was fabulous, and the food was really good, particularly for an all-you-can-eat brunch. And there was a lot of it! Meats carved to order, a seafood area, salad bar (who would eat ordinary salad in the face of such choices?!), cheese board, egg station, waffles, pancakes, sides, fruit . . . and, of course: desserts!
After stuffing ourselves to the gills, we walked around the property a little, but it was cold and windy, with more bad weather threatening, so off we went to the Air Force Academy. It’s a bit of a drive from the downtown area, and when we got there, there were still large patches of snow around. The visitor’s center had the requisite gift shop and film. We were going to walk the trail from the visitor’s center to the chapel, but when we came out, big fluffy flakes were falling, so we drove.
The chapel is quite a site to behold, with spires raising up to the sky. There’s two levels, with the bottom level being the Catholic , Muslin and Jewish chapel (though everything was very Catholic-looking to me), and the top level being the Protestant chapel. They had CDs of the Air Force choir with an honor-box, but we didn’t have more than a couple of dollars cash between us. I still wish we took one and mailed them a check later!
Given how much we ate at The Broadmoor, we skipped dinner tonight.
It was very windy that evening, and the blowing of the wind noise outside the door to our room was, by turns, spooking, disconcerting, annoying and funny. It was nice to get in the room and turn the fireplace on!
Monday:
The morning brought lots of sun and a warm forecast. We took advantage of the free breakfasts at the hotel this morning. Good service, good food, and a terrific view. I was getting spoiled by the pineapple, raspberries and blackberries that accompanied every breakfast we’d had in Colorado! The breakfast was quite big, and I took leftovers back to the room before heading out.
We had some time to fill before our trip to Pike’s Peak, and decided to go to Seven Falls. I asked our breakfast server if it was worth going to, and she said yes. Liar! It was a joke. We weren’t charged the full $10 per person admission, I think because the trails at the very top were closed due to ice. Even at a reduced priced, it wasn’t worth it. You can either climb 288 steps to the viewing platform halfway or so up, or take an elevator. From the viewing platform, you could climb more steps to the very top, where there are hiking trails. I’ve seen better falls in NY and Hawaii, and didn’t have to pay to see them.
We then went to Manitou Springs to walk around the town a bit before our reservation on the cog railroad to Pike’s Peak. The town is quite pleasant to stroll around. To us, it seems like a pretty hippie-type of place, and it was quite obvious who was a local and who was a tourist on the sidewalks. We had a good pizza at Marilyn’s, an expensive but good ice cream cone, wandered around some shops, and drank from one of the public fountains fed by the springs.
The railroad car itself was a little tight, and seats faced each other, so we got quite chatty with the couple we were across from. I would much rather take the railway than drive up to Pike’s Peak, so I could relax and really take in the scenery.
Alas, all was not well on the railway. Both Charlie and I had suffered a little from altitude sickness since arriving in Colorado Springs proper. Nothing serious, just headaches upon waking up and whenever we didn’t keep well hydrated. On the ride up to Pike’s Peak, Charlie started not feeling well. By the time we reached the top, he was monosyllabic and rushed outside to leave a souvenir of his own on the summit, if you know what I mean. We decided after that it was probably more motion-sickness than altitude, though I’m sure being 14,000+ feet above sea level didn’t help.
I got him settled in the snack bar/gift shop building, and out I went to explore and take pictures. There was a lot of snow, and the temperature was about 10 degrees or so. It had been calm when we got there, but for most of the time I walked around, the wind picked up. It was quite the experience!
Charlie managed to smile for a couple of photos before we got back in the rail car. As we descended, he didn’t really improve, which is when I started thinking it was more than altitude. The car operator told us about the races that are held to the top of the peak, and it’s amazing that the winners have times that are quite respectable for a regular marathon, much less a marathon involving sparse trails, dramatic inclines, high altitudes and snow!
Charlie was down for the count, so it was back to the hotel. He went straight to bed, while I had my leftovers from breakfast and watched tv.
Tuesday:
It was another beautiful day. We had to leave Colorado Springs today, and I was sad to leave the spectacular view that had so entranced us. Charlie was feeling back to normal, so we had breakfast in the hotel again and headed for the Olympic Training Center. We didn’t do the full tour there due to time, but did a shortened version of it, as well as the visitor’s center and gift shop before heading back to Denver.
It was back to the airport area to turn in the rental car, then we took the shuttle back to the airport proper to grab a taxi to the Westin Hotel downtown where my conference was being held.
The Westin is on the 16th Street Mall, which is pedestrian except for the free buses that run its mile-long course. Our room was nice, but lacking in that beautiful view of Garden of the Gods! I have to say, the Westin didn’t seem like the 4-star hotel it is, and the amenities seemed frankly cheap.
We rode the shuttle its whole length and back to check out the restaurants and stores, then went back to the State Capitol and took the free tour. Having skipped lunch, we then decided on an early dinner at Smashburger.
Wednesday:
Once again, a nice day, weather-wise, was in store. In fact, the whole time we were in Colorado, the weather was great, except for the snow earlier in the trip. It was windy most days, as is evidenced by my lovely hair in most of the photos.
It was the first day of my conference, so I met Charlie for lunch. After wandering a bit looking at our options, we settled on The Mellow Mushroom for sandwiches. I then went back to work, and Charlie took a tour of the Federal Reserve Bank.
We decided to go to the Colorado Rockies game that evening. I’m not a baseball fan at all, but figured I could do with seeing a major league baseball game once before I go toes-up. Coors Field is an easy walk from the hotel, only about eight blocks or so. We lasted seven innings, but when the temperature hit 59, I decided it was time to head to someplace warm! Dinner that evening was ballpark nachos.
Thursday:
I was going to be tied up all day until dinner, so Charlie went to the Bronco’s stadium and took a tour. He took a light rail there, but walked back (it was a bit of a haul, he said). The tour was $10 and included the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. He gave the stadium tour a big thumbs up!
Rather than go to the conference reception at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, we went to dinner was at Sam’s #3, a diner, where we indulged in a thick milkshake. The food was good, and Charlie went back the next morning for breakfast.
Friday:
My work obligations were over at noon, so we had the afternoon free. We went to the Capitol and called a taxi from there to take us to Denver Botanic Garden. With lightish traffic and back roads, it was a little over $7 for the fare.
Because we’re members of our local botanical garden and have reciprocal membership, we got in free. The garden was beautiful, and had more things blooming than I thought, given the time of year. The ponds were empty, and I could only imagine how pretty it would be in another month or so.
We had lunch in the garden café, and generally just relaxed and enjoyed the day. I even got a bit sunburned.
We took another cab back to the Capitol area, and ran smack into the crowds heading to the local 4/20 demonstration. It was kind of funny: they were heading west, and Charlie and I were trying to cross them and head north. It was a definite case of “one (or two) of these things are not like the other!” We would never be mistaken for the younger, pot-smoking, hippie crowd!
Dinner was back at The Mellow Mushroom, for pizza this time. We splurged by getting a piece of chocolate fudge cake from the Cheesecake Factory for later in the room.
Saturday:
I took the Super Shuttle to the airport while Charlie slept in. Once again, I rode the shuttle to Enterprise, and got a rental car, then headed back downtown to check out of the hotel and pick Charlie up.
We headed toward Estes Park, and stopped in Boulder for breakfast. We thought of going to the Farmer’s Market and wandering the downtown area, but really wanted to make the most of our limited time. So we stopped at a restaurant we saw on the main road, Turley’s. It was the only bad experience of the trip, and we later mentally added a “d” to the name in light of our meal. It was, I guess as to be expected in Boulder, a crunchy, granola, healthy place. They didn’t have white bread or English muffins, and my home fries arrive heavily seasoned, despite no mention of this on the menu. Both our eggs were cold, and service was slow and a bit more than slightly condescending. I guess I deserved it, given my temerity in asking for white toast.
Onward to Estes Park. There was a major cycling event on the road to Estes Park, and we shared the road with around 100 cyclists for many miles.
What a beautiful place! We had a lovely time walking the downtown area, meandering in and out of shops, and especially enjoying Big Thompson River. We decided to take the Peak to Peak highway back, or at least part of it. As we were heading out of Estes Park, we ran smack into a large herd of elk ambling across the street and grazing by the road. No one else seemed particularly phased by this, but we were enthralled! Yes, that was me, pulled over on the side of the road, hanging out the window with a camera. Too cool.
But the cool was just beginning. A ways down the road, we turned a corner, and there was Lily Lake, postcard perfect. It was definitely worth a stop.
Our last breathtaking moment came when we happened upon the Chapel on the Rock, St. Catherine of Siena, outside Allenspark. Just beautiful!
The vacation is almost over. We head back to the airport area, where we grab a quick dinner at McAllister’s Deli, then check into LaQuinta. This is a great budget hotel to grab a few hours’ sleep before catching a flight. I head to Enterprise to drop the car off, then shuttle to the airport, then take the hotel shuttle back to the property.
Our flight leaves at 6 a.m., which means we’re looking at a 2:30 a.m. wake-up call – ugh! Charlie does some laundry, while I consolidate all our stuff for the flight. Thank goodness I won’t need to take any more Denver airport shuttles!
Christmas 2011
Time to play catch-up! I still haven’t done a trip report for our October vacation, but that will have to wait. Before I post my most recent trip report, it’s Christmas time.
I got the idea in my head of having the family come to Richmond for Christmas last year. So that’s how it came to be that some of us celebrated Christmas together: Randy and Shanlii came from New Mexico, and Neicie, David and Sarah from Florida (with their little dog Daisy). I flew to Syracuse to bring Mom down, and afterwards, drove her home.
It was a really nice holiday, and Mom especially enjoyed it. I played hostess-with-the-mostess, and managed to everyone fed and comfortable. We did a little bit of shopping, including a family Costco field trip. Everyone showed up at midnight mass – and the church roof didn’t cave in! Charlie took everyone (sans me) to the Museum of Fine Arts on Christmas day. Many fart jokes were made, and Shanlii survived meeting Randy’s sisters. And we all went to the GardenFest of Lights at Lewis Ginter, took turns pushing Mom around, and froze our tushies off. All in all, a wonderful Christmas.
A tale of a tail
This is sweet Nicholas:
Nicky is a wonderful cat. He’ll often run to the door like a dog when I come home. He loves to hang out with us, and readily gives kisses. He’s not exactly the brightest cat, but I tell him it’s okay because he’s so pretty.
This is Nicky’s tail:
He twitches his tail every time I talk to him, even when he’s asleep. When he actually wags his tail, it seems much more powerful than other cat’s tail. We can often hear his tail thumping on the floor from another room. Almost every night, I have to pick things off the floor that his tail has swept from the end table when he lies between Charlie and I.
His tail is indiscriminate: newpapers, magazines, emery boards, pens – if it’s on the table, it’s fair game to be swished off. When he hops on the table, it’s de rigueur that drinks go on a shelf underneath.
This is the end result of the latest, and most egregious, victim of Nicky’s tail:
Last week, I came home from work and went into the bedroom to change. He followed me in and hopped onto the chair next to my bedside table. I kept up a running one-way conversation with him, as I always do, but I didn’t pay much attention to him as I went about my business.
The next morning, the suntan lotion I use daily on my face was missing. As was a new, big jar of body lotion. I looked everywhere, and then noticed Charlie had taken out the trash in the bedroom. A thought entered my mind: I looked at Nicky, and looked at his tail, and went outside.
Holding my breath, I dumped the big trash can on its side, and used a broom to pull the garbage forward. (It was, after all, expensive suntan lotion and a brand new container of body lotion, and I’m cheap.) Sure enough, there in the bag of bedroom garbage were the lotions. Nicky’s tail had swept it off the table and into the garbage can as he waited for me.
Good thing he’s so pretty.
Trip planning
There’s no doubt what I’d do if I won the lottery. I love to travel. I have to admit, I don’t understand how people can go to the same place for vacation, year after year.
Since I haven’t won the lottery yet, the next best thing is planning for travel. I like being prepared, I like getting a good deal, and I like crafting an itinerary that makes a vacation our own rather than going to just the usual spots. I like being a little bit different, choosing different destinations. Hence we went to Umbria instead of Tuscany, and honeymooned in the Pacific Northwest instead of the Caribbean.
I’ve started researching two different vacations:
The more immediate trip is for this autumn, and will be within the U.S. We’ve talked about Chicago or Boston. Then I had the thought of combining the vacation with a quick visit to Vermont to see Charlie’s family. We could fly into Boston, rent a car for three days, drive to Vermont and then return to Boston for the vacation part of the trip. Then the Boston idea changed to Montreal, since we could drive to Vermont for a family visit, the continue a couple of hours to Montreal for vacation.
The long-range trip planning is a European trip for our 25th anniversary. Okay, so it’s not until 2013. But still, picking a destination is very important! Until recently, the front-runner was either Croatia or Belgium. Now it’s shaping up to be London and Scotland. London isn’t very unique as a vacation destination, but it just seems like a good fit for our history-geekiness and Charlie’s hesitancy to spend two weeks in a non-English-speaking country.
Neither destination is definite yet. One of my main memories of Montreal when I went there many years ago was a strong anti-English speaking sentiment. The extent of my French is “bon jour.” And London is outrageously expensive, particularly since I’m a teeny bit of a diva and need a certain level of comfort.
For now, it’s research, research, research. We still have some time to finalize the September or October trip, and way longer for the grand 25th celebration.
Update on Aud
I went up to see Mom last week to take care of some business. Charlie had to work, so I went up by myself.
I managed to do a bit of decluttering, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. What we did, however, was good: ridding her of piles of unread local weekly newspapers (that which we used to call The Citizen’s Outhouse when we were growing up) and Better Homes and Gardens.
We kids decided to go in together on a big gift for her birthday, figuring that a new flat screen television would be easier for her to see. Plus, the small footprint meant that I could rearrange her living room and put the TV closer to her chair. So that was almost another whole day, from buying the TV for dismantling the old one, moving furniture and setting up the new TV.
The business part of the trip was for a consultation with a trust attorney, to make sure the paperwork for her trust was okay. There were a couple of smallish problems, so it was well worth the time.
We also made a couple of lengthy trips to the bank, one to look in the safe deposit box that hadn’t been opened in five years or so. Did you know that when a box renter dies, it generally takes a court order to open it? This is true even if there’s a deputy listed on the box, or if there’s an executor, etc. A power of attorney isn’t valid for a safe deposit box, since the bank wouldn’t know if the document had been rescinded or changed at a later date. The bank manager told me, unofficially, of course, that if something happens to Mom, to come to the safe deposit box right away, before it becomes known that she’s passed. Once they’re aware of it, the box can’t be opened without legalities.
Another order of business was to see her financial advisor, another worthwhile visit. Thanks to her explanation, Aud agreed to look at an assisted living center. I had given her the same information, but this was one of those instances where a non-family member’s word had more import. We toured a really nice facility, and Mom liked it. When the time comes, she said, she’d like to live there. “When the time comes” is the part that will be the sticking point.
In the vein of decluttering, we got out her summer clothes. It’s hardly an exaggeration to say Mom has enough clothing to clothe a small town. She has more just summer clothes than I have total clothes, and I go out to work every day.
Our last order of business was going to her RA doctor’s office for her monthly infusion. Thankfully, I had my laptop with me, so the two hours passed relatively quickly while I waited for her. One good thing was that her doctor’s office is near Syracuse University, so we made a quick stop for some alumni swag and license plate frames for the new car.
It was a quick week, and even busier than usual. Which brings me to tonight. She called to tell me she was waiting outside for a friend to pick her up for bunco, and fell.
When will the time come? I tried to tell her that she needed to make the transition while she was still healthy and able, before she didn’t have a choice, and she needed to be safe so she could remain healthy. She turned 83 yesterday, and while she still gets around pretty well and is relatively healthy, she’s slipped a bit since I last saw her at Christmas.
While I was there she did finally agree to a home health aide to come in a couple of days a week, to help her shower, help with laundry, do a walk to keep her active, etc. I made some calls today to agencies to start finding someone. This will likely be a stop-gap measure, but for how long remains the question.
It’s hard being eight hours away sometimes.
Mini trip report – Philadelphia
I had a conference in Philadelphia, and we decided to tack on a few days beforehand to sight see. We’ve driven past Philadelphia all our lives, but haven’t even been to the city.
Since we were staying in the center city area and didn’t want to pay for parking, we opted for Amtrak. The train ride up was uneventful, though much of the sights in the various cities we traveled through were of a definitely unsavory variety. Why can’t some of the huge, boarded-up industrial buildings in cities be rehabbed to provide housing for the homeless? It would solve three problems at once: rescuing buildings that at one time had been grand; beautifying cities; and helping the homeless. But solving the world’s problems hasn’t fallen in my purview yet.
We arrived around noon, taxied to the Loew’s Philadelphia to drop our luggage off, and went across the street to Reading Terminal Market for lunch. Poor Charlie, there weren’t enough days for him to try all the meals he wanted! I made him try a pork sandwich at DiNic’s, which he proclaimed good, but not the best he’s every had.
We wandered around the market for a couple of hours, and then headed to Macy’s, in the old Wannamaker department store building. What a beautiful, beautiful store! I was entranced with the architectural details, and we went up to inspect the pipe organ more closely. While we were there, a wedding party was being photographed on the mezzanine. Charlie got some gym shorts, since he had forgotten to pack any (though, as it turned out, we were so tired from sightseeing that he never actually got to the gym!).
Back to Loew’s, hoping the room would be ready since it was now 3 p.m. It wasn’t. They took my cell number and gave me two vouchers for free cocktails in the lounge. We waited there, but decided to not use the vouchers until later. An hour and a half later, with still no call about the room, I went back to the front desk, to discover that the room had been ready for 20 minutes. Grrr.
The Loew’s is in an older building, and I’d seen comments about things being run-down. I didn’t notice this. Our room was a luxury class room, in a corner with views from two walls, one toward the historic area and the other toward Chinatown. It was quite large, with a spacious bathroom. The worst thing about it was a periodic noise that I suspected was from a HVAC chute somewhere close by – it sounded like an airplane landing.
Overall, the experience at the Loew’s was very good. The doormen and concierge were very pleasant, as was the server in the lounge. The conference facility and conference food were also good, particularly breakfast. The only dark spot, other than the noise, was the housekeeping. It came very late every day, and was spotty. Several days the used towels were left on the hooks and new ones added, resulting in quite a surplus of towels. Some bathroom amenities weren’t replenished. Most egregious was the day when the decorative pillows from the chair and the bed were left on the floor.
One other point for short people like me: with the windows covering the whole wall the bed was against, it was difficult to pull the curtains closed at night. It was either stand on the bed to completely close them, or deal with a few inches of open curtain on an east-facing window. Luckily for me, I was up early most days, so the sunrise didn’t bother me.
Anyway, enough about the hotel.
Since this was Easter Saturday, I had previously scoped out information on the closest Catholic church, and we got ready for their Easter vigil service, deciding to skip dinner before mass, since we were still full from the market. The church was just around the corner, and the Vigil was nice and only about two hours.
We got back to the hotel around 10:30 p.m., and we headed for the lounge to use our vouchers. Since we were now hungry, we split a flatbread pizza from the bar menu (it was good), then up to the room.
The next day was Easter Sunday, and thankfully the historic sites were open.We had considered trying to find an Easter brunch somewhere, but decided it would take too much time. Besides, we weren’t in the mood for frou-frou food.
We headed down Market Street, stopping in Subway for a quick breakfast sandwich. Then we did the typical tourist things: the Independence Visitor Center, the tour of Independence Hall, Congress Hall, and the Liberty Bell. It was in the 80s that weekend, so we built in frequent relaxation breaks.
The Visitor’s Center was nice, thought it seems to have been designed to move you in and out fairly quickly, since noise just reverberated from one end to the other! The din when there were groups of kids in there was fairly obnoxious. We watched one of the movies, and it was sort of lame.
The tower on Independence Hall was under scaffolding, but with a printed screening of the tower. It was interesting to visit places that we’d heard about since elementary school. The Liberty Bell was smaller than I had imagined. Personally, I thought the exhibits in the Liberty Bell center were a bit too PC and went distinctly overboard with the slavery/civil rights issue, but it was still an enjoyable stop.
Outside the Liberty Bell center is a partial excavation of George Washington’s house, and his slave quarters. There’s a sparse framework of walls in this area, with several TVs showing . . . something. We couldn’t see any of them, since bright sunlight and flat screen TVs don’t mix. I hope those were privately donated, since it seems a rather stupid use of taxpayer funds!
We continued down Market Street for lunch. We actually ran into a bit of a dilemma regarding food while we were there. Many of the places we wanted to go to were closed for Easter Sunday, and others are always closed on Mondays (many of the places in the Italian Market area, for instance). Since a South Philly cheese steak wasn’t in the cards for Charlie, I had googled to find the best cheese steak in center city, and that’s where we headed for lunch. It was Campo’s and it was, thankfully, open. Charlie gave his cheese steak a very enthusiastic thumb-up.
After lunch we wandered around Christ Church and the cemetery, and made our way back to the hotel. Dinner that evening wound up being at Cosi’s, since we couldn’t find any other place that was open and that we agreed on. This was definitely a time when it would have been far better to have a plan, since we walked and walked and walked looking for a suitable restaurant.
The following morning, we discovered another holiday weekend dilemma: the Museum of Art was closed, many of the Italian Market shops were closed, quite a few vendors in Reading Market were closed – you get the picture.
Instead, we went to the U.S. Mint and took the self-guided tour. It was interesting, probably mainly because we’re tourist geeks. However, it was hotter than hades in there! Seriously, about half-way through I stopped caring and just wanted to get somewhere cooler. I joked to another tour-goer that you’d think they could afford air-conditioning with all that money hanging around. She was a local, and said that it’s always hot whenever she takes visitors there. It actually felt cooler outside in the shade than inside, and it was in the mid- to high-80s that day.
But first, in a genius marketing move, the tour exit is directly into the gift shop. Alas, I wasn’t to be parted with any of my money there, since I parked myself in front of an industrial fan they had running, and left once my core temp had lowered a bit.
We also went to Elfreth’s Alley, which was interesting to see, but I couldn’t understand why on earth anyone would pay for a tour of it.
We walked by the Constitution Center, and decided against visiting, since my conference later in the week included an evening reception there. This was the one regret of the trip, since Charlie would have really liked it, and also since I didn’t get a chance to see everything during the reception.
During our travels, we stopped at Capogiro for some gelato, and it was almost as good as the gel
We walked down to Rittenhouse Square, which was a bit of a disappointment. I had been expecting something much quainter and atmospheric, with the older row homes, but the Fan in Richmond has way more ambience.
One good thing in the Rittenhouse area, however, was a stand-alone Kiehl’s store (insert squeal of joy here). I can only get my Kiehl’s products at home in Nordstroms, so it was fun to wander in the store. I contributed a bit to the Philadelphia economy here, and Charlie very, very patiently waited outside for me.
Dinner was at Moriarty’s, an Irish restaurant on Walnut Street. Decent food: Charlie hadn’t filled his cheese steak need yet, so that’s what he had, and he declared it better than you’d expect, whatever that means. We stopped at Naked Chocolate on the way back to the hotel, and picked up a couple of treats for later in the evening.
The next morning was the start of my conference, so Charlie caught an early train back to Richmond while I buckled down to work.
