If you never have, you should!

"If you never have, you should. These things are fun and fun is good." ~Dr. Seuss

I am a fan of big bustling cities filled with lots of people with lots of different stories. When you add a heavy dosage of good ol’ blue collar America on top of it all – well, you have pretty much sealed the deal for me. Welcome to Philadelphia – the home of Philly Cheesesteaks, the Constitution and Rocky!

One of my biggest weaknesses in life is the down-to-earth, true, all-American, hard working blue collar guy. I tend to value a true heart, hard work and blue collar muscles above all other attributes (to include money or even intelligence – which can be problematic sometimes as some of the prettiest ones can be dumb as a box of rocks – tragic irony indeed). I affectionately call this my "Yo, Adrian!" attraction. So you can imagine what would happen to me if I lived n Philly – I would have attraction overload in short order. In my very short visit there I realized that I am but a hop, skip and jump away at any given moment from melting from one of these fabulously beefy boys talking to me in their decidely urban, and oh so blue collar, vernacular. Forget about flying off to Italy to live for a year – just drop me off in Philly and I will share with you a diary that will knock your socks off – and maybe a few other things.

Thankfully, for me and Philly’s mankind, I was heavily occupied with work during most of my Philly visit and chaperoned for the remainder of the time by responsible citizens. Well, responsible being a term relative to me in particular as my chaperones were the infamous Philly Kim (for an understanding of her infamy read "Turn your knob to B.O.B." published on day sixty of the new forty – September 3, 2009) and Dustin, my colleague at NDSU who is more recently known as the father of the beautiful and fierce Piper.

Philly Kim was gracious enough to give Dustin and I a proper tour of Philly – to include South Philly which is where my "Yo Adrian!" proclivities put me in the most danger. Our tour had a decidely food centric focus, but took us all over Philly in the process. God bless Philly Kim, she drove her car into the city and evidenced amazing skill in finding parking options. The parking part would be the number one detractor for me living in Philly as my parallel parking skills are virtually non-existent. It is a great walking city though – not necessarily for gals in high heels as there are plenty of places on Philly sidewalks on any given block that would love nothing better than to stop a stiletto in mid-stride while the wearer keeps going – but aside from that, it is a place where a car is a less important possession (they also have an extensive subway system). And I must confess, I love walking cities where you can take in all the sights, sounds and smells as part of your daily travels…it makes me feel so much more alive and engaged in what is going on around me.

Our tour with Philly Kim started at Geno’s Steaks which is nationally known for having the best Philly Cheesesteaks (and I say this with the caveat that the "best" label may be in dispute and the designation did not result from my own personal taste test). The photos below capture our stop at Geno’s where I must say the claim seems to be bore out…hard to argue with perfection. The photos of the signs are from the windows at Geno’s – as you may recall, these signs have gotten some attention by the media.

After Geno’s we were off to experience the unique taste temptations of "water ice" which I cannot adequately describe herein, but offer as a weak description that it is a slush of sorts topped with custard. Rita’s is the place for these things – so off to Rita’s we went. All I can say folks is: OMG – DELICIOUS! Plus, apart from the custard part (which is just a dollop on top) I am thinking the caloric intake was not at all bad…I want a Rita’s in Fargo! As I understand it, Rita’s fame grew to the point that they started selling franchises and now the franchises pepper that area of the East Coast. I am not one bit surprised. Even the person with the greatest resolve would be hardpressed to avoid addiction to Rita’s wares.

It was across the street from Rita’s that I captured this photo of the Psychic ATM. Dustin theorized that the ATM would likely deliver a message such as, "You are likely to run out of money soon." We laughed a good long time about that. What actually happened here is that a Psychic’s storefront abuts the ATM so I think she tried to capitalize on the ATM awning for advertisement…or the ATM is psychic – who knows…it’s Philly.

After Rita’s we went here, there and everywhere via car and foot (see the "Where is Waldo?" photo below that I took while we were walking down by the Constitutional Hall area – can you spot Dustin amongst the group of Japanses tourists taking photos?). Eventually we ended up at the Continental Restaurant – a very hip restaurant that has an amazingly eclectic menu (to include phillysteak eggrolls – which I wholeheartedly recommend). The Continental’s restrooms have two-way mirrors over the sinks (in both the male and female restrooms) so while you are washing your hands, picking things out of your teeth, etc. in front of that "mirror" everyone that passes by the restroom area can see you (very, very interesting indeed). We were at the Continental on a Thursday evening and the place was jumping – I can only imagine what Friday and Saturday nights look like. Next time I go to Philly I am going to be sure and stay over the weekend – as I am thinking it has a smokin’ weekend persona and places like the Continental provide plenty of opportunity for raising the roof (which I know is literally true as they have a rooftop patio) – seriously my party animal friends, check this place out when you get to Philly.

After an evening full of food, sights, laughter and reminiscence, Dustin and I had to regretfully bid our favorite Philly tour guide adieu as she had to work early and we had to conference early. Amazing how much we were able to squeeze in though in our time together. We updated each other on the comings and goings in our lives and the lives of our shared friends. I learned all about Philly Kim’s new job and her fab new boyfriend, Anil (watch for an upcoming discussion in my blog about "dating season" courtesy of Anil – truly a well-thought out approach to the time when dating should occur). Dustin and I learned all kinds of fascinating facts about Philly – to include the disturbing realization that the pen in William Penn’s hand doesn’t look like a pen at all from afar (see what I am talking about below). Leave it to Philly Kim to teach us all we ever really needed to know about Philadelphia. Seeing her reminded me of how much I have missed her…I will have to make a point of getting to Philly again before too long so that I can see her again.

On our last evening in Philly Dustin and I went on a quest to find some Philly t-shirts and an Italian restaurant we had heard about from some of our fellow conference attendees. We never did find the restaurant we were looking for, but after walking twenty blocks or so we found another small out-of-the-way quaint Italian restaurant and it was fabulous – so it all worked out (and the walking to and from was lkewise a workout which allowed us to work-off some of those yummy calories we consumed). As I said before, I love a walking city so it mattered not to me the number of blocks (but thank goodness Dustin was with me as I would not have found my way back to the hotel alone – walk – yes, navigate – no way).

I took many photos in Philly of the buildings and other things that I found to be of interest. I have included some herein, but my photos and my lack of photo-taking skills don’t do the city justice. If you haven’t ever been to Philly, or have been away for awhile – go visit – it is fun and fun is good! 😉