Tri-City Blitz - Day #1

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Early Morning

Okay, so I have to give much appreciation to April and Courtney who got out of bed before the crack of dawn to drop me off at the airport. We left their apartment at about 5:30. Getting checked in at the airport was easy. I was suprised to see so many poeple already waiting at the gate! But we boarded quickly. Things were going right on time. We pulled away from the terminal, but then pulled bak up to the terminal! In the end, it was that one of hte first-class passengers got sick and watned to get off the plane. So we had to wait for them to take his lluggage off too - for safety reasons. The flight was easy and they fortunately made up for lost time during the flight. I landed in Memphis and found my connecting flight without incident and they were already boarding, so I didn't even have to wait. The second flight was also smooth and easy. However, we had to deplane onto the tarmac in Philly. And it was cold! Here's what it looked like from the plane:

The Big Surprise

So I get into the terminal and call April to let her know I got to Philly. Then I call my cousin to let her know my flight had landed early. She was 5 minutes away. She kept telling me to just stay where I was. I was trying to tell her where I was when I suddenly notice this woman sitting reading a book about 10 or 15 feet away from me. And she looked like my mom!!! So I say into the phone: "What's my mom doing in the airport?" My thoughts were a muttled ball of confusion ranging from: Does she just happen to be on a business trip that happened to bring her to Philly at the exact same time I was there? To: Maybe it's someone who just looks an awful lot like my mom! Finally, I walk over and say, "Mom?" Well, it was my mom!!! Everyone knew (including my siblings and my dad) except for me! So, after our emotional display of hugging and crying (this is par for the course for my mom), we got a lady who witnessed the whole waterworks to take our picture:

So, Katherine got there and we headed out of the airport. Okay, I was warned repeatedly that the Northeast looks dirty. I didn't think it looked dirty at all! Maybe it was all the snow on the ground and on the cars...Anyway, we parked in downtown Philly and started walking toward the cheesesteak rivals (Pat's and Geno's). It was so cold outside!!! There was ice on the sidewalk in the middle of the day! We found Pat's and just decided to eat there. I got the cheez wiz cheesesteak. It was good. But there was no indoor seating, so we sat outside to eat it and my hands were freezing!! Here are a couple of pictures: After lunch, we went back to the car and went to Liberty National Park. We went to the Philadelphia Mint and got to see the process for making our coins. We saw boxes and boxes of brand new shiny pennies! We weren't allowed to even have cameras or cell phones inside the Mint, so we'd left them in the car a couple blocks away. After the Mint, we went to the Constitution Center. I was sad that my camera was in the car, because the building of the Constitution Center is inscribed with the words "We the people..." I would have loved to have a picture standing in front of that... Inside the Constitution Center, we went to a presentation that was very powerful about the founding of our nation and what the Constitution really means to us as Americans. It was awesome. And then we looked around the rest of the Center and even went into the Hall of Signers, which had statues of men who signed the Constitution. George Washington's statue was in there and it was tall! It was a really neat experience, because you were just walking around these statues that were set up in various positions throughout the room. And lastly, my mom and I walked through the First Ladies Exhibit which had pieces of china from several of the First Ladies and also some of their evening gowns. It was just really neat.

Next we headed over to see the Liberty Bell. That was cool. We didn't take much time, just pretty much walked over and took pictures, because things were getting ready to close.

Afterwards, we went outside and there was this little field filled with snow. So, I had to play in it. Two things: the snow was furry looking and soft. And also: it was COLD and WET!!! My hand was FREEZING when I was done doing this. I think I heard it (my hand) say: "Why would you do that? Why would you purposefully put me, your bare hand, in snow???" Haha.By this time, we decided to leave, because it was close to 5 and we wanted to try to miss as much traffic as possible. So we headed into New Jersey. We laughed and told stories the whole way; it was great. We stopped at Wawa on the way, because after all the going on and on about how great it is that Katherine has done, I just had to try it. And seriously... it's awesome. They have delicious hot chocolate at a great price. So my question is: why doesn't Alabama have one of these??? Anyway, as dorky as it is, I took the picture for proof. And I am not holding up that white sign... I'm actually pointing with my index fingers at the Wawa sign and it just happens to look like I'm holding the white sign.

We got to my Aunt Hila's house and I got a shower. She got in from work with a white pizza (called a pie) and that was delicious! We watched the family home videos DVD I had transfered from Betamax to DVD over Thanksgiving. That was fun.

Okay, so the weird thing (well, not so much weird, but actually really awesome) is that it felt so normal to be there. I hadn't seen my aunt in almost 5 years and my cousin in over 10. Yet it felt like normal for us to all be together. It was such a good feeling. No awkwardness, no feeling weird. Just a homey, happy family feeling. I liked that a lot. And I wish we lived closer together!!!

Okay, so I hope this gives you an idea of my first day. I will probably type up Day 2 tonight while I'm in class. So, keep checking back!!!