Visitors x 3

With summer upon us, it's a busier time in our household. Since we live far away from all of our close family and friends now, we get our fair share of visitors over the summer months. June has been action packed in this arena. We got our first visitors on June 1, my brother James and his girlfriend Liz:

James came out with the rest of my immediate Fry family to visit last July. Liz has also been to Philadelphia a number of times, as she spent her early years in Baltimore. They came out for a three week trip to visit her family in Baltimore and took a quick jaunt up to Philly to visit me and Nick!
We decided to do free things as much as possible since Nick and I had just closed on the house and these two aren't exactly rolling in the money either. Do you know any wealthy nineteen year olds? I picked them up from the Amtrak station and we went right down to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. I've been to see the Liberty Bell many many times, but hadn't been on a tour of Independence Hall since before I moved to the city. We had a good time!
We walked around downtown, went to Reading Terminal Market for lunch, and then took them by the new house. They were our first official visitors! After that, they relaxed around the apartment while I worked that evening. The next day, we went to Valley Forge for the morning (no pictures from me while we were there!) and then went for cheesesteaks at Tony Luke's. We met up with Liz's grandmother after that and they spent the rest of the day in the city while I worked. It was a quick but fun visit!

The next day, Nick's uncle Eric, aunt Lorien, and cousins Merrick and McKinley drove down from NYC for a quick visit in Philly. They had been on vacation for a couple of weeks in Boston and NYC and decided to end their trip here with us. They came in around dinner time, so we went to Manayunk Brewery and then to Rita's for dessert. With the little ones, we had an early night!

The next morning we met them at our new place so they could see it. After that, we headed downtown via Kelly Drive and the Benjamin Frankling Parkway (the two prettiest streets in teh city) for some fun in Center City before their late afternoon flight. We went to the Comcast Center, Love Park, the square with big game pieces around the Municipal Services building, then to Reading Terminal Market for lunch before taking them back up West River Drive to their hotel .

Merrick playing in the oversized game piece square.
Eric, Merrick, Lorien, and McKinley in Reading Terminal Market. It was great to get my small-person fix. We hadn't seen the kids in about a year and a half, but we were fast friends again.

After our move in on the 13th, we knew we had to get everything in order as quickly as possible since our first overnight visitor was arriving six days later! Nick's cousin Drew got to town on the 19th and fortunately all essential things were finished in the house! All the boxes were unpacked and I even gave the house a quick cleaning. We still don't have anything on the walls, curtains up, and still have a bathroom we aren't really using until we fix a hole in the drywall, but it was guest-ready. Drew went cold calling with Nick after his arrival. Then they came home, we hung out and ate some of Nick's incredible brined chicken wings fresh off the grill. They went to see a late movie while I got to go to bed early :)

The next morning we headed downtown despite the rain. It was not a lovely day, but we still managed to do A LOT of stuff in the city. We first took Drew to the Comcast Center.
Drew posing with the sculptures in the lobby. You can see the HD screens in the background where they show a variety of shows, designs, videos, etc. The Comcast Center is the newest and tallest building in the city and it's a really cool place to stop by.

We caught the Phlash (a trolley that provides cheap transport to all of the major sites of the city) to Independence National Historical Park for another Liberty Bell visit.
Drew and Nick with the bell. Independence Hall was sold out for the weekend, but we saw it from the outside. Then we headed to Reading Terminal Market (yes, again!) for lunch. It's such an incredible place and Nick and I don't go often enough when we don't have guests in town. We had delicious sandwiches from Hershel's Deli, then got some cinnamon covered pretzels (AMAZING) before walking around downtown and back to the car.

Even though we were quite tired by this point, we decided to take Drew to Eastern State Penitentiary. I'd only been once before, right after I moved here. Nick hadn't been, and it's a pretty cool place to take visitors. We walked through the penitentiary listening to our Steve Buscemi-narrated audio tour. It was pouring while we were there, and so our time outside of the cell blocks was a bit damp.
Drew got this shot of Nick and I walking through the corridors. It's an interesting building with a fascinating history. A lot of people find it really creepy. I LOVE that they leave it as a ruin. They make sure the walls aren't going to collapse, but otherwise it's almost completely unrestored. Ruins are a way to preserve and remember the past that is quite foreign to our monument obsessed American culture. That was a bit of a tangent, but oh well.

We went from the penitentiary to Philly favorite Chickie's and Pete's, famous for their incredible crab fries. We had to wait awhile, as the restaurant is by the ballpark and there was a game starting shortly. Nick and I hadn't been in ages so we were glad for the excuse to go back. We got ice cream on our way home, and then I went to bed at a decent hour while the guys stayed up late.

Sunday was spent in a relaxing way. We watched a movie in the man room, went to a park where Nick and Drew played catch with the football, and then we went to Tony Luke's for cheesesteaks for a late lunch. This is obviously our favorite place to take people for cheesesteaks. They are INCREDIBLE. However, since I just had one a few weeks ago, I decided to try their famous roast pork sandwich with provolone and broccoli rabe. Now, I'm not sure if I'll ever eat a cheesesteak there again! I do contend they have the best cheesesteak I've tried in the city, but the roast pork is just incredible, and a bit easier on the waistline. After our late lunch, we had to take Drew to the airport.

It was great having various members of our family come visit us! We'd love to add people to the lineup, to sleep in our cozy guest bedroom if anyone is interested!