Easter Vacation Day 3: Cheese Steaks!

Wake up in the hotel after an incredibly good night of sleep. Out like a light by 10:30 and slept right on through to 7:00 or so. Solid night of sleep, much needed. Overnight, Vinny had texted  that he could not sleep because he drank too much. I remember those days when too much beer used to cause bad sleep. Not any more. Lights out, I'm out. I ate a vending machine bag of peanuts before bed. Maybe that's the key. Take some Advil just in case. 


Off to the Please Touch Museum which is kid friendly and used to be located behind the Franklin Institute. Find parking, feed the meter, and find out that it's since moved. Get back in the car and after navigating the annoying streets with an annoying GPS, we get there. It's a beautiful day out. 

Julia has started posing like a "challenged individual" when I break out the camera. So the only time I get her in a natural smile is when I hold the camera at knee level, or hide, and take pics. She's got such a great natural smile but she's taking after her cousin and thinks that she's supposed to make a special smile when it's picture time. I shake my head. Kids are nuts. Speaking of kids, Vinny's oldest daughter is now 12, and I'm sort of half-mortified how she is now developing. We have a pic of me when I weighed a good 250 pounds holding her when she was about 10 pounds. I still weight twice as much as she does but the kid is growing up, and fast.


The museum was good for her, and probably better than the Franklin Institute. After a solid 2 hours we got her a yogurt and started making our way to the lunch target of the day: Jim's Steaks on South Street. It's been a long, long time since I've gotten a cheese steak in Philly - high school to be exact. We used to randomly find a steak shop after whatever concert we had gone to. We didn't have a set place, and they probably weren't very good. But I do have fond memories of them, more than likely because it was food and I was a slob. 


Anyway, we got a tip from Mr. Fred on where to go. Why do I call him Mr. Fred? As a parent I guess you just get used to calling people Mr. So-and-So. We call the wife Mrs. Linda. I feel like I'm talking about a pro wrestler duo - Mr. Fred & Mrs. Linda. Drop the hammer! Well, after a solid 20-30 minutes in line, I got this, which I fully planned to drop the hammer on:

And drop the hammer I did. This was good, well worth the trip. This could be a return trip waiting to happen. I feel like they should be serving fries, but they're pretty standard with what you get. It's more or less cheese steak or nothing. They have "hoagies" but I'd say 1 in 100 people get them. You go there for the steaks. And you get Whiz not American or provolone cheese. The locals get Whiz. I get Whiz. 


I ate it all and finished Nat's sandwich. Have to say, she did a good job with her's. I probably could have eaten another. Fred and I discussed riding our bikes down and having one, then riding home after it. The thing is a total gut bomb, and would make for a brutal hour after lunch. But goddamn it would be memorable. 


Rest of the day was uneventful. Drove back up 95 then 206 which was great then terrible. 95 (great) and 206 (terrible) makes for a frustrating combo. You crush the first 45 miles then have to slog up 206. My allergies were overall better, which I was happy with. Julia started to really fade by the end of the ride but when we got home she was all good. I topped it off by going for a late afternoon bike ride and having some soup that Nat made. 


In all, a solid day+ trip down to the Camden/Philly area. I have no love for Philly but this turned out to be a nice trip. Maybe we'll be back one day. I feel a Jim's Steak calling my name. 

Easter Vacation Day 2: Picking Up Where You Left Off

First part of the day:


I ride my bike, come home, lament the fact that these allergies are destroying me in every respect, get ready to go, drive to south Jersey, grab some cheap lunch and a cup of coffee at the rest stop, hit the Camden Aquarium, see fish and stuff, go to Whole Foods to grab a drink, hit Joe Canal's, then go to Vinny's. It is now 5:00.


The aquarium was ok but this is what Julia thinks of the whole "touch the fish" thing:

Second part of the day:


Who is Vinny? He's an old college buddy who lives in south Jersey with his wife Bridgette and their 3 girls. He was the best man at our wedding, and we lived together at some point towards the end of the post-college days. Our history is more or less based on beer & drugs. We don't do drugs anymore, but the way it usually goes is I get to Vinny's house, we drink beer, and then we drink more beer. 


Nat & I were discussing how to play the day. She figured since we were in the area, we should "stop by" and say hello. I know better than this. There is no stop by. It is either all-in, or don't go. She doesn't understand this. I explain to her that we'll see. 


So I show up with a bomber of Firestone & a sixer of some Founder's something or other. As expected, I'm right. This is how it goes:


1. Vinny tries the Firestone, likes it
2. He hems and haws about the first Founders, but decides he'll have another
3. But just 1 more
4. After we wipe out everything I brought, Vinny is yelling about diving into the Sam Adams he's got in the fridge
5. We are drunk, we eat pizza


This is how it goes. Every time. This is why I said to Nat - either we skip or it's all in. I think she actually expected to be there for a beer or 2. It's funny, I laugh at the notion. 


See this is really how it goes with someone you're really, truly good friends with. I haven't been to their house in 2 years, a virtual eternity in this day and age. In that time span I've probably seen Utah 100 times. But one of my best friends, exactly 0. But when you really know & love someone like this, what is time? Time is nothing, it doesn't matter. Even though we're old and shit now, we're always just going to be the same good friends that we've always been. 


You just pick up where you left off, it's just good times. It's like a running relay. For the past 2 years we've sort of just been sitting on the bench, and then it was time to get back on the track and grab the baton. We just hit the deck and sprinted like we always do. Damn good times. 


Ok, maybe we're not as fast. We used to drink 10 beers each not 5. But the point is the same. When you've got a good friendship, it doesn't matter if you don't see each other every day or week or month or even year. Life gets in the way, then 1 day you find yourself on the track again, baton in 1 hand, beer in the other. Just run, have a good time, and don't think too much about it. 

Easter Vacation, Day 1

Wake up, it's 4:40, the first day of your vacation. Hello, it's the first day of the rest of your life. But I didn't get to enjoy the last day of my previous life. I would have had a party of something. Scotch anyone?


It is raining, but I get on the bike anyway. Like any ex-fat bastard you know that calories burned allow you to eat more later. And vacation is a flag in your brain to eat more. So you need to suck it up and burn more. The ride is uneventful, though it does have all 3 pieces of the Bad Pie: cold, dark, and wet. Carson says that means you're also stupid. Make it 4. In hockey I think there's a term for 4 goals, the Hat Trick on Acid? A turkey? No wait, that's golf.


I get an interesting message from someone in the car industry offering to help the car buying process. Not going to pull out any names just to protect the innocent, but let's just say that Mandell and Dan "I'm a no-show to ST #4" know him. It may delay the process a few days, but I'm a patient man. I'm not an ideal customer because I have no problem walking away and waiting. We'll get there.


At the Korean market we get some sashimi for lunch to bring back to the house. It is as good as it looks.

Julia is cooked, I feel lousy. The allergies this year are brutal. The trees and colors are awesome but it is drilling both of us. I'm more tired than congested, she alternates between tired and congested. By the end of the night she is cooked. She goes to sleep in literally 3 seconds once she stops being a little brat.


First full day of vacation is boring. The weather was unimpressive, so we went to buy Korean meat. Breakfast is scrambled eggs in an orange bell pepper, lunch is the above pic, and dinner is some leftover kung pao tofu I made a few days ago. I eat ice cream later in the evening. I skip the beer, as much as I want to drown out this awful feeling. Bill tells me beer doesn't work. He prefers vodka.


I clean out a corner of the kitchen, order some North Face jackets, and make a video about mapping out trails at the BSA. Pearl says he likes it.

Easter Vacation, Day 0

This is, or is this, a test?


I slid down the dinosaur's back at approximately 3:45. Outside the streets had been transformed into a bit of a war zone - barricades up & down the street, police everywhere, 99% protesters everywhere. The weather is nice. Have you ever noticed that the 99% only have newsworthy complaints when it's warm out? There's no indication that it's a nice day like hearing the drums beating out on the street from my veal-fattening pen up on the 17th floor. It's strange how the world is just & right when it's cold or rainy, but worthy of such angst when the sun comes out and the streets warm up.


Nothing eventful from there. With approximately 1 cop per human in the area, nothing ever really happens. This is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. I just want to go home. You can protest me or my job all you like. But we're really all just the same. 


On the Path I'm sitting down next to some generic woman and 1 of the extreme-looking protesters comes in the car and stands in the corner. He looks sorta like an angsty kid who got into a fight with a bunch of crayons, some random stickers, and a tape gun. He's got only his eyes showing, and has a gas mask strapped onto his jacket. I laugh inside, and also think that if this is going to be the end of days, it's really comically tragic that it would be this kid to do it. I figure though that he, like me, just wants to go home and eat because he's hungry.


The woman next to me can't take it. She gets up and goes to another car. The 99% guy springs into action. I figure he's going to hound her, but instead he sits next to me. He politely apologizes as he sits down. I laugh.


"You know she ran away from you, right?"


I ask this of him, and he says yes, he knows. He then kinda goes into a random monologue to which I occasionally put a word or 2 in. He tells me the gas masks are cheap on eBay. Everyone in Israel owns one. He pulls down the black cloth covering his face, and I am struck by how enormous his gums are when he talks. I wonder if this is it, why he's here at all. Physically he looks different. I wonder if he was made fun of in school, and was always an outcast. Now he tapes stickers on his black leather jacket and hangs gas masks from his body. 


They say the revolution will not be televised. What nonsense. Of course it will. How else can you explain why they only protest when it's nice out? It's all a show. Rush had it right when they said that all the world is a stage. Shakespeare stole the line from them. Few people know this. 


The remainder of my commute is of no interest. I listen to Spotify, while the 99% kid plays Angry Birds. Are we really any different?


At home I kicked off my vacation by cleaning the freezer. It's gonna be a hella good time if this keeps up. 

Day 13 Pictures

And finally we get to the end of the line with the picture posts. A final 6 pictures for the last full day on the ground. I took none on packing day so this is it, the final set. Our final dinner, Grace and Lydia at the table.



After food the kids play a bit.



Julia looking a little goofy here. It's what she does.



Grace had to basically force Lydia to let me hold her.



Playing at the department store after the meal.



More play.



That's it, all done. 12 days of pictures (2 through 13) with none on the plane and none on my last day. Hope you enjoyed. It would have been better if they had all been in-line with the text as the trip went on but that would have been a pretty tall task. Maybe next time, though I doubt it.

Next week I should be back to my normal retarded self. I'll reply to the various vacation comments in one last post about the trip. But then after that we're back to reality. The girls come home Saturday, late night. So by midnight Pee Wee's Big Adventure will be all done.

Day 12 Pictures

Day 12 was a pretty low picture day, just a few from the ride up and a few from Julia all dressed up for lunch. And yes, I realize that at this point I just keep posting pictures of my daughter. I guess we got pretty boring by the end of the trip. Here, she makes like a circus seal and does tricks with the paper cup.



Random buildings on random landscape.



An entire hillside of graves. We were on the highway and going into t tunnel that goes through the hill here.



Julia looking uncertain, but cute.



Bouncing around in the lobby of the Japanese restaurant.



Looking like she's about to take off running, probably because she was about an hour past her nap time.



Another day of pictures in the books. One more and that's a wrap.

Day 11 Pictures

Another day of pictures for your viewing pleasure, sitting down to post just after Cabrera popped a home run to tie the Yankees home opener here on Tuesday night. My strange fascination with baseball continues on into day #3 of the baseball season. Anyway, only 3 days of pictures left, including this one.

Julia with Nat's cousin's son, in the upstairs apartment. She loved playing with him, which a lot of times meant playing with the fax machine.



Nat's mom and aunt seemingly share a moment.



Ah good old authentic Taiwanese food. Gotta love it.



Out for a quick trip while Julia naps, and we stop and get a snack because we hadn't snacked in 12 minutes or so.



Nat's cousin's kid, who was a bit of a monster. She didn't much care for Julia.



Concentration young Jedi...



Juuuust taking the baby for a walk....



Nat's aunt, dad's side, and her husband.



Juuuust using the baby's head to play the keyboards...



Nat's cousin's wife, not the mother of the child, and the child giving us the evil eye waiting for us to leave.



Nat's cousin to the left, dressed for the incoming freeze, inside the house. And more evil eye.



And more good old authentic Taiwanese food for our daughter.



Day 11, in the books, and it's starting to rain out. Bottom of the 7th, bases loaded, 1 out, score tied 2-2, and Matsui comes to the plate. He hits a hard shot up the middle, and the second baseman boots it, runner scores, and the Yankees go up 3-2 and need a mere 6 outs to win.

Day 10 Pictures

We're almost there, everyone. After a few more days of this I can get back to my fascinating life of biking and, well, not much more. Even though there's not a lot of feedback, the hit numbers are way higher than when I'm not on vacation or posting pictures. So I guess you guys like it. I'll try to include more pictures in my daily life.

This is tough to really see, but this is a dry river bed. Off to the right you can see the trickle but in the rainy season this is apparently as wide as the picture.



Another of the random landslides you see all over, out of focus as usual.



Julia sitting at the tea table with us, when we visited the tea farm. She looks a little chubby here for sure.



Making tea the old-fashioned way. If you really want, come to the house and I'll make you tea this way. You have to ask nicely though.



Outside the tea room, another currently dry river/stream bed.



At the house of Nat's oldest aunt, her dad's side. This is their grandson, who Julia isn't impressed with, apparently.



Doing a little close up action with the little meatball. This kid said little but was afraid of nothing.



Julia warms up once she finds his stash of toys.



Off to dinner, Nat's youngest uncle, dad's side, his wife, and the 3rd uncle's wife.



Nat's dad and granmother, in a rare sighting outside the house.



Nat's 3rd uncle looks on. Again, I don't understand a damn word he says but he seems like a really nice guy.



Finally it's bath time. At a loss for bath toys we resort to empty tea bottles.



And that's day 10 in the photograph books, the quick version. I'm running out of things to say about the trip.

Day 9 Pictures

Let's fire it up for day 9, a pretty low-key total here which is why I'll pump this one out quickly.

This, my friends, is a real scooter parking lot. This is half-full at best. The left side of the lot here goes off further and at this point in the day is yet to be filled up.



In the office, the makings of a Chinese Fire Drill.



Right before we took off for Lotung Nat's dad put this on her. She refused to take it off.



Out of the tunnel we catch a glimpse of the sun.



A quick stop at Nat's aunt, I think her 5th aunt but maybe her 4th. Nat's cousin to the left, then clockwise is his assistant, his mother (Nat's aunt), Nat's mom, his wife, then Nat.



I plopped Julia in the stroller and took her for a walk while they talked. This is where Nat's mom went to school 50 years ago.



This is a rock in the school yard. This reads, "Whiteys go home." The script on the right says, "Nah we're just busting your chops."



Day 9 in pictures done.

Day 8 Pictures

I uploaded both day 8 and 9 tonight, but it's already 9:30 and I just opened a beer as I watch the the Nationals play the Braves. So I don't know if I'll get them both posted tonight or not because I'm so riveted to the game (game = beer in this equation).

This was the day we went to Nat's oldest aunt on her mom's side and yet another political discussion broke out. Here Julia occupies herself with a scale and a mirror because the conversation wasn't to her liking.



We take our shoes off in our house, which is the norm here as well. These people have a lot of shoes.



Outside the apartment this is the bustle of a Sunday morning. Remember around Calvin's apartment there was nothing open to eat breakfast. Here, a different story. Calvin is definitely in the wrong part of town for food.



The towering presence of Taipei 101 in the distance, behind the tons of smog hanging over the city. Note the 7-11 sign.



This picture epitomizes that my daughter does learn some of the things I teach her.



We went out for a walk while everyone else protested something or other. Here Julia is mad because we won't carry her. So she stops and makes a stink. We just walk away.



Eventually she breaks and runs back to us. Love this picture.



After the the demonstration, the stuff becomes fodder for the kids to entertain themselves.



We break open a bottle of wine and they let Lydia drink some. Hey, I don't raise the kid I merely report the photographic facts.



Day 8 in the books.