Philadelphia PA

At the end of January I had to go to Pennsylvania for work. I actually had to go to this tiny town that's about 50 minutes north of Philadelphia. I didn't get to do much sightseeing until the very last evening of my trip. My co-worker and I opted to stay in Philadelphia our last night rather than the tiny town to the north with nothing much to do or see. I was bummed that we didn't end up having time to go to the spot on the Delaware River where Washington crossed in 1776 on the evening of December 25th during the Revolutionary War. I guess it's not far from Philadelphia. Maybe next time. But I think we used what little time we had as well as we could.

We scurried down to Independence Hall and walked around a bit, reading the historical facts, exploring the foundations of Washington's old home. I wanted to check out the Liberty Bell, but apparently it's housed in a museum of sorts, which was closed. That didn't stop my coworker and I from snooping around the building and peering our heads into every window with the hopes of spotting the famous Bell. Unfortunately we were unable to catch a glimpse.

 

I stole this photo from the interweb somewhere.


We did manage to make it to this area of Philadelphia - where the Magic Gardens are situated. An art professor and his students/proteges have turned this lot in the middle of a bustling commercial street into an art project. They've transformed the whole place into a recycled mosaic of sorts. They use whatever junk and scraps they find and put it all... well everywhere. It's like you've stepped into someone's bizarre dream. It's both creepy and fascinating at the same time. But also somehow beautiful. At least that's how I felt about it. If you're ever in Philly, I'd recommend at least checking it out.

Getting home from Pennsylvania was no fun. There was a storm raging in Denver and subsequently over 300 flights were cancelled, one of which was mine. Boo hoo! I wanted desperately to get home so I could watch the storm happen and then go play in the aftermath. Luckily I was able to get on a later (much later) flight and I eventually got home. The storm was in it's final stages but I got to see some of it at least. And I did get to play in all of the snow the next day. More on that later though...