Welcome back to our blog! After a long blogging absence (during which we remodeled a house in Hood River, Oregon and spent several months in John Day, Oregon while David fought fires this summer), we are now about to embark on another travel adventure.
For those of you who may not know, we are both originally Pennsylvanians. David grew up on the west side of the state in Sharpsville, PA, very close to the Ohio border. Sharpsvillle is a small town approximately 60 miles north of Pittsburgh. In January of this year, we flew into Pittsburgh and saw the area in which David grew up. It was a very nice trip, So this fall, we decided to head to the other side of the state where Karen is from. We then plan to continue north to New York City, then work our way up the coast through New England to see (hopefully) the beautiful fall foliage.
Karen grew up in Southampton, Pennsylvania which is in Bucks County, and is about an hour from Philadelphia. David is always lamenting the fact that she is from the "wrong side of the state." It's an ongoing source of rivalry and banter between us!
Yesterday morning, we set off from Portland, Oregon bound for Philadelphia. We arrived in the city in time to meet up with her Uncle Chuck for dinner. Uncle Chuck took us to a restaurant called "The Victor Cafe". This is a unique restaurant where the waiters are all opera singers. The waiters and waitresses all take turns performing popular arias (see attached video for a sample). Both the food and the singing was superb!
After dinner, Uncle Chuck gave us a night time overview of Center City Philadelphia by car. It was pouring down rain, but it was still very beautiful. Center City is what they call the downtown area of Philadelphia, which was originally laid out by Benjamin Franklin and modeled after the great capitals of Europe. Because of this you find many beautiful tree-filled squares and fountains. At night it is quite stunning.
At that point we just fell into bed exhausted from our long day's adventures, having woken at 0400.
Tomorrow we tour Philadelphia by day and head to New Hope to see Karen's hometown. Good night everyone!
Glad your dinner ended on a positive "note", how was the "staff", what did they do the "rest" of the time? They tell me that the fish there was caught in "A Capella", did you try the " tune a fish"?
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