As part of the Philly/NJ portion of our vacation, we HAD to hit up some of Daddy's childhood hangouts. His parents suggested we take Nash to the boardwalk at Ocean City. Sure, Atlantic City has its own boardwalk, but the one at OC is way better, they said. It. Has. Rides. It was Nash's first time on these kinds of rides (although he did ride a carousel once at Legoland), so he was a whole big bag of emotions.
A little bit nervous. A whole ton of excited. And bursting at the seams with impatience. There were only a few he could go on (we felt like he might jump off some of the ones where he had to ride by himself), but we made the most of it and he had a blast. So much so that we had to drag him away kicking and screaming.
The second part of our Daddy-led adventure was a trip into Philly. This is Joe's hometown...where he spent many a (wild) night with friends and days cruising the streets in between classes at Temple and home in Cherry Hill. (editor's note: this is totally my perspective and Joe would probably laugh at me if he actually read my blog).
We were to meet his best friend Dave and his family downtown on South Street before heading to the Philly's game so that I could do what any normal person visiting Philly for the first time would do.
Get a REAL cheesesteak.
Jim's is the place. Apparently there are a few places, but Jim's is one of the best that was close enough to be a reasonable pit stop on the way to the game. The line was nearly out the door, so I took that as a sign we were in the right place.
After being schooled by the locals on how to properly order my meal ("wit" not "with", and that meant onions. And REAL cheesesteaks are made with cheese whiz. So I got a "cheese witout"), I was finally able to taste the official tourist food of Philly.
And it was pretty damn tasty...although I would have liked more cheese whiz.
Afterwards, we rolled right on over to the stadium for the game. Our section sung Happy Birthday to Dave's son Michael. We ate ice cream out of little Phillies hat cups. And our kid was miserable the entire time. This photo was one of the only ones I took because I spent the rest of the game fighting with him, explaining to him why we don't hit other kids in the faces and then pushing him in circles around the stadium praying he'd fall asleep.
Needless to say, we left early. But hey, at least I got a cheesesteak and this little man got a certificate for attending his first Phillies game. What more can you ask for?
