My Life Was Changed By A Train

I can’t help but check the tweets on the Christian-Newsom trial. Jamie Satterfield is tweeting from the News-Sentinel and other reporters are also.  All are using the #cntrial hashtag now.  It is so riveting but also so incredibly sad.

No one wants to think about the fact that even in a trial with this level of brutality, there has to be due diligence with the legal system. Its so hard to watch, and hear.

I’ll skip over the boring details and just post some pictures of the rest of the trip to Pennsylvania.  I could take forever to tell a story, as most know, and honestly, I’ve already been on another trip so this could all get so backlogged.  Anyway, we spent the next day with DT’s Grammie and went to the most amazing grocery store over.  Shady Maple is the kind of store that can actually cause you to have grocery store-envy.  I didn’t even know that was a feeling.

The following day  we drove up to Jersey to see my childhood best friend and to spend some time with her boyfriend and also, to um, GO SEE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AT GIANTS STADIUM!  Yep.  It was that great. 

Then on the way home, we stopped in Nazareth (cue the song) and went to the Martin Guitar factory. I don’t know if you can call it a factory since they are all handmade, but since the system is automated (automated hand made ?), I’m calling it a factory.  No one was working. I say good for them for being off on Saturdays.

The next two days were spent grandmothering, visiting, and churching with said grandmothers.  And then it was time to part.  It never gets any easier.  My husband’s grandmother that we stay with is the sweetest person and even after I had only known her for a couple of days, I cried when I left, so you can imagine the blubbering idiot I turn into at this point.

Homeward bound with a stop off in Gettysburg. It really is a beautiful place.  I love that DT enjoys spontaneous and casual vacation ideas as much as I do.  We were supposed to get my mom some dirt for her collection, but he went above and beyond and got her a rock.  Then we forgot it in the rental car.

Beautiful scenery and a long drive with the best company I could ever have found.

We left the cheesesteak area of South Philly and headed down to Phillies Dr. where Citizens Bank Park is located. (We actually changed clothes in the car in an uncomfortably-residential neighborhood so we could both sport our jerseys at the game.)

It was already chillier than anyone (especially us) expected. We got to the stadium about 2-2 1/2 hours ahead of game-time.  We both expected, as we had two years prior, that we’d walk up to the ticket window and be able to find something. We were so very wrong. Sold out. And the bicycle cops were circling anyone that looked like they might be scalping. We talked to one scalper-type guy, but when he said he needed to call his friend over from another parking lot, DT thought it might be a scam and neither of us wanted to be out the $170(!) asking price.

I resorted to asking clumps of people that looked like a group if they had an extra ticket. I figured my odds at a spare were better if they were trying to plan around a large group. My biggest problem, well besides the fact that no one actually had a spare, was that no one really knew what I was saying. “Do yewe guys have a spair teeket?”, I could hear myself saying. Most people were initially uncomfortable with a stranger approaching, then alarmed by my unfamiliar language.

Finally we both decided that hanging out at the ticket window was our best bet. They were occasionally releasing standing room only tickets a couple at a time.  After about a half an hour, the man behind the glass whispered, “Psst, I’ve got two”, and we grabbed them up and ran in.

We stood off the 3rd base line and even though there were SO many people, the gusting wind would cut right through us.  We talked with several locals who were as surprised by the weather as we were. I Was afraid it was just us being unprepared.

Standing room only took quite a toll on us both, but near the 7th inning we went to the restaurant out in left field (named for Harry Kalas). Surprisingly there was a table available AND the food was good.  We let our old knees rest and watched the Phils clinch their division title. Woo!

Due to getting there so early, we had the best parking spot and missed out on traffic.  We made it to Grammie’s house in no time, which was a treat for both Grammie AND DT!

To be continued…

Here’s the map of our trip from last week.

View Larger Map

We had such a wonderful time. We got to spend some quality time with both of B’s grandmothers and I also got to meet a lot of people that were friends of their families; people who have known B his whole life. It was really special.

On Tuesday night, I had to work late so we got a late start getting on the road.  We left around 9:30 and had planned to drive as long as we could, get a room, and start over in the morning.  We stopped in Dandridge for dinner at Perkins and then I made it to Bristol (yes, I realize that it’s not far to Bristol, but I was exhausted) and B then made it to Roanoke. We were both so exhausted that when we got into the room, we actually agreed that it was great that there were two beds in the room because neither wanted anything to disturb the sweet, precious sleep.  Ahh, romance.

We awoke and were greeted with a beautiful sunrise over the mountain with a scenic Shoney’s view.  No, we didn’t eat there. (I didn’t have breakfast and B had his leftover pie from Perkins.)

At this point, we began the lovely drive through Virginia on I-81 which is ended by the horrendous drive through the DC/Baltimore area. Toll roads, traffic and construction, that’s what I call road hell.

We made it to Philadelphia and went straight to check out the dueling Philly Cheesesteaks at Geno’s and Pats. Except, I had to, um, powder my nose, and both places are walk-up and had no bathroom. We walked a few blocks and to be honest, there aren’t many places you can use the restroom in that area.  Finally we found an open air fish market/restaurant and bar.  We split a shrimp cocktail and both had a local beer (so we’d be technically customers), visited their facilities, and walked back to the cheesesteak duel.

Geno’s was really flashy with all it’s neon and glitz and Pat’s was very unassuming and plain.  In addition, Geno’s had a sign that said “This is America, please speak English” and had “freedom fries’ on the menu and Pat’s sign had an earlier “Since…” date, so we decided to eat at Pat’s.

Pat’s does have a “How to Order” sign out front that intimidated me a bit. It was already pretty obvious that I didn’t sound like everyone else so I was more than a little worried about how this would go down. It strictly said I was to order a “steak ‘wit’ or ‘witout’” and then shut up. That was it.  If I screwed up, they would send me to the back of the line and I’d be humiliated. I got up there and said, “Eye’d liek a ssssteak wit…onions”. I sounded like a moron (the onions are assumed, that’s what the ‘wit’ and the ‘wit’out’ is about). A redneck moron; B giggled relentlessly). Fortunately there was no one else in line, so he couldn’t have sent me to the end of it, and evidently they have this whole idea of southern belles up there, so I got my cheesesteak wit’out humiliation.  And it was good!

Yes, those are cheese fries.

To be continued…

I heard this on NPR this morning and I thought it was a wonderful idea.  I absolutely love shopping at our Farmers’ Market for fresh local produce and meats, but I found it interesting that this helps give local restaurants that same benefit.  Maybe this would give us an opportunity to give back to our local farms and farmers that have so long been struggling.

With the popularity of locally grown vegetables soaring, a new Web site hopes to make it easier for chefs to find farmers in their area — and have produce delivered to their restaurants. The idea behind FarmsReach.com is to provide one-stop-shopping for fresh produce from many farms at once.

I know it’s not in our area yet, but neither was craigslist!

Thank’s a lot, Katie, now I’m jamming to old Mix-a-lot!

The coaches on these teams won a lot more than the scoreboard reflected that night.

We saw Carrie Rodriguez last night at The Square Room.  She is so amazingly talented and that room is just made for intimate listening. I’m so thankful to have it in Knoxville. Knoxville’s own Cruz Contreras of the Black Lillies joined her as accompaniment  on piano and mandolin on a couple of songs as well.

I just found out that a dear friend from high school is starring in the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Tennessee Theatre this year. And as embarrassed as I am to admit it, I haven’t seen it live.  I guess this year will be the first time!

This makes me sad.  I met him and he was so nice.

This makes me so happy and then this part makes me think people are stupid.

And how have I missed that there is a whole site dedicated to Kenny Rogers guys?