The Hargis Family Visits Philadelphia

Weekend before last, Rachel's family came to visit us in Philadelphia for the first time.
Her parents, pictured here at General Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge, flew up on Southwest with Rachel's Uncle Tommy (right). They arrived on Thursday evening. Friday mid-morning, we took them over for a trolley tour of Valley Forge.




After a quick lunch at our house, we drove downtown to take a double-decker bus tour. The bus tours are a great way to see Philadelphia. You can purchase a ticket good for 24 hours. We rode the bus the entire time because we liked the tour guide on our bus. However, you can get on and off at attractions as you like. The bus makes ~10-12 stops at various historic locations throughout the city.

This is a picture of Rachel's mom and Uncle Tommy on the bus. We had a great day for the tour. It was sunny, but not blazing hot (mid 80's).



Rachel and I on the bus.





This is a picture of City Hall, built on one of the five original squares in Philadelphia. A statue of William Penn sits on top of the building. It was the tallest building in Pennsylvania by gentleman's agreement until the 1960's or 1970's. Several buildings have been built since in Philly and Pittsburgh that are taller. Since that happened, Philadelphia has not won a major sports championship (yes, Philly, like all losing sports cities, has a curse).

The tall building here is the Comcast Tower, the first LEED Platinum skyscraper in the world. It was completed within the past year and is now the tallest building in Philadelphia. It is also credited with "Reversing the Curse". A new statue of William Penn was constructed on top of the Comcast Tower (any new building project in Philly is forced to donate "art" to the socialist economy; therefore, Philadelphia is the "sculpture" city). Since William Penn once again looks over the city, the curse is lifted as demonstrated by the Philadelphia Soul winning the Arena Football Championship. Although I have argued that arena football does not officially qualify as a "major" sport, Philly residents insure me that the Phillies are going all the way.

This is the love statue in Center City. It is the most photographed sculpture in the world. The "O" is crooked to symbolize that love is not perfect, but it is beautiful none the less "blah blah blah".




A nice shot of the Philadelphia skyline as we took the double-decker from the Museum of Art towards the Philadelphia Zoo.










Following our tour, we took Rachel's family to Jim's for a Philadelphia Cheesesteak. We decided on Jim's because it was highly recommended by the tour guide and an insert in the U.S. Airways travel magazine. Most importantly, Jim's serves a mean "vegie" cheesesteak. Most Philadelphia natives would scoff at the idea, but it was very handy for Rachel and her mom.








Rachel's dad enjoyed his cheesesteak.












The final picture below is one of my favorite shots of Philadelphia, looking down the Ben Franklin Parkway from the Museum of Art. This street was constructed to resemble the Champs D'Elysees in Paris.




REFLECTIONS - Yankee Stadium



On Saturday afternoon, we headed to Yankee Stadium. After the Hargises arrived, Uncle Tommy mentioned that he would like to visit Yankee Stadium. Since it will be bulldozed at the end of the season, this was sort of his last chance. Rachel and I had been trying to arrange a trip, too, so this was the perfect weekend.

Since the trip was sort of last minute, I had the "opportunity" to drive the family from Philadelphia into the Bronx. Unfortunately, the Bronx is the borough of NYC furthest from Philadelphia. The drive was actually pretty easy until we got to the George Washington Bridge, which connects New Jersey to the Bronx. At this point, my blood pressure elevated significantly due to the traffic. However, we made it safely to the game.

We parked next to the stadium, picked up our Stubhub tickets and headed for our seats. Our tickets were not very good, but they were inside the stadium. The weather was beautiful that day, as there was a nice breeze and temperatures were only in the low 80's. We paid $5 each for our Nathan's hot dogs (except for the vegetarians in the group), grabbed some peanuts and cokes and enjoyed the Yankees whipping the Angels. I am not a Yankee fan, but the atmosphere was great.

From our seats, we could see the new stadium being built next door. It looks like it is going to be a really nice stadium. If it is not, the world's richest franchise can only blame themselves.

Ironically, a girl in the row in front of us will be a graduate student at the University of Tennessee and work in the Marketing Dept. for Athletics beginning this fall. Her mom was hilarious. She was obviously an immigrant and was an avid Yankees fan. Yankee Stadium is definitely a diverse collection of mankind.