Adam's most recent new love? Hockey. And so the idea to visit his good college friends in Philadelphia, New York City, and then have them come down to DC for a hockey game was born. The first trip in the trilogy of games was to Philadelphia a few weeks ago. I first and foremost love going out to the city of brotherly love because his friends Pat and Lisa live out there and they have two incredible, little boys named Ryan and Andrew. Ryan is the older brother (I believe he is three, nearly four years old - did I get that right Lisa?) and he is the best improv comedian I have ever seen. At his daycare they are learning songs to celebrate the holiday season and so he was performing these songs for us - but the kicker was that he had the most incredible accent as he sang the songs. I can't quite describe what it was or where he had ever heard something like that - it sounded almost like a combination of an old man and the chef from Sesame Street. But here's what makes it even more entertaining - every ten seconds he would stop his song or whatever and start giggling - he cracks himself up and that is probably the cutest thing because his laugh is so contagious and of course, the more you laugh the longer his little production continues. You can tell that Andrew (who is still a baby) gets a big kick out of his older brother. They are going to be quite the pair as they grow up together - so fun!
Besides being entertained by the boys, we enjoyed a great hockey game. The Capitals really gave the Flyers a beating - with an 8-2 victory. There were a ton of Caps fans that made the trip to Philly and at first I was a little nervous that there might be some fights with all the trash talking that was happening. Then I got a little nervous that I might actually get in one of those fights. Yeah, I'm not even that big of a Caps fan (or a hockey fan for that matter) but somehow, can't resist a good argument at any sort of sporting event - whether or not I believe a word I'm saying :) Anyhow, I've always heard stories about Philadelphia Eagles fans so I tried to keep the comments to a minimum and was definitely successful. Especially since I had an entire row of Caps fans behind me getting into it with the locals. The sparring between the two groups wasn't all that impressive - one of the Flyer's fans was making fun of the whole row of Cap's fans because they were wearing Cap's t-shirts - and that apparently meant that they weren't true fans otherwise they would've invested in actual jerseys. And so that resulted in lots of trash talking that incorporated the words "T-Shirts!" or the Cap's fans response, "Sleeves!" which went back and and forth the entire game. If you can't understand a word I just wrote, don't worry, it was equally confusing to me the entire game. "T-Shirts!" - now there's a real punch, OUCH! There was an actual fight on the ice which resulted in the biggest penalty any of the hockey fans had ever heard of - "two for cross-checking, two for instigating, five for fighting, a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct." (I pulled this info directly from the Caps website - I didn't want to make any errors when relaying details from a game I don't really understand)
Another detail that I'd like to include in this post was our transportation on this trip. We took the train out to Philly and I decided that it was by far one of the best modes of transportation that I have ever taken. It was so easy, we got to the station - which for those of you who haven't been out to some of the cool, old East coast stations, some of them are really nostalgic. While you wait to go down to the platform there are plenty of shops and you can come and go, inside and outside as you please without security check points or hassle. Once on the train, there is so much more space and if you are tall, you will really enjoy the extra leg room that you don't get when flying. The restrooms are usually larger so you don't feel crammed while you go about doing your business. And it's so nice and leisurely to sit back and take in the sites while not dealing with traffic. It's perfect for Adam and I because we both can just chill together and we both do not respond well to traffic. Lastly, it's a lot faster than driving just because you don't have to deal with traffic, street lights, etc. Wow, I can't believe what a public transportation girl I have become. I haven't owned a car for 2 years now - isn't that crazy?!
The next stop in the hockey series is in our home city - I think...I have to check with the Organizer as things got switched around to accommodate Super Bowl Sunday. Our next trip will be out to Seattle for Christmas and Adam's first time skiing! What are your next trips??
Welcome to my new blog which I hope to fill with all of my travel stories - big and small, for fun or for work, with the new hubby or sometimes without him, domestic or international, in celebration or sometimes for sad occasions...you get the picture, all things travel related. Now, just to classify even further, a trip (in my opinion) is an activity outside the normal day-to-day travels. So, I won't be covering the 15 minute walk to the metro each morning, followed by the 25 minute ride on the train, the 10 minute walk to the office, the 4 escalators that I take to get into and out of the metro station, the 14 floors I pass on the elevator on the way to my office, followed by the cubicle farm that I navigate, before I find my cozy little space for the day - which is a typical day's worth of travel. Now, beyond the normal day to day traveling, I will also not include the trips around the city - they are kind of expected and really, not all that unique. Traveling outside the city 2+ hours is what will deem my trip worthy of the travel blog, does that sound fair?
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