Ermahgerd

I am staying in Schenectady's historic Stockade District, which is one of the oldest historic neighborhoods in America apparently. This means lots of historic plaques but I found one that I think is particularly entertaining.

Anyone who knows me knows that I typically speak in the Ermahgerd language, and is it just me, or is this guy's name already in Ermahgerd?

Ermahgerd! Schermerhoorn!

My Bed is the Most Glorious Bed on Earth

As my residency in Massachusetts comes to an end and I prepare to drive back to New York for another week, I thought I should catch you up on how this week turned out. First, here is a collage of all of the different snap filters I collected as I went on my adventures throughout the city!

My last blog post came on Tuesday, but a lot has happened since then! On Wednesday, we went into Cambridge, aka my favorite place on Earth. We got dinner at The Friendly Toast, which is basically my favorite breakfast place on Earth. I had never been there for dinner but it was really, really good. I ordered the DGGC or Damn Good Grilled Cheese and it was damn good! It was spicy and came with strawberry habanero sauce, which was weird, but tasty.

The Friendly Toast also has a sweet retro vibe and I spotted some old Esso ads -- Esso is the one gas station in all of Canada that accepts MCT's gas card, so Mandy and I became masters at finding the closest Esso. After dinner, we bummed around Harvard and then crashed for the night.

On Thursday, I went to yoga. Nothing much to blog about. It was yoga, it was good.

Friday, I went to my mom's and she made mac and cheese!!!!! I love her mac and cheese. Her mac and cheese is my everything. We also drove back into the city because Rose texted me late on Thursday to say that she was making an impromptu trip to Boston! Perfect timing. We met in the North End and followed the Freedom Trail all the way to the site of the Boston Massacre, which has been a long running joke between us.Yeah, I know, we've got a weird sense of humor...

Yesterday was show day! My parents and high school drama director (who also happens to be a former TAD) were able to attend. It was really awesome to have them there plus the kids did a great job!

At the end of a long day (show day is always a long day), I got to go home for the night!!! My dad took my to my favorite place for dinner and frappes (MA milkshakes) and then I got to cuddle with all of my animals. One of my kitties was very protective of me and spent the whole night with me, climbing onto my chest every time I rolled onto my back. This morning, waking up was glorious because as this blog post suggests, my bed is the most glorious bed on Earth.

Heading to Schenectady, NY today and then Maine and then back to Montana. I can't believe that the summer is almost over now!

Take Your Mom to Laundry Day and Walden Pond

It isn't all fun and games when you're on the road -- even when you're close to home -- but what might be everyone's least favorite part of working for MCT got a lot better this week because my mom came to laundry day on Monday!

There typically isn't much to do on laundry day besides washing the clothes and sitting but we snuck in a few selfies.

She also managed to improve on laundry day by taking us to Shake Shack and back to her house to do our costume sorting, instead of staying at the laundromat for that portion like we normally would. She also helped bundle the penguin costumes!

Yesterday, it was boiling out so while our original plan had been to go back into the city, we decided that a better idea would be to return to Walden Pond since we couldn't get there on Sunday.

It's like the Stonehenge of Concord.

Not really a Thoreau fan (you can't be a fan of something you haven't read yet) but it's always cool to see historic/literary landmarks. You can walk around the pond to the site of where his cabin is, but I must say that for all of the hype over his book, he didn't really go that far away from civilization, but since he's the one with the best-selling literary classic and not me, I guess I'll give him some credit. There was also a large pile of rocks outside the "house" and I don't know why they were there but I was told to add one, so I did. 

There was a sign with an inspiring quote but no sign that said, this is why a bunch of weirdos have made a giant rock formation that now appears to be large than the actual house that we're honoring. Like really, no one thought that would be useful?! After that, we finished up our lap of the pond and decided to go for a dip. It was really nice and I saw some fish. Perhaps I might have been in greater awe if I was a Thoreau fan, but the truth was, I was just happy to cool off after a long, hot day!

Walden Pond.

Love That Dirty Water

THIS is the week I have been waiting for! It is our residency at the Hanscom Air Force Base, which is in MA! I've already blogged about this, so if you keep up with me, you already knew this, but I'm writing it all the same.

On Saturday, I got to go home, which is where I snapped the most adorable photo of MCT's newest TAD, Freo! And yesterday, we got a lot of stuff in before and after arriving on base and prepping for this coming week.

We started the day out with a trip to Concord, because it's only about 15 minutes away from where the base is.

Did you know that they close Walden Pond? Because they do, apparently. We wanted to visited to see all things Henry David Thoreau and were sent away because RUDE. I understand running out of parking but we weren't allowed to be dropped off by the gate either, while tons of other (smarter) people just parked down the road and walked over and were apparently welcome.

Shot heard round the world and such

We got lost in downtown Concord for a bit, of course. There were actually a lot of things that I wanted to see there! I haven't been there since I was a kid and I definitely didn't understand it's literary/historical significance back then. After we found our way, we visited the Old North Bridge because FREEDOM! It's where the Battle of Concord/the first battle of the Revolutionary War took place. Paul Revere and all that (more on him later).

Next we went to the house of my life idol, Louisa May Alcott. I'd been there before (technically, I think I'd been to the Old North Bridge before as well, but Louisa May Alcott is cooler in my humble opinion) but I was still very excited. I love Little Women so I think the idea that it is set in that house and that you can actually go in there and see all of the things that inspired such a classic is phenomenal.

Orchard House. Because old houses get cool names.

After that, it was time to meet our contact at the base. So far, the air force has been the hardest base to get onto. Our contact had to meet us at the gate and they had to print us passes that actually had our pictures on them! Can't lose that, otherwise, I'll be in big trouble...

After a quit turnaround, we met my mom back at a Stop and Shop so that we could ditch the truck and go into the city (Mom doesn't have a pass onto the base, so we have to go to her because I am not driving that monstrosity of a vehicle in Boston...).

Have I mentioned that Boston is the greatest place on Earth? Because I think it is. First off, they've got some great snapstickers!

We drove around for a while to show Melissa a lot of the different sights and sounds and then we started to follow the Freedom Trail into the North End for some sight seeing and dinner. We walked to Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church (I told you that you'd be hearing more about that guy!). They both closed before we got there but Melissa really only cared about seeing the outsides and wasn't too concerned with touring them, so that was fine.

After that, we got some really wonderful Italian food (what a surprise, considering that we were in the North End, aka Little Italy). After that, it was time to head for the base, but not before snapping a great pic with my mom! Somehow on the drive home, we conned her in to helping up out on laundry day, so we'll be heading back to Dedham this afternoon!

Happy to be home.

MCT's Newest TAD

Look at that pup! He's ready for the road.

If I Had One Wish...

I should clarify that I was at The West Point this last week, like the famous military academy. I don't think there is another West Point in New York, but my mom asked me this morning so I figured that I should mention it.

On Thursday, we got the opportunity to walk around West Point and see some spectacular views. We went to Trophy Point, which is kind of like an outdoor museum and amphitheater. It doesn't have great views or anything... Just kidding, it's gorgeous and while we were there, a helicopter was landing on a field across the street, because why not? I've lived on the east coast for a long time and yet, it continues to surprise me, but I don't think that's a bad thing!


Yesterday was show day, but that didn't stop up from checking out a local winery in the morning. We visited Brotherhood Winery which is the oldest winery in America, circa 1839. We got to do a tour and tasting. I would like to say that I learned about wine, but I didn't. It was really beautiful. I got to try some really good wine, apparently Bill Clinton served Brotherhood's Riesling at State dinners, so that was good to know.

It was a really lovely week and so, I end this post and my week in West Point with something a kid said to me as he returned his costume, "If I had a real genie and one wish, I would wish that you would come back and do another play with us."

It's official! One month from this very day, I will be flying to San Francisco to see the glorious Amanda Lauren Belscamper! I miss my former tour partner and I am so excited to see her!!!!!!! We're going on an adventure!

It Doesn't Matter How Quickly You Walk...

After a very interesting morning that involved the comedy of errors in printing (apparently, West Point doesn't allow flash drives on any of their computers...), auditions and rehearsal, Melissa and I decided to go for a hike. Technically, we decided that we'd go hiking last night but we actually went for the hike today, so who cares?

We went to Bear Mountain State Park since they were the first park listed in our hotel's guide book! We got a trail map, that had a bunch of trails labeled easy, difficult and challenging. None said moderate, which I should have taken as a sign, but I didn't. Half of the trails were like one mile and the others were 10, so we went for a four-ish mile hike that would take us up to the Perkins Tower (still not sure what it is, but it was somewhere to walk to). Early on in the hike, I started telling myself that it didn't matter how quickly I walked because it was going to be the same number of steps either way and I wanted to enjoy every moment! I had Colors of the Wind stuck in my head for a lot of the day, I was feeling very zen and one with nature. Very soon, however, I just didn't want to take anymore steps. This hike was 10-miles worth of work in a four mile package!

On the hike, I saw this rock that said "Your Intuition Led You Here." In the back of my head, I thought that my intuition is usually what makes my hike up the wrong mountain in Canada, but that's nice. Intuition is also what makes me pick a "challenging" trail when I don't want to be challenged!

Most of the hike was at a 90 degree angle. I don't care if that technically isn't possible because it sure felt like it! It was nuts and I was exhausted but I made it to the top and that is what matters!!!

I always look cute after doing the impossible!

20 States and Counting

Today, I hit my 20th state since June. (I'm sorry to anyone who I informed that it was 21, I miscounted apparently, it's 20). Since leaving Missoula on June 4th, I have driven through/stopped in 20 different states (including the District of Columbia).

Yesterday, before we left Maryland -- State #17 -- we stopped at the Samuel Mudd House. Dr. Samuel Mudd was the doctor who set John Wilkes Booth's leg after he assassinated Lincoln.

We were just at Ford's Theatre a few weeks ago so it was pretty interesting to continue that little walk through American history. Apparently, the Samuel Mudd House has been named the most haunted house in Maryland, not that we saw anything special while we were there. We did see the couch where John Wilkes Booth sat when he arrived at the house.

It was a pretty spiffy little tour and when it was over, it was time to drive through State #18 (Delaware) and into State #19 (New Jersey) to spend the night in South Plainfield with Mr. Ryan Lind. For those of you who do not know, Ryan is basically me but a boy. He came to visit me in Philadelphia last week and we're seriously starting to wonder how we ever made it more than five months without seeing each other when nine days was a legitimate struggle. We caught up on some Teen Wolf and ate some diner food (Melissa didn't know that New Jersey is diner country; we made sure that she learned that diners are just about all they have). We left this afternoon and I miss him already but now it is time to get cozy in State #20, New York! We will be working in West Point this week, which unlike a lot of the other places I've been, actually has some name recognition! It's such a change to have people actually have some idea of where you're going next. Quite refreshing if you ask me!

CRABS

Well, I'm in Maryland, so I needed some blue crabs. My mom told me this. Repeatedly. She also told me about how I'd get to hit them with a hammer and that was very appealing to me.

Melissa doesn't really like seafood and I'm not sure she appreciated the anatomy lesson that my meal offered us both but I really liked hitting things with a hammer.

I'll admit that when I got my meal, I wasn't entirely sure what to do, so after gutting one crab unceremoniously, I looked up a tutorial online and things went a little more smoothly after that. I really enjoyed my dinner tonight -- I enjoyed hitting it, eating it and holding it up to make it perform like Sebastian in The Little Mermaid (Disney version, obviously. There aren't any crabs in the MCT version).

Also, on our way back to our hotel from dinner, our truck, Marcus, turned 60,000 miles. They grow up so fast.

Dinner theatre, starring my dinner.

I Got Crabs!

Yes, that is supposed to be an innuendo. No, it wasn't that type of crabs. I went to Abner's Crabhouse last night and that's "the please where it's OK to have crabs," but more on that in a minute.

I'm official

We aren't staying on the Indian Head Naval Base this week; we're staying in La Plata, MD, which is about 30 minutes away. We'd been told that the pass office at the Naval Base (where we need to stop every day so that we can get our permits) is very slow and that we should give ourselves way more time than we think we need. On Monday, we arrived exactly at 7 when the office opened and were done roughly 20 minutes later and yesterday, we arrived at 8 and were done at 8:05. We need to be on the Base at 9... Since we had all of this time yesterday (on Monday, we just went straight on Base to make sure we found where we needed to be), we decided to drive around Indian Head.

We ended up finding a dock, where I got some great, early morning photos. I also discovered that the Sony people left a speck of something on my camera's internal lens, but I was able to get that off without any issues. The speck was only showing up when I used the camera in certain modes which is why it took me a while to notice it but I will admit to being slightly indignant -- you'd think that with the amount of money they charged me to have the thing fixed, they'd return it clean!

Maryland, everyone.

After a wonderful day of rehearsal, I spent an inordinate amount of time looking out a window, watching what I believe was an incredibly fat woodchuck and then we drove an hour to Chesapeake Beach, MD to go to the Chesapeake Beach Waterpark. We're in an area where there are a lot of little museums and stuff but they all close before we get out of rehearsal, so we've been having a hard time finding things to do! The waterpark was a Water Wiz-wannabee. It didn't really have a lot and I spent most of my time there floating on the lazy river but I still had a good time and got some sun. After that, we walked around the area, enjoying the view of the Chesapeake Bay and then we went to Abner's Crabhouse where I got crabs! I got the softshell because it sounded good and I thought it was funny that it actually looked like a crab. I guess you would say that I don't eat anything with a face unless I eat it's entire body at the same time.

#StrinePartyofTwo

I have been to a wedding now. Technically speaking, I went to a wedding when I was a little kid but I still don't know whose wedding it was, so I don't think it counts.

I stole this off of their Facebook

I will say that I am really stupid when it comes to wedding. Rose, who is number six out of 10 children, is my go-to wedding guru and has been helping me navigate this world. What no one told me was that the line on the RSVP card that said "I will dance if you play..." was meant to be used to request a song because I wrote "music?" and I guess I looked like a jerk.

Do you know who looked beautiful? The bride. Of course she did, she's already beautiful but ohmy just stunning. I did the sneaky thing and watched the groom while she walked down the aisle and ah, it was all just too cute. 

After the wedding, those of us who weren't in the wedding party went back to our hotel for a bit of rest and relaxation before the reception and by that I mean like 12 of us sat in a hotel room and we all talked at the same time and no one had a clue what anyone else was doing or saying for two hours. 

Then it was time for the reception! Well, the shuttle to the reception. Thank goodness for the German bus driver. What a life saver! We gave him explicit instructions not end his night without taking us back.

One really cute thing they did at the reception was they set up a Polaroid camera and we were supposed to take a picture and leave a picture to create a photo wall for the newly weds. We had a lot of fun with that.

Brenna and Alex's first dance was a beautiful, choreographed routine and I would not have expected anything less from Ms. Bajor (now Mrs. Strine... that's weird). There was lots of food, including lemon sorbet in between the salad and main course, which obviously prompted a table wide reenactment of the infamous Princess Diaries scene although the results weren't nearly as dramatic.

It was an insanely good time all around. At one point, Rose and I called Ellen and brought her around the party on speaker phone. I'm not sure she actually heard much, but everyone was very excited that we called her since she couldn't be there with us. 

I can't believe that two of my friends are married! How is that even possible?! I don't know. I need to get ready for work tomorrow because I'm a grown up with a job who knows other grown ups who are married. Strange..................

Cheesesteaks!

Reunited with my friends, we decided that we needed to drive back to Philly for cheesesteaks (ok, we needed to drive back to Philly to pick up Woodchuck Will from the airport, but cheesesteaks were a good idea too). Melissa and Rose had never had cheesesteaks so this was quite the occasion. We went to Pat's because that is where my friends Colleen and Olivia wanted to go. I would have taken them to both just for the experience but since I was the only one in the group not actually eating a cheesesteak, I was (fairly) overruled. No one got my favorite -- whiz with -- because none of them liked cheese whiz. I don't think they understood that no one actually liked cheese whiz, you just need to go with the unhealthiest option! I got fries so that I also got to participate in the foodfest. Both Melissa and Rose said that they liked their cheesesteaks way more than they expected to, but my question is who doesn't expect to like a cheesesteak?! If it wouldn't have destroyed my intestinal track, I might have made the switch back to meat-eater right then and there last night!

Being with my friends again is great! Also I got to talk to Whitney this morning and that was awesome too. She's having a great time in Israel, even though she's been stung by three jellyfish. I also got to talk to some of her friends who crashed our call and they think I'm cool (who doesn't?).

Things I Love: FREEDOM

Today was our last day in Philly/first day in Yardley. You may have never heard of Yardley, but it is the location of the Bajor/Strine wedding -- more on that later.

Today, we visited the LOVE statue in Philadelphia. Even though there are a lot of these statues in the world (including on in Israel -- see Whitney's Instagram), this is the city of Brotherly Love after all! I also wanted a picture with the statue because I am wearing my new favorite shirt! It says "FREEDOM" (just in case you can't read it and don't feel like zooming in). "Freedom" -- typically pronounced FREEEEEEEEEEEEDOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!! -- was sort of the catchphrase of the winter/spring after I won a bet over Mandy and one of our bosses, Kevin. It remains our greeting of choice for Kevin as well because a) who doesn't like an inside joke and b) I want him to remember that I was victorious for as long as I work for MCT. I also wanted to wear this shirt today because I won't be able to wear it tomorrow, which would be the day most people would want to wear this shirt.

After the LOVE statue, we went to the Franklin Institute, which I thought was a little disappointing. A lot of the exhibits were broken, unfortunately, and the nice ones cost extra! The Planetarium was closed so we got to see a 3D movie and as former mermaids, we decided that we would go see The Last Reef. I was excited to learn more about coral reefs but instead, I spent 20 minutes feeling guilty about my CO2 emissions. After the Franklin Institute, we returned to the Franklin Fountain for milkshakes. This was such a good choice! The ice cream was good, but the milkshake was amazing. Thank God I don't live here because I know that if I did, I would be broke and fat within a month!

After that, we waited for Rose to come collect us! Visiting the LOVE statue this morning was also a good thing because love is in the air! I am writing to you from Yardley, PA, home of the Bajor/Strine wedding where two of my very good friends will be tying the knot tomorrow afternoon. I've never been to a friend's wedding before and am very excited.

Ryan's Visit

I was very excited today because RYAN WAS COMING TODAY!!! My most wonderfuliest friend was driving all the way down from New Jersey to see me! (Ok, he was coming from Center Valley to see me, but he drove from New Jersey to Center Valley, so it still counts). Needless to say that I am a very lucky girl.

I was also a hungry girl and we started the morning off with a walk to Federal Donuts, which is another donut shop from the list that specializes in donuts and fried chicken. I didn’t know that the donut/fried chicken combo was a thing, but apparently, it is and I’m behind on the times. Since I’ve been trying a lot of trendy, designer donuts recently, I’ve decided to branch out a bit and try new flavors; I went with a strawberry shortcake donut! The strawberry glaze was a tad sweeter than I would have liked but the donut itself was wonderful.

Next, it was time to meet Ryan!! Now, I love him to death, but Ryan is almost always late. And by “almost always” I mean “always” and today was no exception. We were supposed to meet up at the National Constitution Center (free admission today in honor of Independence!) at 10, but Ryan didn’t arrive until 10:20. To be fair, the parking garage at the Constitution Center was full and he ended up driving to Camden, but a trend is a trend. I was so excited to see him! Gah! *insert awkward happy dance that I did when I saw him here*

Exhibit A

The National Constitution Center was very crowded since it was free today but we made our way through the large groups of campers and tourists to the Speaking Out for Equality Exhibit. It was an exhibit that detailed the history of gay rights and marriage equality. I am pleased to report that this exhibit is now woefully outdated because Love Wins and marriage equality for everyone. It was still really cool to walk around and see everything. I really liked the wall of post-its (see Exhibit A). Notice all of the green post-its?! We actually saw a woman put a yellow post-it for disagree on the wall while we were there, talk about being in the wrong crowd. Checking out the giftshop, we found a display that had one of our favorite things: Americana! It literally defined Americana. Our obsession with Americana is a long story, but for those of you who don’t know what it is, here is the sign!

I must also add that I really don’t think the founding fathers had shot glasses in mind when they wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of alcohol

After that, we went to Reading Terminal Market where I got a monstrously gooey grilled cheese for lunch. They literally piled a mountain of homemade cheese on a slice of bread and then bam, deliciousness! So good!

We walked to the Betsy Ross house and thus began our hours-long wandering around Old City to random historic buildings and non-landmarks for the rest of the day. We just walked around and saw   the sights. We saw Benjamin Franklin’s grave and lots of other old stuff. We went to the Declaration House which is a recreation of Jacob Graff’s boarding house where Thomas Jefferson rented two rooms and wrote the Declaration of Independence. The building was torn down but for the Bicentennial, someone gave the Parks organization a ton of money and that was how they spent it. The building had actually been closed for some time and just reopened last week.

We got some afternoon ice cream from Franklin Fountain which was voted the best ice cream in Philly. It was pretty pricey but very good. I’m not sure why it came in a Chinese food container because I’m pretty sure that Ben Franklin didn’t invent those, but I guess I can’t be positive. I got a scoop of chocolate because I didn’t want to buy the far more expensive milkshake, but I think I might need to stop back in tomorrow because it’s probably worth it!

Dats my best friend!

I seriously did not want to say goodbye to Ryan when all of this was over! I lay on top of his car to try to keep him from leaving. He was not amused… BUT like I said at the beginning of this post, I am a very lucky girl and I’m actually going to get to see him again next weekend. It feels like it is so far away!!!!!! He promised that he would look for postcards in South Plainfield, NJ for me but if not, we’re going hunting when I get there! It’s only been a few hours now and I already miss him.

After I begrudgingly said goodbye, we went on a hunt for dinner. We ended up at Mac’s Tavern, which is apparently owned by the cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I was actually disappointed; you’d figure that a place with Mac in its name would have better mac and cheese…

Now, even though I miss Ryan like nobody’s business, tomorrow, I’m going to get to see lots of friends! My friend, Rose, is picking up me and Melissa tomorrow and driving us to Yardley, PA, which is where the Strine/Bajor wedding is happening! So many friends in one place! It’s going to be amazing.

P.S. I forgot to mention yesterday that in colonial times, squirrels were called skuggs and Benjamin Franklin used to give them to people as presents. From this moment on, I shall only call squirrels skuggs because I think it is a way better name for them!

Fart Proudly

Today, we said goodbye to Washington, DC and boarded a bus to Philadelphia. The bus wasn't too bad except for the fact that someone locked themselves in the bathroom for the entire time. Ok, I cannot prove or disprove this but the bathroom was never available to me. I bet you can't guess what the first thing I checked for when I got to Philly was? If you said snapstickers, you would be correct. SNAPSTICKERS! Love 'em! I'm going to be really sad when I go back to tiny towns in the middle of nowhere that don't have anything for me to add onto my ugly snaps!

Speaking of not having anything to add in Snapchat, it's Canada Day!!! Mandy and I love Snapstickers because we never had any in Canada and today is all about celebrating Canada, or something (I'm not totally sure what Canada Day is about but Mandy and I are definitely honorary Canadians at this point).

I have been to Philadelphia a few times (probably not enough considering that I lived an hour away for the majority of the past five years) but it's Melissa's first time here so we had to do the big stuff. And by big stuff, I don't mean big stuff. I read that Mount Rushmore was anticlimactic and that was entirely wrong for the record, but the Liberty Bell is a lot like Plymouth Rock in that you get there and go, "that's it?" I mean, it's a pretty decent sized bell with a rich history but it probably isn't worth waiting in line for 40 minutes.

After the Bell, we hung out at the visitor's center for a bit because we had time to kill and I really needed to charge my phone. The visitor center had the most brilliant thing I have ever seen in the history of cellular devices; they had a charging station of little lockers and you typed in your phone number and picked an image and the locker opened up and you were able to plug your phone in and lock it up and your number/picture were the key to getting your phone back. These things should be everywhere! We both put our phones in to charge up and went to the gift shop in search of postcards. Not only did I find a sweet postcard in the gift shop but I also got an awesome t-shirt that says what might have been the defining catchphrase of the winter/spring tour. FREEDOM! I actually saw this same shirt in DC but didn't get it but here, it was buy anything and get the shirt for half off. Well, that anything could included a postcard (I asked a worker and she basically rolled her eyes and told me "the shirts really only cost $10 so it doesn't matter" and I was like YASSS, thank you for your honesty). I'll have to model the shirt at some point in the next few days. I also found what might have been the best book title ever. It is the title of this blog post, which means this might be the best blog title ever. The book was called Fart Proudly. It's a collection of Ben Franklin's lesser known works. He never actually said "fart proudly" in any of his writing -- that came from the editor -- but Ben Franklin was a Grade A sass master and that is definitely something he would have said if he could have.

Just in case you didn't believe me!

I didn't buy the book, just the postcard and shirt, but with purchases in hand, we went over to Independence Hall (because nothing says America like the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution and capitalism). I have also been to Independence Hall before but I will say that it always astounds me how many dumb questions people are capable of asking on a tour. Not just that, but they ask the same dumb questions more than once! Like wowie...

One our walk back to our hostel, we stopped at the Ben Franklin Museum and Franklin Court. I seriously love Ben Franklin. He is my favorite founding father. He is literally the greatest person ever. His museum was very sassy tribute to his legacy and combined audio-visual technology with historical artifacts. Franklin Court features a "ghost structure" because the house was torn down 20 years after he died and they've basically replicated its structure with a steel skeleton. There is also a row of business that Franklin built, including a printing shop and the B. Free Franklin Post Office, which is still an active post office. It is apparently the only US Post Office to not fly the American flag because the American flag did not exist when Benjamin Franklin was appointed the Postmaster General in 1775 (thank you, Google). It is also the only Colonial-themed US Post Office. I love the post office and as if I needed another reason to idolize Franklin. In the postcard that I wrote myself today (and that I plan to send out of the B. Free Franklin Post Office tomorrow), I said that while Charlottesville might be Jefferson's but Philly belongs to Franklin.

Later, I went looking for a Bank of America ATM but I just ended up finding the first bank in America because, Philadelphia is a very historic city for those of you who haven't been paying attention. I wandered for a little while before returning to the hostel for a quiet night. Tomorrow, Ryan is coming to Philadelphia to see me and I am so excited to see him and we're going to have happy fun times together!

Send Yourself 30 Postcards and Get the 31st Free!

I wrote this last night but it wouldn't post so here you go:

Today was another foody day but we did some sight seeing in between bites too!

We took the Metro today as well. I am usually pretty weary of taking public transportation in unknown areas and DC confirms these feelings. I do not like their subway system! Is it really so hard to put up maps? I like maps. Washington DC does not apparently. We went to Eastern Market where I discovered more snapstickers!!! Woot woot! If you haven't figure it out yet, I have two loves in this life and they are food and snapstickers, which is why today was a good day.

We got lunch from Tortilla Cafe which doesn't look like much from the outside but it is Guy Fieri (and Thomson Jaffe) approved. It's all Mexican and Salvadoran food. I bolded the "and" because Salvadoran cuisine means one thing and that one thing makes me very happy. Salvadoran food means pupusa. I first tried pupusa in LA at another Buzzfeed suggested restaurant and I fell in love with it. I didn't fall in love with the devil coleslaw that came with it (and that came with today's pupusa) but pupusa is my jam! Well, it isn't actually jam, but it is delicious and I was very excited. It was so good! Super filling too -- I couldn't even come close to finishing it.

Next, we went to the Museum of Unnatural History, which should really be called the Gift Shop of Unnatural History. It's just a very odd store. Lots of neat things (they had my pencil case!) but extremely odd. I almost bought myself the Dinosaur Reenactment Kit which came with: one meteor, three dinosaurs and revenge (cold). And no, I'm not joking. Here we also found Zombie Donuts, which didn't really have anything to do with the undead. Zombie Donuts wasn't on the list, we literally just walked past it and said "donuts!" They were cool because they made the donuts fresh and you got to customize them. I was still very full so I didn't really want a donut at that point, but I had to try it!

After that, we went to the United States Postal Museum. I am like the post office's biggest fan so I'm a little disappointed that they weren't prepared for my visit with a red carpet or a banner (ok, maybe Freo is their biggest fan, but they always give him dog treats!) but it was actually really interesting. I learned all about stamps! I like stamps. I have Harry Potter and Batman stamps at home. I have been using the same bird stamps since I left home for my postcard diary (thanks to a generous donation from my dad) but I'm on my last sheet! I don't even know how this happened!!! That means that I've sent nearly 80 post cards this year (not all of them were to myself, but I know that a fair few were!). So, like I said, they probably should have had a parade ready for me because people don't send that much mail anymore and I'm clearly a pro. I left with a free postcard because I guess when you've send yourself as many as I have, you earn a freebie at some point.

After that, I got us turned around on the metro. It was an easy fix -- nothing like spending 45 minutes climbing the wrong mountain -- and then I went back to the hostel for a cat nap. Yes, I actually napped. No, I don't think that there is anything wrong with me, but it's hard to be sure.

Dinner was at &pizza. Yes, that is the name of the restaurant, that comes, you guessed it, from The List. I liked it there, they made the pizza right in front of you and you could choose from one of their signature pizzas or create your own. I went with their signature Gnarlic (which I'm still not sure how to pronounce) and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We're heading to PA tomorrow and I am very excited. I'm going to get to see about 94% of my friends and have happy fun times with them. Also, just in case you thought I was the only Jaffe girl doing cool stuff, here is a picture of Whitney riding a camel: