Ahhh...

Beach time, I think I needed it more than I thought. Got to the airport yesterday without any troubles. I took a little linger than I was hoping but I was on the sandy hook beach by 2:30, so really what can I complain about? Spent a couple of hours there then make my way down the coast to Long Branch for dinner. I wasn't really too worried about how far I was from my hotel, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out my hotel was about 5 miles away. In fact it seems its about 5 miles from any beach I want to check out.
Today it was Asbury park, went there in the morning for breakfast then went to check out the outlet malls. I needed a beach towel. Then back to the beach, what a life. Repeat tomorrow probably. Thought about taking a ferry cruise to see the statue of liberty, but I really don't see the need right now.

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Race day

I laid pretty low today, recovered from yesterday and got ready to leave this interesting town. I made it to dinner before I relizes I need to recap the events of yesterday. First and foremost , I feel very fortunate to have rowed on the Schuylkil and partied in one of the historic boathouses on boathouse row. The races were a learning experience in many ways and I can feel proud that I held my own, but know that there's alot more work to do. The women's eight kicked my butt and made me wonder if maybe I should scratch the double race. But I pushed my way through and raced. During the race I had the added benefits of coaching and an architectural tour of Philly. Really not two things you really want when your trying to stay in the right frame of mind to race. The quad was a great experience. Jumping right from the double to the quad gave me no time to stress over it and I handed over the stroke seat duties to a college rower so all I had to do was follow. Then came the pizza and beer at Fairmount rowing. A great day, but I'm so glad I knew I needed today to recover. I did some laundry walked around one last time, had dinner at a nice little restaurant with the best bruschetta and salads, truffles mushroom and fontina and fig and gorgonzola salad. My plan is now to make my way to finally get my nighttime pic of the boathouses.
Tomorrow, beach time starts!

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Goosebumps

I tell you, seeing the presentation/movie at the National Constitution Center gave me goose bumps. I would encourage anyone to come see it. It'll make you proud to be "we, the people". I then saw the exhibit on spies, traitor and conspirators. It was an interesting exhibit about how the government has reacted to events like the burning of washington, the Unibomber, and of course, 9/11. Keeping the balance of keeping us safe while guarding our rights.
Before that, I visited Constitution Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. The senate hall next door where Washington and Adams were sworn in and the first ever peaceful transfer if power. Dinner tonight was at Tria in the Rittenhouse square area. Yum! Nicoise salad bruschetta with chevre, pistachios and honey, and a nice reisling. Sat outside for the best people watching.
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Travel karma

I am a big believer in travel karma. Think happy thoughts and good things happen, plus my favorite, always stop when you see someone taking a family pic and offer to take pic of whole family (if only I could transfer that karma feeling to the other 40some weeks of the year) . Anyhow... For once I started my summer vacation without any major catastrophe at home (meaning functioning electricity and air conditioning). I felt oddly calm, almost disturbingly so. This morning when I arrived at O'hare I was perfectly calm when I found out my flight was cancelled, ok with the fact I was already rebooked in a later flight. As I sat there listening to another lady gripe about this, I had a bright idea. Since they were rebooking me, why couldn't they rebook me to the city I actually wanted to go to? Original plan... save $200 by flying to Newark and taking a train down. Called reservations and why yes they could switch me to the Philly flight. I made it from Chicago to my hotel room so easily I didn't even have to step outside. Really!
Enjoyed my first cheesesteak at the Reading Market, talk about sensory overload :) then set out to walk around the historic part of the city. I had a lovely travel day. Dinner was a summer ale and a wonderful heirloom tomato bread salad. Hard to imagine two meals more different.
Tomorrow my plan is to get up early. Breakfast at the market. Then do the touristy Liberty Bell (hoping to avoid standing in long, hot line) and Constitution Center. There's supposed to be an exhibit in spies and terrorists... I'm intrigued.

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