philadelphia and new jersey

while going through all those old pictures, i started thinking about a trip i took to philadelphia a couple of years ago that resulted in two separate day trips to new jersey. i was out there for about 5 days and had such a great time! in july of 2007 i quit my job at a stock brokerage firm because it was literally sucking my soul out of my body. i made a nice salary but i couldn't take it anymore. i flew to philadelphia the day after i quit. some of that trip has already been blogged about here, where i complain about what a shitty venue the starland ballroom in sayerville, nj is. this post is going to be mostly pictures and that will make it a lot more fun than the other one, i promise! the first day i was there we didn't do much, just hung around the house, i think. here are the pictures and stories that describe the rest of my time there:

brynn had to go into work for a few hours in the morning so i sat out on her front porch and finished the book i was reading at the time, no one belongs here more than you. stories by miranda july.

after brynn got home from work we went to pick jen up at the airport. after that we went to get philly cheesesteaks at tony luke's. they lost my order and the staff was quite rude when i inquired about where my food was. once i finally got it, it tasted like shit anyway.

then jen, brynn, and i headed to penn's landing to see ben kweller and guster. ben kweller played first and was wonderful, as always!

it rained a little after ben's set which was only midly annoying. little did we know it as going to rain A LOT more later.

the rain caused guster's set to start late but it was all good. they were great and i think someone proposed to his girlfriend during their set.

after guster's set we waited to get into the aftershow thinger and it POURED rain the entire time. we looked like drowned rats when we finally got back there.

but brian let me drink one of his sunkists so i was super happy!

the next day jen left to go to ocean city, maryland with her family and brynn, bri and i hit the road to go to asbury park. right as we were rolling into town, it started raining.

the rain cleared up for a while and we wandered the boardwalk at avon by the sea.

we headed over to the metropolitan hotel to take some pictures. it as awesome but i wish i could have gone inside. i know it wouldn't have been safe but it would have been cool!

after we left asbury park we sort of let brynn's gps make the decisions. we ended up at this beautiful little spot on the delaware river in titusville, nj.

bri walked on water! after taking all these pictures we found out that this was the exact spot where george washington crossed the delaware river on christmas night, 1776.

we headed over to lambertville, nj/new hope, pa and i found this mannequin graveyard in new hope. that place is quite odd but extremely interesting. i would love to go back someday and spend more time there.

brynn even fell in love with a wonky-eyed jesus in new hope!

the next day brynn and i decided to head back to jersey to see ben kweller and guster again in sayerville. on the way we saw the weird sign on the bridge in trenton, "trenton makes"

"the world takes"

we stopped at stuff yer face to enjoy a 'boli and a beer! okay, not really.

kristin and barb met us there where we hung out for a while before the show. we ended up back at stuff yer face after the show as well because we were starving. that time, we did enjoy 'bolis!

the next day i was supposed to fly home but i was exhausted from running all over the place with brynn for a couple of days. luckily i was using a non-revenue standby pass so i didn't actually have to leave that day. and, as you all know, it's not like a had a job to come back to. so i stayed an extra day and literally did nothing. brynn and bri were both working so i just bummed around the house all day. i didn't want to leave. i had such a good time that the thought of coming back to texas made me pretty sad. i haven't been back to philadelphia since and that is something else that makes me pretty sad.