Philadelphia

The first year we lived in Philadelphia, I did a lot of complaining about the weather (too hot! not enough snow!) and the customer service (pretty universally awful) and the general dirty city-ishness of everything. At some point I decided to start a list of all the things I really liked about living there. I never got around to actually writing it, but I did keep a running mental list of the things I would miss most. Emily & I are visiting for a few days, before I leave her with Granny Groves for the weekend & join Alasdair at the CCEF annual conference in Virginia.

This is our first real visit back (except for the moving weekend, which didn't really count) and I am struck by how much it still feels like home. I feel pretty settled in in NH, and happy there. But Philadelphia/Glenside is still very comfortable. It probably helps that it was 40 degrees & freezing rain in NH yesterday, and today it's in the 60's & sunny here.

So, I'm inspired to post about some of my favorite things about Philly.

In no particular order (except the 1st one:).

People. This one is obvious. We LOVED living 10 minutes away from my family-in-law; they aren't just family but among our best friends. We made other dear friends (mostly through shared Boston sports passion!) and couldn't believe our luck when a favorite Dartmouth couple moved to town last year.

(The only family photo I can come up with on short notice is from 2006!)

(Pre Evyn, Emily, Madda & Guilliam!)

Wissahickon Park. Philly has more trees & parks than any other city I can think of. This park was our woodland retreat in the midst of the concrete. Right off Lincoln Drive, but you feel like you're in the middle of the woods. Miles & miles of trails. Our entrance to the park is also down the street from our favorite cheesesteak place, and I would always start craving cheesesteaks at the end of a run. Dalessandro's should probably make the list of things I miss too!

Target. I didn't used to like Target. (Too much red...) In Philly we lived very near a terrible awful Walmart: badly organized, bad service and LONG LINES at every time of day. After one particularly terrible shopping experience, I left everything in my cart, drove the road to the brand new Target, and never looked back. It was clean! The carts rolled smoothly! The employees knew where everything was! Now we are back to the land of no-Target... sigh.

Springtime. Summer & winter leave a lot to be desired (see above) BUT fall lasts forever since it doesn't really get cold until December, and Spring is just spectacular. It comes early and the city bursts with color.

Germantown Avenue. The cobblestones are not the greatest for driving, and it takes ages to get anywhere on a Saturday... but it has so much character. The nice shops in Chestnut Hill (and the since-closed Borders where I waited in line at midnight to buy Harry Potter 7!) to the funky Mt. Airy restaurants (we ate a lot of takeout Indian food from Tiffin and spent many hours pre-Emily watching football games or unwinding after Frisbee games at McMenamin's).

Walking/running/biking/swimming along the Schuylkill. Colorful boathouse row. Brisk wind off the water. We spent many summer evenings biking the Art Museum to the Falls Bridge loop while I trained for the Philly Women's Tri. (Yes, I swam in the Schuylkill. And lived to tell about it.)

New Life Glenside. We loved our church. Vibrant, real, diverse. Serious about living out the gospel in the real world.

Walk A Crooked Mile Bookstore. This little train station - turned - amazing used bookstore was just over a (crooked?) mile from our house. A neighborhood staple, the owners would post warning signs of suspicious local happenings, host community concerts, etc. One winter the neighbors decorated with Christmas lights and set out gingerbread cookies & cider. We loved to stop & browse the outdoor displays while on a walk, and now & then would take the time to wander about the 80,ooo+ books crammed inside.

Citizen's Bank Park. One of the best perks of my job (2nd to the annual Bahamas trip!) was free sports tickets. I'm not a huge hockey fan, Sixers games are depressing (plus I go insane by about the 3rd time the automated announcer says "Andre Iguadala-dala-dala-dala..!"), Eagles tickets were hard to come by (plus I'm not sure I could spend that much time surrounded by Eagles fans... apologies to my siblings-in-law!)... BUT even before they were great, the Phillies were easy to fall in love with & CBP is a beautiful ball park. After growing up at Fenway, I couldn't believe a baseball stadium could really be that clean! I was able to go to 10+ games a year, and can't really picture a better way to spend a summer evening. Emily made her first trip at 6 weeks old.

Location. Philly is on the way to everywhere on the East Coast. We often got to see friends when they needed a place to stay along a road trip. We could also make weekend trips to visit friends & family in DC, NY, Boston, NH, OH etc. [Related: something I do NOT miss... driving through New Jersey.]

Smith Playground. If you have kids, you have to check this place out. It's huge, free, clean & diverse (I regularly heard 3-4 languages while we were there.) Lots of outdoor play areas, including a special spot for kids under 5, plus an old mansion that has been completely turned into a playhouse.