Annual Trip to Philly Flower Show 2013

Self-portrait of me at the Love statue in center city Philly - sorry Spo, no smile

Hey folks!  I'm back from my annual trip to Philadelphia.  My back is still aching from that damn short bus that Delaware Tech used but other than that mistake, my trip was a wonderful success. Clear blue skies, mild (if a tad brisk) weather, and friends.

City Hall, Philadelphia, PA yesterday

For the past four years I've been taking the annual trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show to visit my friend Don McK. in Philly and also to visit my old haunts.  I used to work and live in Philly for thirty-seven years.  You know me, I love to relive old memories and visit old friends and yesterday was just about perfect, except for that damn short bus (I know, I'm repeating myself - more about that bus later). We were packed into that bus like sardines and I felt like a sardine when I got out in Georgetown after the three hour ride from Philly.  I'm still stiff.

I met my long time good friend Don Mck. for lunch at 13th and Arch.  Woody's (the longtime gay bar) was closed so we ate again at "More Than Just Ice Cream", another restaurant just around the corner from Woody's.  

Me and Don at "More Than Just Ice Cream" in Philly yesterday

We had a fabulous lunch!  You know what I like about Philly?  So many excellent restaurants just about on every corner, reasonably priced meals and no attitude (you know, the "this is the beach, we're doing you a BIG favor by even letting you in our restaurant" attitude that I too often encounter when dining out in Rehoboth Beach and its environs).  The restaurant wasn't rushed, the service was friendly, efficient and excellent. And the food was EXCELLENT. Fresh, tasteful, and pretty. The whole time I was in Philly yesteday I saw nary one Sysco truck (i.e., no froze food reheated at "beach" prices). Say, I'm getting a bit off the subject which I often do when I venture outside of this overpriced tourist trap restaurant environment where I live now.  I sort of get used to being overcharged for mediocre meals and attitude until I get outside of Slower Lower and find out what real restaurants and real service and real prices are really about.  There, I've gone one and one and now I have to get ready for work. To be fair though to the "beach" restaurants, they do have to pay a high rental for their Sysco infused establishments. That's been the general excuse I've heard anyway when I bitch about Rehoboth restaurants.  That and the fact that I'm just too cheap to spend the money at a "good" restaurant (this attitude coming from the local restaurant snobs). 

Lunch art "More Than Just Ice Cream" yesterday.  My Chicken Quesadillo actually was one, not the cheesy mess that I've always gotten in Rehoboth Beach. Don got a pulled pork sandwich (no grease).  FRESH SALAD.  No reheated frozen overpriced Sysco crapola.

I have been chastised by some in Gayberry (i.e., Rehoboth Beach) that I don't eat at the "right" restaurants in Rehoboth, and that why I get mediocre food.  Well friends, I don't have a Washington D.C. pension to partake of those prices where I pay up to $60 or more for lunch.  I like to go to just "regular" restaurants, keep the lunch tab under $25 and get good food.  What's so hard about that?  Just saying.

Still, I'm always pleasantly surprised when  I do eat at a restaurant outside of the Rehoboth trap how effortlessly and matter of fact those other restaurants are about providing a good dining experience instead of just moving the chow hounds through so they can fill up more tables.  No rush yesterday.  Don and I took out time eating and catching up on gossip and news and never a disparaging look from the help.  Refreshing to say the least.  

Some of the artwork I saw yesterday in Philly on buildings - did not see any graffiti - again, Philly's artwork has Rehboth Beach beat by 10,000 miles - this is real art not the psuedo "art" peddled in Rehoboth Beach - just saying

More about my trip to Philly tomorrow.  LOTS MORE.  I didn't mean to get off on a tangent about the merits of Rehoboth Beach eateries versus Philadelphia eateries.  Always happens though when I venture out of my "Beach Bubble" and taste how the rest of the world lives.

Yep, that's our "bus."  Looks like a Dodge Ram 4 X 4 with a cab, which is probably what it is.  Cheap.