Philly!! Cheesesteak!!

One week ago was a momentous occasion!!  I had my first ever Philly Cheese Steak....in Philly! 

We decided that while in Philly we had to have a cheese steak.  We had heard that the two best places were Geno's and Pat's which were located across the street from each other.  So I was going to go to one place and Russell was going to go to the other.  Well....our plan went be the wayside when our bed and breakfast host told us that Jim's was the place to go.  He gave us directions and told us we couldn't miss it.....there was a long line out front.  He wasn't kidding.  This is what we found as we reached South Street. 

So, how was the first cheesesteak???  Pretty darn good.  I had my with provolone and grilled onions.  Russell had one with "whiz" and onions.  That would be cheez whiz for the amateurs!  The guys behind the grill and counter had quite a system going.  Very efficient!

Here was the the final product......

And here we are enjoying it!

The verdict was in...pretty good!!  But I really think it has more to do with the bread than anything.  That bread was awesome.  Wonder where I can find some :D

Big Fish, er, Mammals and Even Bigger Houses

So, I have changed the name of this blog from Daily Observations to just simply "observations" for obvious reasons.  I have not exactly been very diligent in keeping up with the daily posts.  I'm about a week behind.  Sooooo....I decided to do one post on for the current day and another "catch-up" post and hopefully I'll get caught up!! 

Right now I am staying at a place where the only room that there is internet access is in a community room.  At this very moment there is a lot of very lively community going on.  A room full of very loud people routing for the Celtics.  It is very loud in here.  But I am trying to concentrate.    Focus. Focus. Focus.   :D

For the last week we have been staying at Cape Cod....or "The Cape" as I have been told all the locals call it.  I have to say it is as if we showed up a week early for a visit to a friend who is busy doing spring cleaning for an important guest the following week.  In other words, we showed up a week before "the season" begins. 

Today, the season began and luckily we are leaving tomorrow.....and leaving the crowds behind.  We decided to head to New Bedford, MA to visit the Whaling Museum and then head over to Newport, RI.  I was very leery of this because I anticipated a lot of traffic coming back.  I had reason to be leery....There was traffic.  But it turned out to be not too bad. 

The Whaling Museum was very interesting but it made me very sad.  I just hated the thought of killing all those whales.  They pretty much hunted them to extinction!!    And it was a really sad industry in which the crewmen were away from their families for years at a time!!  

Russell in front of a skeleton of a sperm whale.  This whale had actually washed up on shore in Nantucket in 2002 and the skeleton was preserved.

Not liking this photo of me.  I'm giving the whale some serious competition in the size department......

A view from of the deck of the museum of the fishing boats in the harbor. 

We next headed to Newport.  It was a very cool city.  I liked it a lot.  Of course we went and checked out the mansions.  Holy heck, those are some big houses!!  I got some photos of the outside of The Breakers.  We didn't go inside because I was too cheap to pay the $24 per person to see how rich people lived!!  Here are a couple of photos....

We went back to the waterfront area and had lunch.  I also got a big box of salt water taffy (which should make my dentist very happy!).  

And that was our day in a nutshell.  Hopefully I can get this thing caught up!  We'll see....Boston and New York are next.  I might be just a little busy!

House Hunting

So we were doing a little house hunting in Newport....as in Rhode Island.  And a couple of nice

spreads caught our eye......

And both are beach front property :)  Hmmm.....I wonder which one suits our personality.  We have to make a decision soon because next week we'll be searching for our country home in the Berkshires ;D

Officer Travis Murphy EOW 5-26-2010

For the last three weeks I have been on a vacation...a road trip.  I figured we could just go away and leave the real world behind.  It has worked really well especially in Gettysburg where our room had no TV.    It worked really well until yesterday.  The real world found us.  More specifically, the real world found me.  And I want to be very careful with this because it is not about me.  Not even close. 

I had just boarded the subway in Boston when I received a message on my phone from a friend back in Phoenix.  An officer I had hired had been killed in the line of duty.  His name is Travis Murphy.  He has left behind a wife and two very small children. 

In the 21 years that I was a Phoenix Police Officer, I will tell you that my happiest years were spent hiring others to be police officers.  I think because I had just completed the worst years of my career and it was so refreshing to interact with these eager kids who were so excited to get their careers started.  They reminded my of why I decided to do the job and each of them holds a special place in my heart.  That is why this breaks my heart. 

I have tried to find the words to adequately pay tribute to someone who gives so unselfishly of himself and words that could diminish the pain his family feels right now.  I just can't find them....probably because they just don't exist.  So, for now, an Irish Blessing I found will have to do.  Yes, an Irish blessing....because with a name like Murphy what better blessing could there be......

May you see God's light on the path ahead

When the road you walk is dark.

May you always hear,

Even in your hour of sorrow,

The gentle singing of the lark.

When times are hard may hardness

Never turn your heart to stone,

May you always remember

When the shadows fall

You do not walk alone. 

My deepest prayers and condolences to his family. 

Rest in peace dear man.....

Harper's Ferry

When we completed our tour of Antietam, we figured we'd head on down to Harper's Ferry (since it was only like 10 miles away!).  A few little tidbits about Harper's Ferry.....It is probably best known for the raid of abolishionist John Brown and his men in 1859 which got things very heated up and eventually resulted in the Civil War.  Meriweather Lewis came to Harper's Ferry to stock up on resources before he and Mr. Clark headed on their western expedition.  And, probably the one thing that interested me most..... the Appalachian Trail passes right through the town.  No kidding!  We were standing there watching a hiker all decked out with his big ole backpack mosying (sp?) on through this very old historic national park....just like he was walking through any normal old town.  Like he wasn't even taking in his surroundings....hmmmm.  The trail is of great significance to us because we wanted to hike some portion of this trail sometime during this trip.....and we did....right here at Harper's Ferry.  And we have photos to prove it! 

See, there is Russell...walking across the bridge over the Potomac River and hiking the Appalachian Trail ;D

By the way, he absolutely hates it when I take pictures of him from behind.   Anyways, we went..oh about 300 feet on the trail.  My hope is that we will eventually do a little more later on in the trip.

Antietam

On our third day in Gettysburg, we headed down to another Civil War battlefield.   We went to the Antietam Battlefield in Maryland.   It wasn't raining but it was overcast and cold! Yuck!  It was, however, a beautiful drive now there.  Like I said before, if I wasn't so aware of the winter weather in this part of the country, I'd probably live here.  But I know that snow pretty much sucks!  

I really don't want to rehash the whole battlefield story so I'm pretty much just going to post some photos.  An interesting tidbit that I did pick up from this visit....Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross, was a nurse at this battlefield during the civil war.    Here are a few photos.  What can I say??  It's just a beautiful area.  Sad that there is such a bloody history here.   These first two photos say as much :(

In this photo is the Bloody Lane.  It is named so because of the massive casualties here. 

Here are a few other photos of the battlefield and various landmarks on the field. 

Next stop was Harper's Ferry......

Gettysburg Part Deux

After a very disappointing trip to the Hershey factory (more on that later) and a couple of wineries, we headed back to the battlefield.  Just so you know, it rained all day the first day and all day the second day....and I was cold.  Very cold and very tired.  So I was that thrilled about a second visit but there were places we had not seen. 

The first place we went to was the Cashtown Inn.  The Cashtown Inn was where the Confederate generals stayed on their way to Gettysburg.  It is an operating bed and breakfast and a restaurant.  We were hoping to at least dine there during one of our nights, however, it was closed while we were in town.  My husband, who is a big Ghost Hunter fan, especially wanted to see this place.  He actually wanted to stay there.  Anyways, we headed out to Cashtown and took some photos of the Inn.  It was actually a little easier since there was no one there. 

We next went to the Gettysburg Cemetery where President Lincoln made the Gettysburg Address.  Of course there is a monument where the Address was made.  The thing I found interesting about this is that there was much debate in the day about whether it was a worthy speech that would even be remembered....hmmmm...seems like things haven't changed over the years. 

The last location we visited was the Sachs Bridge.  Another one of the those haunted sites Russell loves ;)  It was actually quite a picturesque location.   Snapped a couple of photos there too (of course!). 

That was day two in Gettysburg.  The next day we drove down to Maryland and visited the Antietam Battlesite and Harper's Ferry (actually that's in West Virginia)