Traveling North
- Cat
- Jan 6, 2017
- 3 min read
Our last day in Philadelphia was nice and relaxing. We slept in after a late night due to the neighboring hotel guests running, screaming, and banging on the walls until late - I knocked on their door at midnight to kindly ask that they put on a movie or something a little quieter. The woman's excuse was that she had three little boys expending energy - which I get. G has been stuck with mom and dad for almost 2 weeks now and no other kids to play with, but at midnight, it's time to chill regardless - especially when you are in a hotel with rooms on either side of you. After the request all was quiet and I was actually able to sleep.
We ate at Mrs. K's Diner near the hotel and set out toward Elfreth's Alley - the oldest continually inhabited street in America. We were not disappointed, the alley was quaint and adorable. The buildings are private and residential. Being that is was a Wednesday in January and mid-morning, there was NO ONE on the alley so we had it to ourselves - something I'm sure doesn't happen very often.
G was excited to see HUGE squirrels (seriously, the biggest we've ever seen). One did tricks outside an upstairs window until the resident opened the window and fed it. The woman explained that he did this regularly to get her attention. G was fascinated.
Afterward, we stopped for a coffee and hot chocolate at Starbucks across from the Betsy Ross House. While there, Adam received a phone call that someone had found our car rental paperwork. It must have fallen out while we were on Elfreth's Alley and a kind resident picked it up and called. Adam ran to meet them to retrieve it and then called G and I to meet back at the alley. The owners invited him inside their home!
They have lived on the alley for 41 years, raising their children there and now enjoying retirement. They gave us a tour of the main floor (living room, dining room, kitchen). The home was adorable and seeing it really added to the charm of the alley. We exchanged information and are hopeful the couple will come to Finland and give us a ring, we'd love to host them!
Around noon we got on the road to head to Boston. Adam was so excited to see that the NJ Turnpike had a completely separate section of lanes for tractor trailers/trucks - something we had never seen, but Adam has been saying for years should be mandatory. Ignore the photo of us in the tractor trailer lane - we didn't know such a thing existed and therefore got into the wrong side and were unable to get over for the duration of the drive unfortunately. Maybe next time we will get to experience interstate driving without any semis on the road with us.
After passing through Newark, we took the Palisades Interstate Parkway through the Highlands of New York - beautiful. We then crossed the Bear Mountain Bridge to head north on Bear Mountain-Beacon Highway to stop in Garrison and look at the castle there. We were a tad disappointed in the town (there's not much of one), but got to see West Point from the opposite side of the river and then found Angelina's Pizzeria in Cold Spring.
We can't say what their standard pizza tastes like, but their gluten-free pizza is one of the best we've had. It has a potato based crust so the combination of the sweet and salty flavors was very unique and the service was great. 5 stars.
Cold Spring is another VERY small town in the highlands, but there is a very nice old church here. Don McLean wrote American Pie while living here. And...that's about it, so we continued north...into snow/sleet. G exclaimed that he was "SO excited to see snow for the first time!"
We are excited to see what Boston has to offer, and looking forward to sharing our experience with everyone!
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