If You Come to Philadelphia ...

If you come to Philadelphia, I promise we'll have a great time!

Come now (or soon) if you want to have more of my time available during your visit.

Come after I get a job if you want us to have more spending money to go and do things. (Mr. 42 will likely still be available to meet your plane or pick you up at your hotel and take you around during the day).

I suggest an itinerary that includes a "First Friday" (i.e. the first Friday of a new month) as there are tons of fun and free or inexpensive things to do on those weekends:  Art crawl. Gallery walk. Bands. Drinks. Food.

Some awesome things are always free:  the Liberty Bell and Independence Park, for example. People-watching on South Street. The Edgar Allan Poe House. Elfreth's Alley. Reading Terminal. Love Park. Penn's Landing.

Penn's Landing, Sculpture

View of the Ben Franklin Bridge from Penn's Landing

South Street funkiness

Mosaics on South Street

Some other cool things don't cost much and are worth the small amount they do cost:  Philadelphia Art Museum (complete with Rocky statue); Philadelphia African American Museum (The Supremes exhibit is here through June); The Franklin Institute; The Constitution Center.

If you want to shop, we're within walking distance of H & M, Macy's, Lush, Sephora, Buffalo Trading, Marshall's, Ross, two malls, trendy little boutiques in Old City, big designer stores in Rittenhouse, funky head shops and bookstores and XXX-product stores on South Street. We'll ride the subway somewhere just to give you the experience, or maybe to visit destinations a little further away. If you want to do serious shopping, we can ride the train and bus to great big ol' King of Prussia Mall, but honestly, if we're going to ride trains and buses for 90 minutes (yes, it really takes that long to get there by train and bus), why don't we ride them to New York City instead?  Trains are $24 to $40 and get there in 1 hr 15 minutes, or the Yo! Bus is $12 and takes 2 hrs.

We know tons of great places to eat. Including vegetarian. Including cheesesteaks. Including cheap (we just found a fabulous Indian place today that sells their food for $4.95 a pound). Including places with cool decor and moderate pricing. Including fancy-pants restaurants and high dollar menus if that's your game.

We live around the corner from a great dive bar and five decent restaurants that cover five ethnic cuisines and every price point. We're also just 4-5 blocks from two really good restaurant/bar districts.

If you want to sing karaoke with me (or just watch me sing), there are fun places to go every night, esp. Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays. All are within walking distance.

You can stay with us if you don't mind a sofa (or an airbed if there are two of you coming) and don't mind one or two cats trying to sleep with you. If you want a hotel room, there are four within walking distance of us (big city prices, sorry) or we can Priceline and try to get a better deal, though it may be a little further away.  We don't mind walking or riding the subway to get to you, and cabs are plentiful and cheap here in Philly.

Who among you will be the first to visit us? Mr. 42 and I have placed our bets. Prove me wrong, or prove me right! Hope to see you soon!

67 Days

It has been 67 days since Mr. 42 and I last drove a car, which was the date we arrived in Philly and returned the very expensive one-way rental Mitsubishi Gallant we drove here.

That is without a doubt the longest I have ever gone without driving a car since I got my learner's permit at age 15. (Technically speaking, I started driving at age 14--not uncommon for rural Nebraska, where many kids learned to drive at even younger ages if they grew up on farms, which I didn't.)

During these 67 days, we have used the "leather express" (aka our feet) to get almost everywhere. We rode in a taxi to and from the art museum, and that was the only time we've been inside a car since our move. We have only used the subway three times. We rode a bus to and from Ikea.

An ATC I made in 2010. Watercolor and ink on Yupo.

We thought we would be making more use of public transportation here (and we might, someday) but we've also been pleasantly surprised at how many of the things we need to go/do/see/buy are within walking distance. My definition of "walking distance" has expanded a bit, too. If it's within a 30 minute walk and it's not raining/snowing, it's worth the walk.  It is possibly worth the walk up to 45 minutes. If we're talking an hour or more away, we look for some other way to get there or we just don't go (King of Prussia Mall, I'm talking about you)!

The day we gave our car to my niece and her husband--just a couple days before we moved--was one of the happiest days of my life. I've never been one of those folks who regard cars as a status symbol (though I'm not judging those of you who are this way, and I acknowledge that having had constant access to a car or even multiple cars since age 15 puts me in a relatively privileged position to begin with). Once I began my lengthy commutes between Omaha and Lincoln, I came to view cars and driving not as a privilege, but instead as a necessary evil and a pain in the butt. I am so excited to finally be living somewhere that doesn't require you to have a car in order to complete the most basic tasks of life. (Omaha had a bus system, sure, but let's be honest--it sucked.)

Life without a car here has proven challenging in some regards, especially for buying groceries and job hunting. I've had to let several good opportunities slide because they're in a suburb of Philly that is not accessible by public transportation. Plus, I did the lengthy-commute-between-cities thing for five years and I'm not eager to repeat the experience anytime soon.

I am firmly convinced, though, that all this walking is improving my mental and physical health and will trim some pounds off me. Eventually. As soon as I learn to resist the Spanish fries with Whiz...