Holly Hockey Sticks: The City of Brotherly Love

I woke up before the sun came up Saturday morning, to a bunch of rain... but that didn't dampen my mood. Usually when I'm being woken up at 5 am, I'm not too happy... luckily it was so I could head up to Philadelphia. After getting up and getting myself and the dog ready, we headed over to my parents house. Jonas got to stay the day with his puppy brother, while my Dad and me set off for the City of Brotherly Love.

If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with hockey.. and more specifically, the Philadelphia Flyers. I even have a tattoo on my leg. Anytime I get to take the 5 hour trip up the Eastern Shore, I never hesitate! Especially when there's free tickets involved, and a promise to see Mr. Mike and Mrs. Barbara. Unfortunately we didn't get to spend much time there, but any time is better than none.

Dad and I got everything ready to go and set out on the road to Philly. My Jeep got broken in for her first road trip, as well. I've done the trip to Philly a million times, but some how we got to talking and completely missed our exit to continue up 13. Things started to look pretty unfamiliar to us, so I whipped out the phone and pulled up google maps. Sure enough we were headed up 50 instead of 13. But no biggie, thanks to technology I just plugged in the arena address and we were well on our way. I think, however, we found a new route to head up.. to us it seemed a lot easier of a drive. Higher speed limit, less traffic lights, and fewer little towns to go through. I think we made a great find!

We got up to the arena and parked, then headed in to get some Chickie's and Pete's. If you haven't had crab fries from there, you're seriously missing out. It's always a must have when I go to a game. After devouring some delicious chicken and fries, we set off to find our seats. I absolutely loved our seats! We were sitting behind the goalie (which is where our season tickets are at Admirals games) and 12 rows up off the glass.

The name says it all.

Cutlets and Crab Fries.. && of course cheese sauce!

Though the Flyers didn't win the game.. I couldn't be upset. Being here in Norfolk with an AHL team, you see a lot of players come and go and Saturday was no exception. A good handful of guys that won the Calder Cup here in Norfolk, were playing against the Flyers on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Though I definitely would have liked to see the Flyers win, it's always a great time seeing the boys of the past doing really well in the show.

After the game was over we fought the traffic and the rain to go get a delicious cheese steak from Geno's. Yes, you can get a great cheese steak in a million places around the city.. but the two most famous are Pat's and Geno's. They are on opposite corners from one another and no matter what time you go, there is always going to be a line and lots of people. The pouring rain didn't stop anyone that day, that's for sure. I've had both Pat's and Geno's and I definitely prefer Geno's... but that's just my personal opinion. I never go to Philly without making a stop at Geno's. If you're ever in the area.. come with an appetite and try them both and see which one you prefer. But be sure to order right... or you will get kicked to the back of the line. Me... I prefer mine to be, "Whit Wit". Gotta learn the lingo before you go.

I got my fat girl on with this one! Delicious.

After saying goodbye to Mr. Mike and Mrs. Barbara, we hit the road again to head back home. We made sure we paid attention to the roads and came back down the planned route (13). Everything was going along just dandy and we were pretty much traveling alone, no cars around us. Randomly my Dad looks in the review mirror and here comes an SVU barreling down the road. By the time I looked in the side mirror, I see the car swerving straight towards my back bumper and at the last second swerve back the other way and drive past us... inches away from my car. I was completely freaked out! I was screaming and trying to climb out of my seat. After he went past us, we saw him swerve all over the road and we were sure we were going to see him splattered across the road way, but thankfully we didn't.

After making it home in one piece, I headed home to bed. I don't know why... but something about being in a car all day traveling makes me exhausted! I was just happy to be curled up with my dog and not sitting in the seat of my car anymore.

Now I'll leave you with some pictures to look at since you've now read a novel! Hope you enjoy! Sorry the quality isn't that great, I forgot my camera... rookie mistake. I have tons of pictures of the game, but there's too many to post!