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!

Going through some of my Flyer's jerseys.

I look horrible, but this is our drive up!

Chickie's and Pete's.

Our seats! Not too shabby right!?!

Mr. Mike! Love this man!

Look! He has a Flyer's jacket on!!

This made me giggle... Gudas and Downie!

Snow... I don't do snow!
Glad it was all melted.

Mayhem! But the glorious Geno's.

Told you it's crazy down there,
but here is Pat's.

Mrs. Barbara and Mr. Mike! 

Ray's Happy Birthday Bar.
I just thought the sign was funny.

Rocking my new Hartnell hoodie!

One Step Closer to Hockey.

Today marks a day I've been waiting for all summer. Training camp officially starts today, well the on ice portion anyways. It's been a busy week at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA this week. The rookies have been working their butts off to try to impress the coaches and staff. Today is when they really have to start showing off their stuff... cause the veterans are in the building.

Technically, the veterans were in the building yesterday. Yesterday was a day full of fitness testing, photo shoots, and media opportunities for the vets. Today is when things get serious though! 

Here is a look at the Training Camp Roster for the 2013 Anaheim Ducks.

It's always interesting to see who makes the cuts and who comes back down to Norfolk. I love being in a city with an AHL team. Most of the players here aren't snobs yet, I did say "most". The players here are still really accessible to fans and like interacting with them. I can't tell you how many times I've been to an NHL game and I've seen numerous players that have come through Norfolk at some point in time. It's a really awesome feeling seeing them make it in the big leagues. 

All I know is training camp is the first step to getting my hockey back!! The smell of hockey is in the air! If you don't have anything to do Saturday, September 28th... you should come check out the Norfolk Admirals in the exhibition game against the Charlotte Checkers! 

Tickets for the Exhibition Game go on sale Sunday the 15th, so be sure to go and get them in advance so you don't forget! I'd love to see everyone out there!

These would be my two favorite players on the Ducks:

Kyle Palmieri

Pat Maroon

...Until Next Time...

For The Love of Hockey

Hockey is my #1 passion. I've grown up going to games all my life, I worked at a hockey rink, and I even started to play when I was younger. I'm that crazy fan who has the hockey tattoo on her leg and wears it proudly. If you read my last post, you saw that I'm a Flyers fan. For those of you who don't know much about hockey... Flyers fans are known to be the worst in the league. We are absolutely brutal.

I went to my first hockey game in Philly some years ago with my Father. It was actually for an AHL game though, so you figure it wouldn't be as bad. The team that plays here in Norfolk was playing against Philly in a playoff game so we decided to go. Mind you, neither of us had been to a game in Philly before. We were there to support our team... so what did we do? We wore our teams jerseys. We quickly found out that was a huge mistake. We got opened ketchup packets thrown at us, beer thrown at us, cursed out, and any other horrible thing that could happen. And that's where my love for Philadelphia blossomed. 

I know you're probably thinking I'm a crazy person. But to me I saw an arena full of people who cared passionately for their team. If you wore anything Philly, you were accepted. But god forbid you wore nothing sports related or a different teams stuff... they were literally going to kill you. 

I am a very intense hockey fan. Nothing comes between me and my hockey....  except this lock out. Come on guys, let's get it together. While the owners and players feud...the die hard fans, like me, are about to pull our hair out. Want to know why they are feuding?  There's $1 billion extra in revenue and they are trying to decide who gets the cut of it! Come on now! How about you just shut up and play hockey! I end up going to Philly for hockey at least once a season. I already had my game for this season picked out... and now they just want to crush my dreams. 

If there is anything that have learned from this post... I hope it's to never go to Philly with a different teams shirt on. You won't come out alive.