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August 24, 2014 - 10:44 p.m.
"eastern state penitentiary" or "philadelphia zoo" or "real life crazy eyes"

Hey Journal!

We're back from our spontaneous getaway weekend to Philadelphia and the surrounding area! It was a fun weekend, and I'm especially glad we got out and kept ourselves occupied for two of the five days we don't have access to our house!

This morning I got up at 8:45 when the alarm went off but Re and Dan had already been up for a bit. We got ready to leave and I made the bed in the hotel to look like a body was wrapped in the sheets. That, and the mess of red splashes on the towels that Re's hair made, must have really confused the housekeeper!

We left and headed to Bob Evans for breakfast! We were really looking forward to it because we loved it when we went to the one in Frederick, MD.

Before I tell you about the crazy part... I have to say that the Maryland one was better. The food was better overall. I remember being much more impressed with it.

But now, let me tell you about our waitress! Her name was Tracey and she was.... well... she reminded us a LOT of the character Suzanne in Orange is the New Black. Every time she came over to the table and started talking she said "LISTEN" first. It was so abrupt and scary. Her opening line was "LISTEN, can I get you something to drink?" Followed by, "LISTEN, you know the center of a cinnamon roll? Well we have muffins that are just like that and you will love them. Each one we sell raises money for children AND autism... Can I count on you for one?" Dan couldn't resist, I suppose.

She had the same exact script with every table, and while she was very nice, her personality was so similar to the character I mentioned before. Her mannerisms... everything.

Perhaps our favorite was when she came over to the table at a completely unusual time and interrupted our conversation with, "LISTEN. -Points at sign for Apple Pie- We have homemade soups that you can take to go. They are just like our grandmothers used to make..." We were all staring at the sign until we realized it had nothing to do with what she was talking about and THEN we couldn't turn back to look at her because we were all trying so hard not to laugh.

Again, she was really nice, and she was really trying to do a good job. As far as the waitressing went, she was good... but man.. she was wild.

At the end, she tried to get us to buy a box of 10 muffins to go because "they're great to bring to work and heat up....." (it went on and on.) When we declined, she looked like she had to keep telling herself "don't get mad, don't get mad, don't get mad!"

Another good one was when she gave the muffin spiel to the neighboring table and the man just abruptly tells her, "I HAVE DIABETES."

After our breakfast, we headed to the Eastern State Penitentiary! I had heard about it in the past because they do a big thing around Halloween time, but during the year they give tours of the old prison.

We had a coupon from our hotel for $2 off admission, which was great! An audio tour was included with admission. Usually I don't like audio tours, but this one was okay. I feel like the prison was different than I expected.... It was a lot older looking and considering that it only closed for good in the 1970s, it was less modern than I would have expected.

One thing I really wanted to do was get my picture taken behind some bars, but sadly there weren't any opportunities for that! We did manage to join two impromptu tours... one of the old operating room and another of the warden's office! We were there for about two hours.

I think my favorite part of the Audio Tour was the music they played in the background! It was so eerie and cool. If you pressed 99 on the Audio thing, it just played the music with no words. It was great!

When we left, we headed for the Philadelphia Zoo. We lucked out because we got a parking spot right on the road and didn't have to pay the ridiculous $15 Zoo parking fee!

We got our tickets to the zoo and then headed inside. We perused the animals and, to be honest, most of them were sleeping! It was kinda ridiculous! I like zoos... but after you go to a few, it's kinda like you've seen it all. I feel like I don't really have any desire to go to another one any time soon.

It took a few hours to make our way around and check out all the exhibits, and then we headed back to the car and had two more stops before we started our journey home.

Our first stop was Lakeshore Learning so that Re could look for some items for her classroom. Unfortunately, the sales weren't good enough and the line was wayyyy too long! Next, we went over to everyone's favorite supermarket.... Wegmans! Robert B. I stocked up on some Wegmans cereal and got a few lemonades. We also got bottled water for the car ride. It was hot out, and I was parched after the zoo.

Finally, we were on the road and unfortunately our trip home was not as speedy as our trip there. There was a lot of traffic, and we took some side roads to avoid some of it. We saw a lot of side roads this weekend.... it wasn't terrible, though....It's nicer to see what the towns along the way look like instead of just the boring highways!

Dan was really having a moment though and he made a few wrong turns that cost us some time as well. We wound up getting back at about 8:30. My Grandma was waiting on the couch i nthe living room for us to get back, and we went in to say Hi quickly before heading home. As we were leaving, my mom got back from a day at the beach. The triplets dropped her off, and we talked to them for a bit in the driveway.

We headed home and then showered up and watched a little of last night's Doctor Who! It was a long episode, so we'll have to finish it up tomorrow!

Now we're just going to watch some Password and get to sleep!

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)