This month Denise and I went to Philadelphia for the LifeSavers Convention. (Deborah, poor dear HAD to go to Italy-I turn a weird color of green, not unlike Kermit,when I think about this).
Philadelphia is a beautiful city, lots of old lovely buildings, lots of very friendly people.
Denise had a class early Friday morning, I had the morning off. There was a Starbucks IN THE LOBBY of our hotel. Lucked out there! Although no doubt there would have been one on the next corner(s). I grabbed my water colors and sketch book and set off a bit after 7 am.
It was a great day for walking, which is a good thing, as I got turned around and was going in the wrong direction (more than once). Not just blocks, but miles in the wrong direction. It's a good thing I had most of the day and it was a good way to see the city.
Philadelphia is very flat,and walking was easy. No hills like Seattle! I walked from our hotel to the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall (skipped the tour), got completely turned around and ended up asking someone for directions ("better get a cab honey, you are miles from where you want to go"). He also told me as long as I was THAT lost, I should go two more blocks out of my way and visit Ben Franklins grave. I love the beauty of cemetery's so headed over. Did you know people throw pennies on Ben Franklins grave, which is a flat raised slap of marble? Kinda cool-creamy white marble with bright copper colored pennies scattered all over it.
At the end of the day I had put in 8.6 (something) miles, from one end of the city to the other, and over 30,000 steps. I told Denise if 10,000 steps a day is considered really good, I didn't have to walk for 3 days. Couldn't find anyone willing to carry me around though, so that ended that idea.
This year at Lifesavers the exhibit hall and the conference sessions were open at the same time. Sometimes they do that, sometimes not. If I wanted to go to a session, then we had to put all our stuff under the skirt on the table. I hate to tell you this, but my notebook of the current Fact Sheets (handouts), the LATCH manual and the School Bus Safety Handbook seem to grow legs when left unattended. Who knew?
I didn't worry about missing most of the CPS sessions because Denise (ace reporter / editor and traveling buddy) will be reporting in some of the up coming newsletters. So you all can sort of pretend you were there too, minus the rain and traffic (see what lengths we go to keep you all informed!). I did get to a session on transporting children in ambulances. Got hit with a very sobering dose of reality when we viewed a isolate exploding into a zillion pieces in a crash test video. We know the stats, we read the stories, but nothing quite hits home like a graphic video.
We flew home on the 13th. I got pulled out of line by a TSA person, that is something of an experience. Didn't make the evening news, did make the flight, so all was well. (note: do not have tea called Gun Power in your carry on). Going home seemed longer than going to. And actually it is, takes an extra 30-40 minutes usually-although it seemed like DAYS after the first hour. I felt sorry for the poor guy in the middle seat, he was tall and built like a linebacker, and crammed in. I didn't feel sorry enough for him to change places and give him my aisle seat, but I did feel a twinge.
The next day was a work day. The Work Fairy forgot to come by when I was gone, so I had lots of e mails and my desk looked like someone (Molly the cat?) had had a parade and didn't clean up any of the papers afterwards, or the sparkly stuff (-what is that? maybe the Fairy was there— if she was she was sleeping on my desk, not working at it).
The first day back I hit the wall around 3 PM and had to fight the urge to take a nap. Molly gave in to it though. Smart cat.
If you ever get to Philadelphia, be sure and stop by Ben's place and tell him I said hello (and don't forget to bring pennies)
N
