The last leg of my trip took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where I reunited with Peace Corps district mates. These were two of the guys I spent nearly every other weekend with in Lesotho and have yet to see upon returning from Ghana. Catching up was quite pleasurable!
A lengthy bus ride and too much fun in Boston left me feeling ragged upon arrival. My amazing host had homemade pesto over pasta waiting for me. Re-energized, I rallied for a night out. The next morning we failed to replicated a typical African breakfast and hit the road for Mount Airy, where we "hiked" around Fairmount Park. If my hiking companion hadn't ridiculously shoed himself in Converses, I would have spent the entire day under the sun--biking, hiking, and cooling off in the Schuylkill River.
From there we hit up the adorable Weavers Way Food Co-op before making way back to Philadelphia proper. After adequate hydration and a reapplication of sunscreen, we caught a bus to Love Park where we spent an uncomfortable amount of time people watching. We continued on with a walking tour, backtracking briefly for happy hour with J.W.M.'s co-workers. Eventually making our way up South Street, we crashed on the couch for an intriguing extra inning game of the College World Series.
Saturday I accompanied J.M.W. to a work function where I experienced water ice. One major sugar high. With every high, comes a low--this being in the form of a nap. Feeling quite refreshed, we made our way to West Philly were we celebrated J.M.'s quarter of a century birthday, with an outdoor, vegetarian friendly, cook-out.
Sunday we slept in to recover from all the celebrating, waking up in time for the afternoon Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park. That night we attended a True Blood party. Knowing nothing about this show, I filled my plate and feigned interest for all of five minutes before spending the remainder of the party on the roof marveling at the nighttime skyline.
Monday it was finally time to make way to Northern Virginia; home never felt so sweet.
Love the picture of you with the boys! It must have been great to be with them; glad you had fun!
ReplyDeletexo Meredith