.Boston/Philadelphia.

Didn't have internet access yesterday, so I'll be playing a little catch up here:

Day 6, Boston:

Got out of the city at about 11a.m. Dropped Katie off at the Marcy St. station, said our goodbyes and what not. She's a sweet girl. I hope everything works out just peachy between her and Justin. As soon as we got on I-95 near White Plains we hit big time traffic. It then occurred to us that it was the day before the 4th of July. Once we got into Connecticut traffic lightened up a bit, but when we got into Providence, R.I. it got really bad again. And that's when it occurred to us that everyone was heading out to the Cape for the holiday. Stoopid indians we were. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it into Boston. So we called Spencer and got some alternative routes to his house in Pembroke, and fortunately made decent time getting there. Pembroke is about a half hour outside of Boston in the woods and it's beautiful. It completely reminded me of this town called Arnold, where I spent a ton of time as a kid (my grandpa owned a cabin outside of Arnold, it's a small town in the Sierra Nevadas). Spencer is one of the most genuine doods I know. And he's now a homeowner. A beautiful huge home in the woods with a huge backyard, basement, loft, and mudroom. It'll be the perfect place for him and Darcie to raise their little girls, Amelia and Audrey. After peeping their place we headed to their apartment, which is in a town called Marshfield; not too far away from Pembroke (5 minutes actually). Hung out with the kiddos (who are absolutely adorable), and had some dinner. After dinner Justin and I had a catch, which felt great. I hadn't thrown a ball around in quite some time. We capped the night off with Rambo 4, Shocker, and homemade ice cream sandwiches. It was an amazing time seeing Spencer, Darcie, and their girls.

Day 7, Philadelphia:

Woke up early and hung out with the kiddos some more. Spencer made us an amazing breakfast of grits, eggs, bacon, and biscuits. We said our goodbyes, and were on the road to Philly at 9. We made awesome time to Philly because of an alternative route Darcie recommended, and which I'll recommend to you if you're ever going to Philly from the New England area. The route completely bypasses NYC. Holler at me, and I'll give it to you. Anyway, we got into to Philly and immediately hit up Pat's Original. Pat's is THE philly cheese joint. And my God, how good it was. I can still taste it, it was so good. Anytime you're in Philly you have to go to this joint, 9th st. and Federal. Do it. Got pulled over in Philly for "cutting someone off". The dood was a civilian cop, and probably saw that I had an out of state plate and just wanted to hassle someone. I was pretty shocked by the comment though, "cutting someone off". Nothing happened, everything was cool. He was the one that actually gave us directions to Pat's. After Pat's we headed over to Citizens Bank Park. It's a really nice ball field, only a few years old. During 'God Bless America' and the National Anthem I actually got a little misty eyed. No joke. I mean come on, think about it. I've been on this week long road trip with my best friend, we're in Philadelphia (pretty much USA-town), and I'm at a baseball game. All of those things added together equals emotion. The game was friggin' great. Phillies won in the bottom of the 9th by way of a single. All of this happening while fireworks were going off everywhere throughout the city. Such a good 4th of July.

Amazingness of the day(s):
1) Spencer, Darcie, Amelia, and Audrey
2) Pat's Original
3) The 'Memory Lane' at Citizens Bank Park which was open THE WHOLE GAME. Thank you, Philadelphia Phillies, for being rad.
4) Missing NYC traffic
5) 4th of July in Philly

Next up: Dropping Justin off at the bus station, and a long drive back to Casselberry.

Cheers.

Sincerely Yours,
Niles C. Anderson