jersey shore

jersey shore, originally uploaded by Blog-Sothoth.

We rolled north for the last summer weekend, stopping in sweltering Philly for the night Thursday. We stayed at the Latham Hotel and walked over to Independence Hall--maybe a bit more than a half-mile, and we were drenched with sweat within a block. But Cha had never seen the Liberty Bell and she got to gape at it through a glass wall, tho the crack wasn't visible.

Then we looked for a place to eat and settled for an upstairs pub which I realized I'd been to, likely in my first year at Temple U 16 years ago. Friday morning we got up and drove over to the University of Pennsylvania Archeological Museum: I wanted badly to see their collection of Babylonian treasures from Ur, so of course that particular exhibit was closed Friday. But the museum has plenty of other excellent galleries, including a wonderful Egyptian collection, some fine Chinese loot, and Etruscan, Roman, and Greek collections. They have a fine selection of MesoAmerican stuff too, and a nice traveling exhibition of Mayan pots.

But no Ur, dammit. The goat trapped in a hedge will have to wait for another day!

Then we went to Barnegat NJ to hang with friends of Cha's, and met her sisters there. Lots of kids, dogs, drinks, and food later we rolled home exhausted and ready to face the school year. I wish the lifeguards weren't so serious--they wouldn't let me out more than shin-deep in the surf because of Big Bad hurricane Bill and his awesome rip tides.