Fun in Phily

Yesterday a dozen of us descended on the PMA (Philadelphia Art Museum) for a fun and educational day. All of this was organized by Steve, our friend who is home on leave from Iraq.

We gather at the usual staging point and head out. Steve switched into 'Captain Voice' a few times, but only because people needed it. We've decided that 'Captain Voice' is the male version of the 'Mom Voice' which is even more attention demanding than the 'Teacher Voice'.

We pile into two vehicles and two more are meeting us at the museum. Kat directs us the back ways down there as we hear on the radio that the Schuylkill is majorly backed up. We make it down there with little trouble. Parking the trucks on the other hand, was an almost adventure, especially with Steve driving.

Why are we going to the art museum you may be wondering. This isn't a group well known to be overly 'cultural'. Well, Steve found us a game. Yes, a game at the art museum. There's a group that puts on these hunts at various places in various cites around the country. There was a 'murder' to be solved. We divided into two teams and competed against about a dozen other teams. The next two hours consisted of madly dashing from gallery to gallery trying to answer questions and figure out the clues. In some vague ways it was almost 'DaVinci Code' like, but only on the surface. We had a lot of fun. Neither one of our teams got the right answer, but we all had a lot of fun.

Next was our drive over to Chestnut Hill to get dinner and catch a show. Wow! Two majorly cultural events in one day! I'm impressed some of these people didn't explode from all the culture they were getting. Chestnut Hill is a very nice area. We park the trucks and walk a couple of blocks to a neat little restaurant for dinner. I don't remember the name, but the beef burgundy I had was fabulous. Steve's two cousins leave us at this point and we walk another few blocks to the theater. Steve got us tickets to see a production of "Noises Off" a very funny farce about the theater and love triangles. I was rolling laughing at the third act. I really wish Gak had been able to join us. He would have had a lot of fun, especially since his major was theater. He has lots of stories that are scarily similar to the play. The play was well done and fun was had.

We then pile back into the vehicles again and head back to the original staging point. Kat drops me off at home and then goes to join Steve and a few of the others somewhere else to continue the evening. I collapse gratefully into my bed at about midnight, or is it 1am with the time change. (Don't get me started on the time change thing... I'm beginning to sound like my father!)

Well, today I'm spending a lazy day with Gak and just going to hang out. Peace to all and may you find something fun and out of your ordinary to do from time to time.