Back From Philly

If this was the standard travel experience, then life will be good. But I've reason to believe that other trips will be different.

Cool thing #1: The NPS interpretive rangers I get to work with are amazing! They know their stuff, both the content and the ways of telling it so that people both learn and enjoy. As a park visitor, I've met some rangers whose content knowledge outstrips their sensitivity to their audience, so I heard more than I wanted to know - and for longer. I've a prejudice that rangers at Civil War sites might especially fit this bill. But the folks at the Poe and Kosciuszko sites seem to balance medium and message.

There's a constant push to do more with less money, of course, but the structure at Independence NHP seems to support that balance. For instance, a top administrator told us in a meeting that we needed to include more activities for families with children.

Cool thing #2: We ate really well. The government allows its employees a per diem based on the place we're staying. In Philly, we get $51 a day for meals, and we get it regardless of how much we actually spend. Apparantly, some of my colleagues at HFC keep to the per diem, or even try to come in under.

Not the two I travelled with this week. They look for good restaurants, cheap or expensive, and let the per diem chips fall where they may. One guy even brought wine from his private stock, knowing that some of the best little restaurants in Philly are BYOB. So we headed for Vietnamese in an all-Vietnamese strip mall, stumbled across a tiny Italian gem not far from the Poe house, and waited until 9:30 to worship at the table of a "star chef."

We also stopped in at the Italian markets for cheese and pasta, and we made two trips to Termini Bakery, where I found the most heavenly pizelles ever.

It's a good thing that these guys are walking fanatics, as well. We tramped all around the Park sites (like a colonial garden and a printer's shop in Franklin Court), South Street, and the riverfront, in spite of the over 90-degree weather.

Other cool things: Here are some pictures from our work sessions at Kosciuszko and Poe houses...

...from a little garret library next to the Poe house where I did some reading...

...from one of Ben Franklin's rental properties, where you can see the structure of the original wall, up through all three stories...

...and from my lovely birthday dinner with wonderful friends, Pauline and Jim Eversmann! Funny story about this picture: I was setting up to take the Eversmanns' picture when a guy walked by and said, "Would you like me take one of all three of you?" "Sure," we said, and I sat down on the bench. As the guy held up the camera to snap the picture, another person walked by and said, "Want me to take one of all four of you?"

Guess the east coast isn't as cold as I'd remembered.

.