Chess n' Checkers n' Christmas City

[ellyssian]

By now Maryann is somewhere between here and Kentucky, and kk1raven has
made it home.

We met at noon at Chess n' Checkers as planned, and wound up getting
one of the big tables (carved wood under the glass table top; with
carved wood chairs.)

We had a Checkeretzel (Philly pretzel stuffed with cream cheese, with
honey mustard sauce for dipping) and potato skins for appetizers.
Justin and I both had their Signature burger (cheddar cheese, onion
straws, homemade Jack Daniels BBQ sauce, bacon) with Checkers fries
(waffle fries.) I'm not sure what kk1raven had - I think a BBQ pork
sandwich? Rachel had a bacon cheeseburger - I think this is the only
place she doesn't order chicken fingers. I made up for that by
ordering chicken fingers for Brandon. Maryann had a portabella
crabcake sandwich - two of them, actually... but the first was
accidentally served on the table top.

After eating, we drove over to Bethlehem and parked on 8th - I taxi'd
kk1raven and Rachel to the parking garage and then went back and picked
up Maryann and Justin. Two times of year you definitely don't want to
pay downtown parking fees are Musikfest and the Christmas season (the
city is named Bethlehem; during the week tour buses will relocate 95%
of the population of New York and New Jersey to The Christmas City,)
luckily, I have a work parking pass that gives free access.

We walked down Main Street to the Moravian Book Shop - "World's Oldest
Book Store" - which is, of course, even more famous for hosting the
Poetry Circle on the second Friday of every month. I picked up "Under
the Umbrella" by Francis B. Abuisi - who is another regular at the
Poetry Circle. I also grabbed a copy of "H.P. Lovecraft's The Haunter
of the Dark and other Grotesque Visions" by John Coulthart which has
some quite interesting - and fitting - artwork. Rachel picked up
"Stone Fox" by John Reynolds Gardiner, a chapter book that actually
looks a bit easier than her usual reading (she was re-reading The Edge
Chronicles on the ride down; Justin was re-reading The Two Towers;
Brandon read a bunch of board books!)

We went around by the Moravian Church and up past some of the older
houses and dorms and other Moravian College buildings, then past the
Bethlehem Library. We walked up to the New Street Book Shop to check
out their selection of used books. Justin picked up "Reef: A Safari
through the Coral World"by Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch for himself and
"The Magic of Owls" by Jozefa Stuart (1977) for Deb. The latter also
had a booklet "Owls of Ohio" - Ohio Department of Natural Resourses,
Division of Wildlife - stuffed inside. I actually didn't get much of
a chance to browse - Rachel stayed outside as her cough was acting up,
and Brandon had a suspicious diaper (false alarm!)

After dropping stuff off at my car and changing the non-event diaper,
we walked around a bit more past some of the shops on Broad Street and
down to the Main Street Commons to peruse some of the overpriced shops
therein. We walked down Main to the Historic Bethlehem visitor center
and shop, and checked out their quick walk-through exhibit there. I
signed the guest book with all of our names and gave Tamson House as
our address. =)

After getting kk1raven and Maryann over to their cars, we led Maryann
across the city to catch 78 for the ride back home - driving past
*most* of the remains of Bethlehem Steel in the process. Still
awe-inspiring, even in its death throes. Stopped at a park just past
the Steel to send her off on her way.

It was definitely a fun day, and it was great meeting up with others
from the House.

~ ~ ~

On a completely unrelated note, a "Happy Feet" penguin crept into the
gourmet meal Rachel had for supper and - far more random - we held a
unanimous vote to re-declare Pluto a planet.

Last minute addendum: Rachel finished the book already. She read it while I was writing this post. =P

Comments

What a Grand Day!

[patrixa.livejournal.com]

And if you ask R. if she knows what she read, she can tell you all about it! Her speed-reading+understanding what was read amazes me!. i wish you had a car-cam to heave gotten all 3 reading on the drive down.

Ch.2 now has playing "The Australian Pink Floyd" (mayhap there was a word after the A adjective, but I do not remember. TV is in living rm and IMac, the dining rm with a hall between. very bluesy and very good.

Thank goodness, some people know not to mess with Planet Pluto. The naysayers will rue their decision sooner or later.