Autumn Journey 2010 ... day one

Being desert rats most of our lives, the idea of fall fascinates us... cooler temperatures requiring jackets in September, trees that change color, falling leaves. Today we began our journey to experience autumn in New England and Eastern Canada. After driving 436.5 miles through eight states (MD, DE, PA, NJ, NY, CT, MA and VT) and paying $26.50 in tolls, the first day of our journey was over. Although there weren't many trees changing color, we did have a couple of adventures.

The first was driving through south Philly... all because Richard found the place that first made Philly cheesesteaks. The streets in south Philly are mostly one way, all are VERY narrow and parking is practically non-existent.

People park on both sides of the street- and on two-way streets they park down the middle of the street as well. Crazy!!

We finally found Pat's King of Steaks and couldn't believe the crowd, an even mix of locals and tourists, even at 1:45 in the afternoon. They are open 24/7 and  have served many celebrities since 1930 when Pat Olivieri opened up shop. Originally serving hot dogs, one day he wanted something different for lunch and cooked some chopped meat from the Italian Market on his hot dog grill along with some onions and made a sandwich on an Italian roll. A customer saw what he was eating and asked for one... and the rest, as they say, is history.

Pat's King of Steak is situated at the end of the Italian Market area and sits in a triangle with streets on three sides.

We had a "mushroom, peppers, cheez whiz, wit (meaning with onions)."  Pat's claims to have "the best Philly Cheesesteak sandwich" and we would have to agree.

Hard to believe, but Cheez Whiz was the original cheese added to the "steak sandwich"... and it makes the cheesesteak!

Continuing our drive through Pennsylvania, we saw a plant (probably a weed!) along the side of road that reminded us of a grass we saw in Florida years ago. It looks a little like wheat and was blowing in the breeze- very picturesque!

If anyone knows what this grass is, let me know!

We drove into "the city that never sleeps" just as Frank Sinatra was singing "New York, New York" on my iPod. (Side note: Nick (the 5-year old) LOVES this song and thinks it would be great fun to visit the "city that never sleeps!") It was rush hour on a Friday afternoon... although I'm not sure traffic is any lighter any other time... as we made our way through town.

We (and hundreds of other people!) drove into NYC on the upper level of the George Washington Bridge

We experienced traffic delay after traffic delay adding at least two hours to our drive time today. It was late when we got to our hotel in Brattleboro, VT but we'll spend some time exploring the area in the morning. In the meantime, we're enjoying the 50 degree weather!