Philly Me Full of Turkey: Remix

Thanksgiving in Philly is becoming a tradition. Last year's excursion to the city of brotherly love was great.

I can say without a doubt that this year was even better.

My drive up was vastly superior, as Emily came and we chatted and did a little sing-along. This was Emily's first time visiting Philadelphia, so she was really excited to see the sign, meet my brother Pete and his wife Jordyn, and take in the historical sites we all hear about in school.

The fun began right when we arrived. Pete and Jordyn hosted a pie night at their house. About 10 people came, which was nice because we could socialize with everyone easily. Plus, that meant there was no shortage of pie to chomp. And chomp we did.

I was so proud of my little brother for his sweet cooking skills. Check out this banana creme pie!

The next day, we took our time resting and getting ready in the morning, and then assisted Jordyn with making these delicious stay-puft rolls. We still don't know what made them get so puffy, and maybe we'll never know. We do know that the massive rolls were quite tasty.

Jordyn's stay-puft rolls

The rolls accompanied all of us to Jordyn's coworkers' house, where we enjoyed a delicious spread for Thanksgiving dinner. Some of the dishes had a little different flair to them, which added to the experience. For example, the stuffing had spicy sausage included. Yum!

After eating a meal like that, we were all stuffed (pun semi-intended). Since Jordyn needed sleep for her 4 AM work schedule the next day, the rest of us left the house to go see the new Muppets movie and give her some peace and quiet.

How do I express my love for the Muppets? The movie was so funny. I grew up on the Muppet Show, so seeing them back in action was terrific. Afterwards, I learned that Bret from Flight of the Conchords wrote the songs for this movie, and that totally makes sense. Clever, ridiculous tunes throughout the movie.

The next day, Emily and I did some sightseeing. Pete was kind enough to go with us, and he'd study his law stuff while we went into the locations to get our history on. We started with the Liberty Bell, followed by Liberty Hall and finagling our way into a tour 3 hours before our originally assigned time. Never hurts to ask, right? I'm glad we did, because otherwise we wouldn't have been able to see many other sites.

After touring Liberty Hall, our tummies were grumbling something fierce. Pete recommended a place nearby called Sonny's for Philly cheesesteaks. It's not Pat's or Gino's or Jim's, but it was quite tasty.

Emily couldn't bear to watch the meat being sliced and grilled

Delicious, but I doubt she'll have another one anytime soon

Gotta energize for tour guiding and reading law materials

Before moving on, Emily and I did a quick stop at the Betsy Ross house tour. I had no idea she was such a businesswoman and hadn't realized how much she risked in making the American flag.

No first visit to Philly is complete without the LOVE Park right next to City Hall. Next time we'll plan for a few extra minutes to play with/on all the big game pieces, but this time we wanted to hit up the Philadelphia Museum of Art before darkness set in, so we had to move along quickly.

And why would we want to reach the Museum of Art before dark? For the Rocky steps, of course!

Her southpaw cross is devastating

The boat houses and Fairmount Park are right around the corner, so we took a few mins to walk over and get pictures from the nice gazebos. Also, seeing that glassy water really made me want to waterski. But that'll have to wait for another time and another place, I suppose.

When we got back to the house, Jordyn was rested up and told us all about her crazy day at work. We socialized and ate and then the time came for Emily and I to hit the road. Our drive home took about half as long as the drive up (2.5 hrs vs 4.5 hrs), and Emily was really tired so I let her sleep while I drove.

Not sure if next year I'll have Thanksgiving in Philadelphia, but I'm excited to see what it entails if I do!