10.25.2009: After leaving the Faith Community house in Brigantine, NJ, we stopped at a Atlantic City, NJ landmark - White House. In this small restaurant, you can often expect to wait a long time (either for take-out or for a booth) for their submarine sandwiches.
Late morning, we enjoyed the "White House Special" - a submarine filled with Italian meats, cheeses, fresh veggies, oil and vinegar, and spicy/sweet pepper relish. The picture below is of a whole submarine sandwich, which spans more than two paper plates.
After grabbing organic Peruvian coffee at
Wawa, we were on our way to Philadelphia, PA. We visited the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the old Supreme Court building, and the City Tavern (where, yes, we had Alexander Hamilton Federalist Ale!).
Then, it began - the Philly cheese steak challenge. First, let's introduce our contenders. Everyone knows Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's. Our friend Colleen (a Philly native) told us that we also must try Jim's Steaks. We, of course, decided to visit all three (in less than an hour, we did have to make it to Washington, D.C. by the end of the day!). The first stop - Jim's Steaks.
Above, a Jim's cheese steak, with Cheese Whiz and onions (or as native
Philadelphians say, Whiz wit'). We decided to have identical sandwiches at all three places, so as to best compare each cheese steak. Jim's is located on South Street, and we waited on line for about half an hour to order and pick up our cheese steak. Inside, pictures of celebrities who have eaten at Jim's span from Lou
Rawls from Billy Joel to modern day athletes. We were able to watch as our cheese steak was made, Whiz applied to bread then steak was placed on the bread and pushed face down on the grill, then add onions and sliced peppers. We enjoyed Jim's as we walked down South Street, headed to competitor number two - Geno's.
Above is a picture of a cheese steak from Geno's. We had the shortest wait at Geno's and were able to order and pick up our cheese steak within a matter of minutes. There were no pictures on the walls of any celebrities, but the exterior was the brightest and most elaborate with lots of neon lights. We were handed our order almost immediately after it was placed, and there was no option to add peppers - spicy cherry peppers were available on the side condiment bar. After Geno's, we headed to Pat's, who has the claim as the originator of the Philly cheese steak.
Above, a cheese steak from Pat's King of Steaks. At Pat's we waited in line the longest, and again had to add our own spicy cherry peppers from the condiment bar. One can see their sandwich being made, and there are plenty of celebrity pictures to look at while waiting in line, such as of Joan
Jett. This was definitely the cheesiest of all of the three places.
The verdict...
David preferred (in order) Pat's, then Jim's, then Geno's.
Katrina preferred (in order) Jim's, then Pat's, then Geno's.
Three cheese steaks and many historic sites down, we headed to the home of the next White House - Washington, D.C.
We arrived at the Young's house in Northeast Washington, D.C., and spent some time chatting and catching up. It was great to see Shannon and Jonathan and hear of Jonathan's stories about his second grade class and Shannon's masters classes.
10.26.2009: We awoke to Paige (who is 2) singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star," at the top of her lungs. SO precious. We had bagels and coffee with Shannon and Paige before heading out for the day to explore Washington, D.C. Paige got a hold of our digital camera, and it took her less than a minute to figure out how to take pictures. We now have more than 50 pictures of the Young's hardwood floor!
After hopping on the Metro, we rode to Union Station. From there we toured the Capitol Building, where the Senate and House of Representatives (the Legislative branch of the US government) meet. The tour took us
through the rotunda, the old Supreme Court chambers, and the room with all the statues (there are two from each state, and, in addition, there are statues submitted by the State
Legislatures). It was great to learn all about the Capitol, its history, and all the people who have played a role in shaping our country into what it is today. Below is us in front of the Capitol building.
After the Capitol building, we walked through the tunnel to the Library of Congress. The paintings were incredible. Next stop - the United States Supreme Court. Since there were no arguments being heard by the court today, we were not able to enter the building, but instead enjoyed its beautiful facade.
From there, we headed down Pennsylvania Avenue, and saw many significant Washington, D.C. buildings, such as Department of Justice, the FBI headquarters, the Ronald Reagan building, the Treasury Department and many others.
We had lunch at the Old Ebbitt Grill, which dates back to 1856. The raw oysters were incredible, and we enjoyed a very nice lunch on our one month anniversary of marriage.
After lunch we headed to the White House. We arrived just after a big pink ribbon was placed in front of the White House for Breast Cancer awareness month.
After the White House we toured many of the monuments and the National Mall. We walked across the Ellipse to the Washington Monument. From there we walked around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial. After the Jefferson Memorial we walked through one of the newer memorials in Washington, D.C., the FDR Memorial. The FDR Memorial has a much different feel from many of the other memorials - waterfalls and granite instead of marble and pillars. From the FDR Memorial we walked to the Lincoln Memorial and looked down at the reflecting pool from famous steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Our last two stops in Washington, D.C were the Vietnam Memorial and the George Washington University, where David went to school for two years. We left Washington, D.C. around 5:30 PM. We rode the Washington, D.C Metro to the Takoma stop and walked back to the Young's house. After hanging out with the Young's for a while we hit the road and headed north to Maryland for dinner.
We ate at the Seaside Crab Shack in Glen Burnie, MD. It was a dumpy little place but the food was delicious. We had five large crabs (which were placed on brown paper on the table). We were given mallets to crack open the shells and paper bag was placed on the floor for us to discard them. The crabs were served with melted butter, Old Bay seasoning and melted butter. We also ordered a Maryland crab cake. The crab cake was the size of a baseball and heaping with chunks of crab. Very good eats!
After dinner we drove back to Delaware, where Katrina was able successfully take a small picture of the Welcome to Delaware sign (we missed it on the way in). After we weren't able to find a hotel in Delaware we headed to
Elkton, MD for the evening.
10.27.2009: Today we are off to
Harper's Ferry, WV to visit the historical sites there. We will then head to Richmond, VA to stay with Aunt Anita for a couple of days.