School Nutrition Association Annual Convention in Philadelphia, July 19-23, 2008

On July 19th we left SLC for the Philly airport to attend the annual SNA food conference. When we arrived at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on 19th and Market with 4 other ladies from Nebo School District we were famished and quickly went downtown to a little shop to try out their Philly steak sandwiches. The sandwich was nourishing so we took off by foot up the street to become familiar with downtown Philly. We had a great walk and planned out our next day as Billy had meetings to attend. As we walked around we came upon a little cafe that had yummy desserts and more. We ordered a Brown Betty dessert with coconut ice cream on the side. It was yummy. We then walked back to the motel where we rested our feet and went to bed. Church in the Philadelphia branch

On Sunday while Billy was at meetings I went to church with a few of the other ladies and one man to the downtown Philadelphia Ward. It was a very humbling thought provoking experience. There were several black people that were very friendly and many without any teeth. The missionary in the picture is a young man from Payson, UT. Lori called his family that day and told them we had seen their missionary and that he was doing great.

Turkey dinner at the Reading Terminal

After Billy was through with meetings I met him at the convention center and we went to the Reading Terminal to get some lunch. This was a really fun place to eat as it had all kinds of homemade food and everything you would want to have including Billy's favorite, turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing. It was really good! In the middle of the eating area was a band that played loud 50's music. It was a little too much for us old fogies. There were several Amish families that sold wonderful food. Another of our favorite's were the fruit and cream crepes'. They were out of this world. We also bought a couple of homemade raisin oatmeal cookies to share. Our favorite! Sunday evening we walked and walked and walked to Geno's and Pat's Philly Steak Sandwich shop that was in a scary part of town. We bought a sandwich and fries to share and then proceeded to walk back to the motel. On the way back we found out where the Jewelry Row was so that we could visit the next day. We were a little bit disappointed with the Philly Steak Sandwiches because the Italian Place in Utah has much better sandwiches by far. They have cream cheese.

Billy and I testing the Geno's Philly steak and fries.

Billy looking at live crabs in Chinatown. (Smelly)

Monday morning Billy had meetings again so I slept in and watched my favorite TV show, "The Today Show". Then I watched Regis and Kelly as I got ready for the day. I then hopped on a bus and met Billy at the convention center and we walked to the little mall to buy gifts for the kids and do a little touring. We walked to Chinatown and then Billy had meetings to get back to so I took off and walked to the Liberty Bell. Just as I went to get in line I noticed a family from Spanish Fork that were in the 6th ward when we lived there. They were the Tolmans. Judy and Marv and their family. They were serving a mission in New Jersey and their family had come to visit them and so they were able to take a little side trip to Philadelphia to see some of the historical sites. They invited me to come and join them in the line and that was great because it is always nice to be with friends and they saved me having to wait in line alone. They went through the museum quite quickly but I stayed and soaked in all of the historical information I could.

At the Liberty Bell. There is quite a story behind the bell.

The room where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

The supreme court building.

Museum of Declaration Signers

(Me and George)

Constitution Hall upstairs dining room where the signers ate during their breaks, or if they were thirsty they would sometimes go down to the nearby pub for a drink or two. In the corner there was a room full of antique guns and ammunition.

I then went to the museum of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. It was really interesting. I had my picture taken next to the statue of George Washington. This was a really neat display and very well done. Lots of historical information about their personal lives and their many accomplishments. There was also a picture of Betsy Ross and Martha Washington. Very interesting women in the history of our country. It was very humid out in Philly and I had forgotten to take a bottle of water. I began getting thirsty as the temperature was high and the humidity also. I then went to Constitution Hall to see where the signing of the Declaration of Independence took place. It was very interesting and also to the courthouse that was in an adjoining room. I then received a phone call from Billy and he was done with his meetings and I met him back at the lobby of the hotel. We then went early to the Super Bakery Bash at the Hilton Hotel where we were invited to a smogasbord of all kinds of pastas, breads, salads, desserts, roast beef, turkey and were they ever tasty. There was a nice ice cream bar filled with all kinds of toppings that were really yummy. We were so full and really tired from the days adventures so we headed back to the hotel room to rest.
On Tuesday morning Billy left early for meetings and then we met up and bought a ticket for "Phlash". This was the neatest way to travel in Philly. It cost us $5 per person for all day to the major tourist attractions and we could get on and off as many times as we wanted. We went to the Liberty Bell, Constitution Hall, Betsy Ross's house, the Philadelphia Art Museum (Rocky's steps and statue) and down to the shore of the Delaware River called Penn's Landing (I'm sure where William Penn landed and discovered Pennsylvania) where we hopped on a ferry and rode it over to the Aquarium in New Jersey. It was really fun. The aquarium was amazing. All kinds of sea life and the fun thing was that they let us touch sharks, starfish, and many other species of fish with our bare hands. Billy did this freely, but something about the feel of the sea creatures caused me to hold back and not be able to touch them. When we were ready to leave I finally got up the courage to touch a starfish. It felt much like rough sandpaper. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the sea animals because I wouldn't like everybody touching me and petting me all day long. There was a really big aquarium where you could sit down like in an auditorium and watch the sea life for hours. There were hammerhead sharks, sea turtles, sting rays, cow rays, sand sharks, lephard sharks, electric eels and spotted eels, and many more. It was incredible. We stayed there longer than we anticipated because it was so interesting. We hopped back on the ferry and went back to Penn's landing where we waited for the trolley to pick us up to head back to the hotel to get ready to attend a dinner at a restaurant called "The Fork." The trolley was there on the street waiting for us, but with no driver. Finally the driver showed up and said that there was a fire in the city and that the trolleys were jammed and we would have to find another way home. We quickly walked to the subway station and bought a couple of tokens to get us back to the hotel. In about 20 minutes we were showered and freshened and ready to hop back on the subway and surprisingly made our dinner appointment in plenty of time. It was a very nice restaurant with a menu of salmon baked in grape leaves, steak and other menu items that looked really good. They had a multi-grain roll that was to die for. There were several different varieties of breads that were very tasty. For dessert we had a chocolate mousse cake that was too chocolatey for me to enjoy. Needless to say we were stuffed to the max. We then hopped back on the subway and went back to our hotel to crash.
Rocky Vest da da dadada da da da da

Yo Adrian and Rocky!!!From the Philadelphia Museum of Art (bottom of Rocky steps) looking down Market Street at downtown Philadelphia

The ferry to the New Jersey Aquarium with Philly in the background.
On the ferry from Penn's landing to the aquarium in New Jersey.
USS warship
These are sea creatures not plants. They are very much alive.
This shark was right above us in a glass dome.
This is a striped zebra shark.

Wednesday morning Billy again had meetings in the morning so we went to the Reading Terminal and to the mall that was nearby to finish getting Kaden a birthday present and to finish buying gifts for our reunion the next day. The fresh vegetables at the Reading Terminal were unbelieveable. They had every kind of vegetable you could imagine. I would like to have taken some of them home. We left our bags with the concierge and went back to the convention center and discovered that we could walk all around the mall and Reading Terminal without going outside. The buildings were connected up on top and it was so much nicer to be in an air conditioned building rather than walking outside in the humid air. After leaving the Reading Terminal for the last time and buying our trinkets to take home (jam for the office from Intercourse, Pennsylvania) we got back to the hotel to hop on a shuttle to take us to the airport.

We had a big scare after our plane started on the tarmak at the airport . At 3:30 pm on the afternoon of July 23rd we were at the airport to head for home. The plane was a little late, and we began to board at about 5:40 pm. We started to move out onto the tarmak when we realized and commented about how many airplanes were lined up. Needless to say we sat in the airplane on the runway for 5 hours watching black clouds come over us and threatening to causing our plane to be grounded. We later learned that this could have lasted several days. We were a little bit panicked because of our family arriving at home. It could have been a disastrous nightmare. The airplane was running this whole time and eating up gas but at about 10:00 pm the pilot informed us that the tornado weather was lightening up and we had enough fuel to make our trip. I screamed right out loud. Yippee!!!

We arrived home at about 3:00 am and went quickly to bed by 3:30 am. The next morning was the big 24th celebration and we had planned a big reunion with the Binks's up at a new pavillion at the Spanish Fork reservoir. The pavillion has a new playground right by the side and the kids brought all kinds of water toys to play in the water at the reservoir. It was really nice. After the parade everyone quickly arrived at the pavillion for an afternoon of great food and fun. Billy and the boys picked up Grandpa Vest's canoe from his home and took it for the kids to use in the water. It was really fun! It was also really nice to watch from the pavillion on top to see the beautiful view of the valley and watch everyone have fun. Many thanks were expressed as to the perfect setup for our 24th get together. We were never so happy to be home as we had plans of celebrating our Vest Family Reunion in Park City the next day. This was a fabulous adventure to Philadelphia and made us appreciate our founding fathers of this great nation of the United States of America. We owe a lot to these wise and learned men.