East Coast Trip Day 2: Rocky and Cheesesteaks

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The second day of our east coast adventure took us to Pennsylvania to visit Villanova University, as a Tar Heel fan it was hard to bring myself to go out there after UNC lost to Villanova in the National Championship but I have to do what's best for my kid, that's what I tell myself over and over and over. The tour at the university isn't scheduled until 2pm so we have some time to sight see the city of Brotherly Love, luckily for us the day we go to Philly is the same day as the NBA Draft and the Sixers have the first pick in the draft. Philly sports talk radio is very entertaining but today it was Bourne Identity entertaining, yes I love Jason Bourne movies, who doesn't? Okay let me get back on topic about Philly and their love of sports, everyone who called in was a NBA GM who knew what the team should do with there draft picks, listening to this made the ride from Princeton to Philly seem to fly by. Traffic in Philly well the lack of traffic compared to NYC was a breeze, we made the 50 mile drive in easily 45 minutes. Our first stop was the University of Penn Bookstore to grab a few things, of course we had to get t-shirts from all the schools we visited, we didn't stay long cause we were coming back to Philly on Saturday so Alonzo could go to football camp at Penn. The track coach at Columbia worked at Temple for 10 years so he recommended the best place to get authentic cheesesteaks, no it wasn't Geno's he said it was Ishkabibble's on South Street, best cheesesteak is one of those never ending debates like the best pizza in NYC or best shrimp poboy in New Orleans. We listened to his recommendation then we headed to Ishkabibble's for lunch, it was short ride from Penn to South Street, we rode through some residential areas in Philly to get to Ishkabibbles. So we found a parking spot about two blocks from the restaurant and it's hard to miss, it's a pink and yellow building, we walked in and they have a wall of famous people who have ate there. A lot of Philly celebrities like Will Smith have there pictures on the wall, so we sat down and ordered our food, got a cheesesteak, fries and a lemonade.

It's hard to put into words how good this cheesesteak was, so I'll just say me and Alonzo didn't say a word until we finished eating that's how good it was, Coach's recommendation was right on the money. We had about two hours to go before we had to be at Villanova so we decided to go see the Rocky Statue. The statue isn't at the stop of the steps of the Museum of Art like it used to be but you still see people running on the stairs throwing up their arms in a victorious pose like they just won the heavyweight title. The statue sits on the right side of the museum, it was a small crowd around but it moved quickly so we went to take pictures with it then we walked the stairs, no we didn't run. Teenagers don't do anything they consider not cool, so I know Alonzo wasn't running up the stairs like Rocky but it was plenty people that did. We got to the top and admired the beautiful view of the city, the weather was nice and the city was alive with excitement of the draft coming up that night. We headed back to the car cause it was time to head to our ultimate destination and that was Villanova University.

Philly Museum of Art to Villanova is about a 20 minute drive, the university is northwest of Philly out in the suburbs. It doesn't take long to get out there we pull up the gate and the guard tells which garage to park at since we're touring the university. The garage is right across the street from the Student center so that is quite convenient, we head inside and check in. The lady at the counter is very enthusiastic, gives us a few brochures about the school and we find a seat until the info session starts. it's a large group there for the info session and tour, but the session was very informative and I learned a lot about the school that I didn't know. Once that was over we were split up into groups and assigned a tour guide, I think our tour guide had a Red Bull IV in her arm, cause she was moving nonstop throughout the entire tour and was screaming the entire time. Her school spirit was on full 100 she was worse than Dick Vitale calling a Duke game , sorry if you didn't get that but the sports fans will understand (smile). The campus was beautiful, full of beautiful architecture and our super excited tour guide was very informative she knew a lot about the school, she also took time out to let us see the inside of the science and engineering building which was good since that is what Alonzo is considering for his college major. Once the tour was over we grabbed some smoothies and walked over to the track to meet the Men's Sprint coach. He was finishing up a camp so we watched for about 30 minute then went to his office, he's been a coach at Villanova for over 20 years so he had tons of experience and coaching knowledge. The meeting was good and we got a lot of good things out of it, Alonzo came away with a good impression of the school after only really knowing it as a school with a good basketball team. So on the way home it was time to grab some dinner before we got back to the hotel to watch the NBA draft, so we found this nice Italian restaurant named Romeo's in Plainsboro. We ordered a pepperoni pizza to go and after a day of sightseeing then touring a campus we worked up a man sized appetite, so that pizza didn't stand a chance. While we watched the draft we finished off that pizza and that was another day in the books. Day 3 the fun really begins and it's the first day of football camp so until the next adventure, enjoy.

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Photos

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Ishkabibble's

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Philly Cheesesteak and Fries

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Famous steps Rocky ran up

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Rocky and the two Alonzos

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Italian Stallion

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View of the city

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Ben Franklin got game

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Villanova University

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Dorm on the campus of Villanova

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Chapel

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Inside of the Chapel

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Medal from the Penn Relays