Philly or Bust...

In August I booked a trip to see my friend Sue in Phoenix when she competed in the Iron Man competition. But a few weeks before the competition she had to pull out of the race due to a bike injury. I was so bummed that I wouldn't be able to see her that Mike gave me the go ahead to book a new trip out to Philly for a girls weekend. So I did!

Sue and I were good friends in Up with People and got back in touch with each other last year at the reunion. So I was so excited to have some good girl time and fly out to see her. Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

The first night I got in we went and grabbed a pizza. The pizza had a sweet sauce and was soooo good! We took it back to her place to eat and we ended up staying up until 2:30 talking - which proved to be the normal bed time for us for the weekend.

This is my beautiful friend Sue.

Sue was just finishing a remodel on her kitchen and the counters were to arrive the day after I left. So here was our counter top for the weekend - it actually worked great!

The next morning we decided to go for a walk. Sue took me to a fabulous area in the woods. It reminded me of the Green Belt that we have here in Boise but this is bigger and more remote. It was very cold but beautiful!

I wanted to get a photo of the waterfall but as we got close to the water we realized there was a wind chill of ZERO coming off of the water. But I was tough and braved the cold!

Since it was so cold out we decided it would be a good day to make chocolates! This is Sue's Holiday tradition and what she gives to friends and co-workers. So off to the coolest chocolate store ever to get all we needed and a little more and then off to her sisters to have a little fun! Oh and take a guess on what people are getting this year from me? This is now a Deely family tradition I plan to do every year with the girls. (We've already made a bunch!)

Thank you Sue for showing me the ropes!

Sue and her nephew Caleb.

Later that night a friend of ours from Up with People joined us. Becky drove in and stayed all night at Sue's - again a night that didn't end until at least 2:30am. The next morning we went into Philly and did a city tour via trolley. I have been to Philly two other times but it's such a great city full of history so I loved seeing the sights!

Becky and myself

Thank you Becky for coming out - it was so great to see you!

After we said good-bye to Becky, we went and picked up my brother at the train station who came in to visit from New York.

When in Philly you have to go the Art Museum and run up the "Rocky" stairs!

When Sue and I traveled in Up With People our cast performed in the Philly Thanksgiving Day Parade and we performed on these steps! So it brought back some fun memories!

What are we doing Nick?

And of course you have to pose with Rocky!

After the Art Museum we went and walked down Boat House Row and then explored the Water works while we waited for our table at the Waterworks Restaurant which is behind us in this picture. It was an AMAZING place. We had a wonderful dinner - Thanks Nick!!

It snowed while we were at dinner - I was so excited!

After dinner we went to a bar for a couple of drinks with Nick and again had a great time!

Sue has a game room in her house - pool, pinball, ping pong, darts, etc... So we went back and played pool and pinball and I lost horribly at both! UGH! Not sure what Nick and Sue are doing here???

Here's Sue beating both Nick and I

I couldn't leave Philly without having a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich. So the next day off to Pugs we go. It was very good! I got a traditional but Nick piled it high!

Our final picture

Thank you soooo much Sue for such a great weekend! Now I have to get you out to Idaho!