Siddity In The City

On the road Part I: The Chilly Chizzle.

chizzle Originally uploaded by Siddity.

I finally have to break down and admit there will be no good time to write about my vacation, I'll never be in the right mood, and I am totally lacking in literary inspiration regarding the best way to broach the subject. So here, y'alls, I'll just jump right in. First stop: the Chilly Chizzle (AKA Chester, PA, AKA, actually, stop #2 on my travelfest, but stop #1 was just my parent's house and happened before my vacation officially started, so it doesn't really count. Ahem.) Ah, Chester. As you can see from the photo, not the cheeriest vacation spot. In fact, not much of a "vacation" spot at all, in the traditional sense. No relaxation (though, as I stepped off the train at the Highland Ave. SEPTA stop and hurried down the rickety, rusty-ass steps to the street, I noticed an unmarked po-po vehicle sitting a dozen or so yards away in the vacant lot that bordered the tracks, and that helped me relax a bit, since, you know, they might get a shot off at an assailant and whatnot if anything went down, and I'd probably only be mugged. At least, I think it was an unmarked po-po. Maybe it was just the local rock-slinger. Who knows.). Not, you know, exciting (except in that "will my family get the hell to the train tracks to pick me up before or after I am abducted and turned out and forced to turn tricks at the 'hotel' above Vesuvio's Pizza restaurant" kind of way). Not much in the way of sightseeing (except in that "damn, didn't that burnt-out shell used to be so-and-so's grandmama's house?" kind of way). Here's what Chester does have: 1. My family. And Goddamn do I love those folks. My maternal family, anyway--aunts and uncles (I have eight. Yes, y'all. Eight.), cousins (I ain't even trying to count), and my Grandma and Pop. Wooo lord, do I love my grands. Raised 9 kids, married 50+ years, live in the house my Pop bought and built upon (he had to add some things, 9 kids is nothing to sneeze at). I LOVE my family. I LOVE my grandparents. I'm starting to think about hurrying up to get married, 'cause I think I want my Pop to walk me down the aisle, and he's already in his 80s. Then again, his mom was almost 103 when she passed, so maybe I don't need to hurry, LOL. God, I hope not. I need a minute.... 2. Proximity to tax free shopping in Delaware. I think we all know how I feel about that little perk. Non-NYC pricing? Non-NYC discount pricing? And tax free? Yeah. I always come back with extra bags. My haul this trip: A brooch sold in NYC for $20 discounted, I got for $10; A pair of perfect-fitting bootcut Levi's, $12.99; the cah-utest (stolen from Mary) little black and pink lace and ribbon cami/teddy sets for $12.99; and some other thangs.

3. Delaware slots. I won $375! Bwahaha! Last time I think I won a few hundred, too, but maybe only $300 or so. But hey, cash is cash. 4. TWO J'S! See, the thing about Chester is, they have the best cheese steaks at this place called Two J's. Like, the BEST. Like, fuck Pat's, or wherever the hell people tell you to go for a cheesesteak in Philly. Two J's. 'Member what I said about meat and holidays? Yeah, well, it'd been five years since I had one of those mugs, and it was kinda still Christmas, or the day or two after, at least, so you know I had one (okay, two) Two J's steaks (american cheese, fried onions, sweet and hot peppers, mayo, ketchup, thanks) while I was there. And I'm not ashamed to admit it, dammit. Look, here's a picture below. You'd have one, too. I was in town for 48 hours, or less, considering how much time I spent hopping from train to train on NY/NJ/PA mass transit. I still had a great time. Wish I had planned my time better so I could have been there longer. But, too soon, my time was up and I had to get back to New Yawk to catch my flight to Michigan, Siddity vacation stop #2.5....

posted by Sid @ 1/20/2005 04:19:00 AM