Updates are hard...

Oh MAN! What a crazy couple of days! It seems like we haven’t blogged… Oops, what’s that about?? Sorry! We did good for the first leg of the trip though, right?? Man, are you in luck today! It seems that T*Star and myself are on the road for the next 10 hours or so (with 3 hours behind us already). Here’s the game plan, this will just be one giant blog… watch for the dates! I hope you like my sense of humor, if not… ummm sorry!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009
(This was actually written on July 7th but because we didn’t have a jump drive or wireless access, it was never posted…)

Welcome to Atlantic City, bring on the creepy! Have I ever told you how much I enjoy the breakfast at the Hampton Inns? Cause I do! Waffles today... mmmmm waffles *drool* Do I really need to write anything else?
Oh, fine… After breakfast we got ready, got packed and off we went!

First we walked around Philly’s Independence Mall (no, not like a shopping mall sillies) which was pretty cool. Colleen and Trish had already been to Philly but it was my first time. The first thing we tried to see was The National Constitution Center, I say tried because it was like $12 to see stuff and we po’! The information lady was nice enough to inform us that we could see the information area, the gift store and the cafeteria… we headed to the gift store! Some of you lucky folks may be getting something Constitution-esque! Luckies! (But don’t get your hopes up cause we didn’t buy a lot… cause we po’.)
We then tried to see the U.S. Mint, tried being the keyword again. We wondered why so many people were sitting outside on the steps but were excited to find it was a free self-guided tour. “Schweet!” we thought until the guard at the door informed us that we couldn’t enter the building with a camera or a camera phone. SON OF A MOTHERLESS GOAT! The people waiting outside were holding stuff for the people who’d gone inside to walk around. WTF?
We trekked on, on to Benjamin Franklin’s grave! (On which Colleen wanted to lie, I did not ask why…) It was $2, seriously? For a grave? Yeah, we didn’t pay that either. I could see Ben Franklin’s grave from behind the gate.
Off to Independence Hall! It seemed pretty cool, oh wait, until you had to pay to WALK AROUND IT! Shouldn’t patriotic things be free? I mean really! I don’t think Ben Franklin wanted someone to charge $2 to see his grave! I feel like maybe I’m giving the wrong impression, I’m not really mad about it, I think it’s silly is all.
At least the Liberty Bell was free! Side bar: for some reason, I earned the right to wear the tiara this morning (though no one could tell me why *cough*) Anyhow, the guard who checked my bag called me a princess. I think it’s nice when people acknowledge my role in the world. :D
Overall, I really enjoyed our stroll through the area but it sure did make us hungry! If you remember, yesterday we had our Philly cheese steaks at Geno’s, today was Pat’s turn. Who would win? Who would take home the East Coast Summer Road Trip ’09’s coveted “Best Philly Cheese Steak” award?
*suspenseful music*
Hands down, Pat’s.

Our Philly trip could not be complete without one last stop. Want to guess? No? Cannolis! We picked Termini Brothers’ Bakery in South Philly. Are you jealous yet? Delicious with a free coffee at Mr. Joe’s Café across the street. Oh yeahhhhh!
Now let me take you on a drive down to Atlantic City! Come on ride the train, let’s ride it! Choo, Choo! Before we got to our hotel, we took a little detour to visit Lucy. You might be wondering who Lucy is, well, I’ll let you! Lucy is the largest elephant IN THE WORLD! That’s right folks, the largest elephant in the world, I bought a t-shirt that says it, so it has to be true. (She’s not a for realzies elephant, http://www.lucytheelephant.org/ check her out.)
Then we made our way to the hotel, what hotel? The Chelsea Hotel on the boardwalk. Yeah, 4 stars… that’s how we roll my friends, that’s how we roll. After we settled in, we decided to go for a walk on the boardwalk. It was a nice afternoon and we were admiring the scenery when we came across the coolest statue! I decided it worthy of being recreated by Colleen and myself. So we began to pose and laugh and laugh and pose when suddenly Julio appeared. I don’t know if Julio is his real name but that’s what I want to call him. Julio got all up in muh grill and wanted to take Colleen’s place and reenact the statue with me! I walked away and he followed. I said no and he insisted. He asked if I spoke Spanish and I said NO. Finally he left us alone. Thank you creepy!
We walked for another 10 minutes or so when all of the sudden out of the corner of my eye I see someone staring at Colleen’s booty. Not only was he staring at her booty he was leaning back and making hissing sounds. I think I will name this guy Jerome. Anyhow, I could see Jerome and I could hear Jerome but what does one do?! I thought about grabbing Colleen’s arm and leading her far, far away! Then I thought that would freak her out because although she touched my arm the other day and told me I was soft, I didn’t think she’d react well to me grabbing her, maybe we’re not as close as I thought… Thankfully Trish saw Jerome too and called Colleen over close to her (and away from Jerome). Jerome was still staring at Colleen’s booty so we quickly made our way to Bally’s, to his dismay. He tried to follow us but stayed outside and made “wtf” motions with his arms as we walked up the stairs. Thank you again creepy! T*Star managed to avoid creepy AND was Colleen’s hero! 2 points to T*Star for not getting whacked with the creepy stick tonight! Way to be T*Star!
We decided to stay inside for a little while and got dinner at one of the restaurants, then we walked a little more through a few of the casinos. That was a lot of fun and we decided to try our hands at the slot machines. Unfortunately, we didn’t win anything but it was nice to play anyway!
Anyhow, that wraps up our blog for the night. I hope everyone is having a creepy-free week.
Lots’o’Love
Nancy Pants

P.S. Tomorrow, when we’re driving around real life Monopoly Land (i.e. Atlantic City) I hope I see my Rich Uncle Pennybags (You know, the top hat guy in the game, who you may also know as Mr. Monopoly, Stanley Monopoly, or Toby) cause I could use a few extra bucks.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Hi… I’m in… Delaware… (Wayne’s World, anyone? Anyone?)

Goodbyeeeeee Atlantic City! Come on ride the ferry! Lets ride it!
We got off to an early start, 8:00 am. Hey, that’s early for us, well, at the beginning of the trip it would have been considered late but for the end, it’s super early. We left our amazing Atlantic City boardwalk Chelsea Hotel and hit the road. We headed towards Cape May to catch the ferry to Lewes, Delaware, where an amazing beach afternoon awaited us! As we pulled in to the ferry dock, we realized we didn’t have enough turkey for one of Nancy’s Amazing Backseat Turkey Sandwiches (It is written.) so we tried to turn around in a totally legitimate way when we were flagged down by 3 friendly neighborhood cops, OMG. They very politely asked us if we were lost, to which we responded, “No, we’re in desperate need of TURKEY!” Then they revealed their secret undercover mission, seatbelt check! Don’t worry folks, we passed with flying colors. Not only that, we are now the proud owners of a police issued vanilla air freshener. Batmobile 1, New Jersey Police Department 0. After we stocked up on turkey, salami, cheese, Gatorade and another case of water, we made our way back to the dock and boarded our ferry, Batmobile and all! Side note: Never, ever put more than 6 Mickey Mouse decals on your family minivan. If you do, you’re askin’ for it! Especially if one of those decals is a stick figure drawing of your family wearing Mickey t-shirts and Mickey ears OR a trailer hitch in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s head. Just sayin’. The one hour ferry ride was actually very pleasant, Batmobile was pleased and Jill was ubber confused… but we liked it! The Batmobile was basically a fish surrounded by water! Finally we made it to Lewes and headed to the beach! The sun never felt so good! We just laid out, soaked in the rays and jammed to America’s top 40 hits! FIRE BURNIN’! It was really relaxing and very sandy! Not notcool.com!
At around 5:00 it was time to head to DC, why so early? Well, T*Star wanted to meet up with a friend who lived in a DC suburb and Megan (Colleen’s sister) had scored Colleen and myself some tickets to the U.S. vs. Honduras soccer game!!! You’re not as excited about this as I was, are you? Dang. Neither was T*Star. But really, I was super duper excited! These are the games to classify for the World Cup in South Africa next year… So after a mad dash to get to the stadium and some fast talking by Megan (because of a ticket mix up) we managed to get into the game! It was a fun game and um, well, the US won! 2-0… Take that Honduras! (Sorry Colleen and Megan <3)>Thursday, July 9, 2009

And then there were 2 ½

2 ½ you say?! Yes, I do. Sad face. Colleen had to go to work today. It was a T*Star and Pants kinda day. Poor Twin (Did I mention that Colleen and I are identical twins? It was determined in Spain in 2001.) She was on the metro on her way to work at 8:00 a.m. whereas T*Star and myself were in bed till 10:00. Sorry Twin!
T*Star and I just hung out in the morning and I napped a little to get rid of a headache. Megan was working at home this week, so she was gracious enough to let us distract her a little! Big props to Megan for her hostess skills! Thanks for letting us put our crap allllllll over the apartment! At around 1:00 or so, T*Star and I went on a Mexican food search but were unsuccessful so instead we ate at Five Guys. Have you ever been there? If you haven’t, dewwww it! It was very good! After lunch, T*Star and I decided to rock the metro! We made it all the way to the Washington Monument and we could totally see the Lincoln Monument in the distance… then we turned around got back on the metro and went to pick up Colleen in the car. No really, that’s what we did. The plan was to go to a vineyard but due to traffic and what not, we never made it to the vineyard. We did make it to a fun little bar with like millions of beers! Maybe not millions but it was a cool little place, we had a drink or three and then went home. Bed time!

Friday, July 10, 2009
Don’t you think Annapolitans should be called Annapolisians ?

Hello Annapolis! T*Star and myself got to sleep in a little again today! YaY for sleep! Sleep deprivation is bad, I do not recommend it. We had to store up some sleep for the next day because we had to drive 12 hours. (Today, Saturday)
After we were bright eyed and bushy tailed, we made our way to Annapolis. Hello cute! We parked the car in the tourist information centre, got a map and began exploring! We went to Applebee’s, Colleen. No really, um T*Star had the Santa Fe Chicken Salad, I had the appetizer sampler, mmmmm spinach and artichoke dip! We also ordered Colleen a Chicken Fajita Roll-up and then we threw it on the floor and said “This one is for our homie” we got dirty looks but it was important. No really, we always eat at Applebee’s.. like all the time, yup, all the time. We loveee us some Applebee’s! In fact, it might be dinner tonight. Chicken Fajita Roll-up Colleen? After our amazing lunch, we roamed the streets and peeked into the many adorable shops in the area near City Dock. Our favorite was a shop in which everything was recycled and we especially liked the things they made out of forks, such as napkin holders rings and business card holders! They also had these super cute glasses made from recycled bottles. I wish I would have bought some! In another store, we found pink polka dot monogrammed beer coozies. No “N’ or “T” we were sad!
Back to D.C.! In D.C. we were delighted to smell the fruits of Megan’s hard work… brownies! Mmmm Brownies *drool* After Twin came home from work we made our way to Megan’s friend Juan’s house! Say that three times fast! It was a very nice low key BBQ, with lots of funny conversations and good eating! Thank you Megan for inviting us and thank you Juan for hosting! Bed time!
That’s really it folks, nothing too crazy, noting too fancy. We went home, packed our bags, did a little dance in honor of “Five little monkeys jumping on the bed” and put in a phone call to Mom*Star suggesting a certain favorite hot dish for dinner for our arrival to Chicago. *cough*hint*hint*cough*ConnecticutBeef*cough*hint*mom*star*cough*
Finally, we headed to bed and got a full 3 hours, yes folks 3 whole hours (see why we needed to stalk up on sleep the day before?). But as I type this blog, we are all of 2 hours away from Mom*Star… man I’m hungry…. :)

As far today goes, Saturday, July 11th, it’time has gone by, as have the states. Other than a monsoon in Ohio and a few dance interludes to all of our favorite road trip song (which did not always play) we have had a pretty uneventful drive. We can’t believe that we’ll be in Chicago in just about two hours and already have 10 hours behind us. What a day! The road trip is slowly but surely coming to an end, sad face. And then there were 2.
But wait! Don’t stop reading yet, there might be a special Jelly Belly surprise tomorrow!
Just sayin’…. *cough*ConneticutBeef*cough*