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April 04, 2004

South In Search of Spring

(The following is an attempted recreation of what I would have actually posted yesterday, if it hadn't been eaten by a dialup connection and my unfamiliarity with Macs, particularly the fact that Control-C isn't where you expect it to be and it's very easy to replace everything you've just typed with the letter 'c'. 'C' may be for cookie, but after 20 minutes of fruitless typing, that's just not good enough for me.)

PHILADELPHIA - The calendar says it's April, which is spring. The East Coast says it's still mid-February. Bah. I woke up to a steady rain, which broke by the time I made it over the GWB and into New Jersey. I had a couple stops to make in Monmouth County - more on that when I have corraborating photographs (let's just say I was supposed to be there today!)

Then I wanted to send my Mom a "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J." postcard (she loves the Boss), but that didn't work out. I don't know what the story is -- if Asbury Park is just closed for the winter, or if the Army's been using it for shelling practice -- but I've never seen such a dismal, forlorn, gone-to-seed burg in a long long time. (I may update that when I get to Philly.) I skedaddled before I even made a token run at a gift shop.

Then torrential rain on I-195 as I crossed Central Jersey, which ended just before I hit the Ben Franklin Bridge into Philly. I did a quick pop-in at the Art Museum, bought a new memory card for my camera (at the Gallery Mall, of "Parents Just Don't Understand" fame), then met up with my college friends. They were buzzing about the Flyers and the Phillies; it may have been the tail end of the same conversation they were in when I last visited in 2000.

Philadelphia is pretty much just like I remember it. Seedy, scary, a little stinky - but exciting. You know you're in a real urban city immediately. The bad news, my friends inform me, is that BookTrader, the fabulous used book store on South Street, is no more. Rumor is that the owner plans to relocate and reopen, but there's still a twinge of anxiety. Even Boston (formerly the Athens of America) is down to just three really good secondhand bookstores...one more than Omaha. Tough times. I guess the fact that BookTrader's closed saved me some money, though.

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Comments

Posted by: kari | April 7, 2004 03:48 PM