Fourth of July Weekend in photos (and some words)

I decided to attempt a “what I did over the weekend” post. I haven’t been able to figure out a way to approach this type of post in an interesting, storytelling kind of way, so I haven’t done one before; I just don’t think a straight recounting of my activities just for the hell of it is very interesting. But, here goes nothing:

What I do before everything else: Walk my tiny puppy.

Friday, July 3 was a holiday for most people, including me and Mike, so we set off to Trader Joe’s. But first, I walked Sassy. I walk her twice a day and I have a few different routes. It’s hard to take photos while holding a leash!

Often the most stressful part of my week: Braving the crowds at Trader Joe’s.

Next we went to Trader Joe’s. It’s ridiculous that a city as large as Philly only has one Trader Joe’s, and it’s small, too. As a result, there are often lines of cars waiting to get into the tiny parking lot, and sometimes there’s also a line of people waiting to get into the store. But we’ve hacked the system and we just park on the street if we can when it gets like this.

First attempt at lunch.

We were starving when we got home, so of course we ignored the food we had just bought and wandered around the neighborhood instead. We ended up at Cantina Los Caballitos, something we always regret because it usually sucks. But I had one great meal there so I keep giving it chance after chance.

We ordered margaritas then the server didn’t come back for a really long time. He brought us chips and salsa, then disappeared again. When he re-emerged, we just asked for the check and got the hell out of there. I’m not sure why it’s always so packed and why it has such great Yelp reviews. Here’s my Yelp review.

Second attempt at lunch.

We left Los Caballitos and went to Hawthorne’s. We used to like going there, but then there was a fire and it was closed for a long time. We tried to go back a few times for brunch but it was always too crowded. We figured it would be easy to get a table in the late afternoon and we were right — it was practically empty.

It’s 10-12 blocks away, so we were beyond starved when we arrived. But when we looked at the menu we saw they changed it and there were very few vegetarian options! Seriously? There used to be a lot of great veggie stuff here.

Since we walked all the way there, we decided to split a tomato and mozzarella panini then go somewhere else. We asked for the ham to be left off (they still charged us the same, though — lame but not surprising). But the sandwich was really small and there was hardly anything on it, so we were hungry when we left. The service was crappy, too — there was hardly anyone there but the server forgot our drink order. Here’s my Yelp review. Get your act together, Hawthorne’s. And the other place, too.

Give up on lunch.

After that, we walked to Acme to get some things for the July 4 BBQ at Mike’s mom and stepdad’s house that we couldn’t get at Trader Joe’s. Then on the way home, we walked by Stateside, which has these cool sidewalk stools:

On nice days there usually aren’t any stools, but that day there were stools so we grabbed two! We don’t like the food here (very meaty) so we each had a cocktail, then it turned into happy hour and we couldn’t resist the $5 Manhattans and half-off beers:

We were chatting with a couple at the bar who had their dog with them, a pit mix named Daisy. They adopted her from PAWS, where I volunteer, and she was really sweet. She somehow got off her leash, though, and she started running around while her owners yelled for her and tried to corral her. She was about to run into traffic when I dove off my stool and tackled her. I’m covered in bruises now: bruises on my back, legs, arms and elbow. But I’m glad the puppy was safe.

After that, things get very hazy. I’m not sure why we did this, but we then went to The Bottle Shop, a craft beer store and bar down the street, for a few beers, then went home, still toting our Acme bags. It was not my finest hour — our mistake was only eating a half a sandwich all day and a few chips then floating with the current of drinks and drinks and more drinks. And…more drinks. I’ll just leave it at that. Moving right along!

The next day: Fourth of July in Delaware!

We drove to Mike’s mom and stepdad’s house in Delaware, about 40 minutes away, to celebrate Independence Day. They have a big yard and we brought Sassy because she’s terrified of fireworks and people set them off in the street in the city. Plus we were going to be there all day and we can’t leave her home alone for very long anymore because she’s 15, plus she’s showing signs of dementia. (We have a vet appointment to address that on Wednesday, so more later on my poor confused pup.)

After we ate we went on a train ride on the historic Wilmington and Western Railroad to a park a few miles away in Hockessin, Delaware to watch fireworks. It was really cool and a lot of fun! The train first started running in 1901 and it’s been fully restored.

A low-key, photo-free Sunday.

We didn’t do much of anything on Sunday — Mike made a vegan pizza with garlic crust, and I devoured it before I could think of photographing it; we watched a movie (“Chappie”); went for a walk and then went to bed early. I didn’t take any photos Sunday.

That’s pretty much it! How was your weekend?