Before the rain started...

I went for a walk after lunch today. In no time at all (literally minutes) I was in historic Philadelphia.

The last time I saw the Liberty Bell was 18 years ago when my family visited me when I lived in South Philly (near the Naval Ship yard). It was raining that day too. The time this bell made the biggest impression though, and what sticks out in my mind to this day is when we visited when I was very young (5?) and the bell seemed bigger than life then even if I didn't understand the history.

I have purposefully not returned to see many of the areas I remember from when I lived here 18 years ago, but memories flashed into my mind unpredictably the last few day. Current residents have confirmed in a general way that a lot of things have changed in nearly two decades. Of course I just may have missed a few things ...

I certainly never noticed a duck before:



About the time I was really hot from my walk in the humidity (I didn't get rained on though ... as the hotel worker promised my hour was dry), I had to return to the last few sessions of the conference so I made my way back to the Pennsylvania Convention Center.



By the time I returned to my room when the conference ended I was exhausted (a quick trip to fivebucks seems to be helping with that). Even though I'm missed my family more than I can express, the time here has gone SO fast, and it has been a great trip. In addition to the great STC Conference, EVERYONE here has been SO helpful, polite, and friendly. I seriously can NOT remember a hotel staff being this great on every level before. The Convention Center staff was equally impressive.

If everything goes smoothly, I should be in Wisconsin before noon on Thursday. :-)

I've been uploading pics to flicker too: http://flickr.com/photos/brooksgroth/