End of the lane

Before Camden became "the Inner City" it was booming. RCA was there (see building below) ...

Campbell's soup headquarters was there (actually still might be) ...

and then (and I'm not trying to be racist here, this is actually what I learned in class when I was living there) all the white people moved out when people of different races started moving in. They built a bridge over the river to Philadelphia and people pretty much bypass Camden now. Very sad. Camden is really trying to build up it's image though. They've built up the waterfront and lots of people go running there now and a lot of concerts are held in Camden as well. I really hope it's able to get back on it's feet. It has a very special place in my heart.

The house below was the one I mentioned previously that was built by Extreme Makeover, Home Edition. It's right beside UP Headquarters and is very nice.

The day after Linda left, Lisa and I took it easy, went to the mall and of course had to go get some water ice. Mmmm, mmmmm, mmmmmmm.....

We drove around Camden and I took pictures.

This is the Ben Franklin bridge that connects New Jersey to Pennsylvania.

And just a stone's throw away is Philly. Sing along with me ... In west Philadelphia, born and raised, on the playground is where I spent most of my days ...

Lisa took a few days off work and asked what I wanted to do on Friday, my last day in town. She suggested going to Atlantic City (which is about 45 minutes away) and I said that would be fine with me. Then, at the last second, she said, "Why don't we go up to New York?" Hmmm, let me think about it .... YES, PLEASE!!! Lisa doesn't really love going to New York, so I was very surprised and happy. Since she's waiting for her Green Card to come through, she can't drive her car, so guess who got to drive in the Big Apple? Yup, me!

I absolutely love it. Lisa had been to a little coffee shop in SoHo that she wanted to go to again, so off we went in search of it.

Along the way I snapped pictures (yes, while driving) of things that mean something to me. I don't know if you've ever watched Project Runway, but it's one of my favorite shows (check it out at http://www.surfthechannel.com/). They always show this sign during the show, so I was happy when I saw it. I would've LOVED to have gone to the fabric store they always go to on the show, but I'll save that for next time.

This bike just made me smile when I saw it, so I had to take a picture of it. I love the "grass" at the bottom of the basket. This was parked right outside the coffee shop.

This lovely specimen was my breakfast/lunch. Doesn't that look amazing? It was almond french toast with strawberries and bananas. YUMMY!

And Lisa had her coffee drink. Then we sat and read our books for awhile.

Until we decided to get back in the car and try to find the section of the city where the celebrities shop. We drove north from SoHo, past Grand Central Station (picture below), then turned west for a bit and ...

came back down south through Times Square ...

past the Empire State Building ...

(don't forget that I'm still driving - not bad pictures, though, hey?) and past my favorite building in NYC ... the Flat Iron Building. I just love this building. I have a framed poster of it that looks like it was taken in the 50s and it looks so sentimental.

Then we ended up parking blocks away from where we had parked for breakfast, but that's ok, I got to see parts of New York I wouldn't have gotten to see if we'd stayed put. Lisa was in the mood to shop (a few blocks over from where the celebrities shop), so we split up and went our own ways for an hour or so. I moseyed on over to the wealthy streets and hoped to see someone famous. Well, it was not to be my day in that regard, but I still enjoyed my walk and people watching.

I saw this shop and thought of my blogger friend, Lovella.

I took yet another shot of the Empire State Building, from afar, this time.

Lisa is Irish, as I mentioned before, and you know how when someone bugs us or teases us, we say, "You loser!" which sounds so sophisticated ... not! Lisa's version is to say, "Ya tart!" With her cute accent, it sounds a lot better than loser, let me tell ya. When I saw this store, I thought of her.

I would've liked to have gone inside, but it was about time to meet Lisa again, so I walked back to our meeting place ....

took another few pics ....

stopped to buy this ring ...

and listen to these guys sing ...


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Then I met up with Lisa again and we walked some more. We found Betsey Johnson's store. She's a really wacky designer. We went in just to say we went in but there was nothing in my meager price range in the store. :)

Then I went back to that spot where I took the last pic of the Empire State Building because I thought it would be a good one to have as my background, but try as we might, we couldn't get it to show up. Weird. I guess I should really read what all those flash/lighting buttons on my camera are for.
We didn't want to get caught in traffic or get home too late, so we said goodbye to New York (for now) and jumped back in the car. As we were merging, I saw this sign and thought it was funny, and literally two seconds later someone cut me off so bad that I honked. Luckily there were no cops around to give me that $350 penalty.

We realized we didn't have any pics of us together from our excursion, so when we got back home, we placed the camera on the dash and took this (you thought I took this one while driving on the freeway, didn't you?). I'm not THAT reckless.

In the morning I packed up, said goodbye to Joyce and Georgie ....

to Camden and Lisa's wonderful North Camden row home ...

and Lisa dropped me off at the airport.

Lisa and Joyce - thank you so much for letting me stay at your place for a week. It was SO great to go back there and still have some friendly faces to greet me. Lise, I love you and miss you and am praying for your Green Card and living situation. We know it's in God's hands and that He'll reveal it to you in His timing.

Well, my blogger friends ... Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me. Now it's time to make some new memories. Have I told you that in just over a week I leave for Greece, Egypt, Israel and Turkey? I CANNOT WAIT!!!