Restful Ridley and Surprise Storm

Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Nether Providence Township, Pennsylvania, United States
Today we had nothing firmly planned. After the rush of yesterday, that suited us fine. I visited with Annaliese and the kids as they got ready for VBS, then we enjoyed getting ready ourselves at a leisurely pace. We foraged for breakfast in the Gove's pantry. I had Rice Krispies for the first time in I don't know how long. They were tasty. Sweeter than I remembered. Evie had fed Desmond some of her English Muffin, so he was a happy camper. This boy loves his breads!

After Desmond played for a bit and took a nap it was about lunch time . We hopped in the car (thanks, Jeff!) and drove around in search of food. Bryan asked me what I was in the mood for. Not wanting to be difficult, I chose something simple.

"I'd love just some chicken and rice."
"Teriyaki?"
"Or BBQ, whatever. Just chicken and rice."
"I don't think that's a thing here."
"How about chicken and noodles?"
"There aren't a lot of Japanese people in this area."
"But lots of people eat chicken!"
"That's true, they do" He was laughing at this point. I looked around and noticed he was right. There was a distinct lack of bento places.
"Carne Asada Tacos?" I ventured

Apparently they don't serve chicken or tacos around here. And since I can't really eat a Philly Cheesesteak, we ended up at Wendy's. The food has not really been a highlight of our trip thus far, but that's okay.

After having gotten something to eat and a cold drink, we drove out to Ridley Creek State Park . There was a beautiful stone mansion, garden area surrounding the house, horses in the field and forested area with trails to hike in. We walked the gardens and chose a trail to hike. As we climbed the stairs back to the car we changed our minds. We turned on the AC and drove by the winding creek, enjoying it from the cool instead.

We stopped and got Desmond more squeezie pouches at a Target, walked the mall and then went to the Pretzel Factory to pick up a baker's dozen of soft pretzels (for only $5!) to share with everyone when we got back home. We also got a lemon slushie thing that hit the spot. Brain freeze!

In the evening as we were getting ready to go into town with the Gove family for dinner a storm blew through that was pretty impressive. There was a tornado warning in the area, in fact. I saw a tree across the street get hit by lightning and explode, so that was exciting. The sky got really dark, the wind was blowing hard and the power went out briefly. Some water started leaking in at the chimney area because it was pouring down rain so hard. Once they got that checked out, and the lights back on for the turtles, the storm had subsided some with only the flashes of lighting remaining.

So, we decided we were all still hungry and the eight of us piled into the van and went to go get some pizza. Except that many of roads were closed due to downed trees. Power was out in many spots. After considerable driving about we finally found ourselves at an Italian restaurant. We ate dinner around 8pm. When we left the restaurant the whole sky was a startling shade of orange.

We finished off the night with gelato. All's well that ends well.

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2025-02-09

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