Sandy Kishton

Well, we've just returned from the Pennsylvania trip, and were up early for the Marine Corp 5K. This is the first race I've done consecutively from year to year. So I was anxious to see if my time had improved. I finished 8th in my age division, which I was happy about. My clock time was 32:06 and chip time was 31:34, which gave me a pace of 10:09.

Last year I finished 9th in my age group and had a pace of 11:25. Pretty big improvement on my pace, which is a current goal of mine.

Looking forward to getting back to work and getting some rest!!

Wow, where to begin. We had a busy, fun filled day and evening. We arrived in Philly about 11 am. It was mostly cloudy and started to sprinkle and rain some in the late afternoon. We never got caught in any rain. After getting our rental car, we drove first to "Pat's King of Steaks". This is Philadelphia's first (and some say best) Cheese Steak place, the original. I had just seen a segment on the Travel Channel about Steak Paradises and they featured Cheese Steak sandwiches and this establishment. Cheese Steaks in Philly are like Pizza in New York. There are tons of places and everyone has their favorite.

Next, off to the Independence Visitor Center to get tickets for the hop on/hop off bus tour-or in this case, trolley tour. There are 20 stops on the tour, but we only have a few of interest to us. After getting our tickets we walked over to see the Liberty Bell. The history of the bell is not what we originally thought. It was originally called the State House Bell, and not called the Liberty Bell until the slavery abolitionists renamed it. We also saw the areas from the film National Treasure. Upon getting on the trolley, our first hop off was the Convention Center area and the Hard Rock Café. We walked down to the Reading Terminal Market for ice cream. Bassett ice cream is a company that's been in business for years and is renowned for their ice cream. The next stop is the City Hall area. We walked through City Hall and over to John F. Kennedy Park where the LOVE sculpture is located in front of a fountain.

So on the way to the Rocky Steps we pass by the Rodin Museum. I got a picture of "The Thinker". We didn't get off here because time was running out. At the Rocky Steps, we get pictures of the statue of "Rocky Balboa" from the Rocky 3 movie that is located just outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The "steps" are located on the south side of the museum. Naturally, we both took turns running, not walking, up the 72 steps to the top and had to jump up and down with arms raised as if we really accomplished something- taking pictures all the way. It was just one of those touristy things to do, as we saw many others doing the same thing. It was fun and something we could say we've done-been there done that, now.

Back on the bus to finish the tour, no further stops planned, just finishing the ride. It took us by the Eastern State Penitentiary, the Philadelphia Zoo (America's first), the place where the Marine Corp was formed-just to name a few. There's a lot of history here and so much to explore, we only hit the tip of the ice berg. I didn't realize that the Nation's Capital was here first, as were a lot of other things. We learned a few things and got a good overview of the city.

We decided to drive into Yardley, PA. It's a small borough about 10 minutes from here, in Langhorne, on the Delaware River. Driving through Morrisville to get there, both towns were small and quaint, had your typical main streets with shops, older homes converted to offices, etc. In some ways it reminded of us the Riverside area of Jacksonville. We found the Yardley Inn Restaurant and Bar.

In Stockton is the Woolverton Inn, a 1792 B&B. It's off the beaten path, sort of. I drove up 29 North on the New Jersey side. The streets along both Lambertville and New Hope reminded me of Carmel in some ways, but very small town. After leaving the historic New Hope area, I headed about 4 miles down the road to Peddler's Village-this is actually in Lahaska, PA. At one of my stops, I have to mention that while talking with the Manager working today, I learned she also sells Real Estate in Bucks and Mercer counties and the couple tasting in there flip houses over in Trenton, where, they say you can apparently still do that. I gave out 2 cards!! Always working.

I left earlier this morning to go to Princeton. Yes, the city and the college- all the same. On my way back into Pennsylvania, I drove back through Lambertville and New Hope and found more corn fields. This time I decided to stop and take a few pictures, because I'd mentioned them so often. But this corn field had a for sale sign on it. 65 acres of corn for sale. I thought it was funny. I have yet to mention how many farms and homes I've seen for sale in this entire region, but it's been a lot. So I guess that's why the corn field for sale threw me off.

As soon as we return home, it's back to a crazy schedule....5K race in Jacksonville Saturday morning, big birthday party back in Lake City Saturday night and Scott already has plans to be out of town the following week. Then we have NY/NJ for a long weekend over the Columbus Day weekend... until then

I've just returned from the Florida Association of Realtors Convention in Orlando, FL. Thursday was Technology Day, and boy did I learn about a lot of great tools, especially FREE downloads available. Contact me if you're interested in learning about any of these too. Things available include:

• Photo editing and resizing
• Hard drive back up storage
• Recommended fax replacement
• PDF print drivers, converters

Now I'm back and busy adding lots of these features to my arsenal of tools. And, preparing to leave for an unexpected vacation. My husband has some training in Philadelphia next week and I've elected to go with him and do some sight seeing along the way.