This past weekend Kate and I found another stellar hike – Ridley Creek State Park. They offer a total of 12 miles worth of trails – 4 hiking and 1 paved multi-use trail where bikes are allowed.

After decyphering the directions (or lack thereof) we found our way into the park and picked a trail. We settled on the white trail which looked to be the best loop for a first hike (ended up being 5.4 miles which was nice). The other hiking trails were either not loops or very short, so we may go back and combine some of them next time. The white trail was a moderate grade hike with constant rises and drops in elevation but nothing overwhelming. More-so, we are definitely looking forward to returning to check out the multi-use trail with our bikes.

And since our geekiness follows us everywhere we go you can see our path and stats here:

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.  http://maps.google.com/maps/msmsa=0&msid=201007725002188231133.00049001caec17c3aed4b

Getting out while we still can,
Brett and Kate

I admit, it’s been much more than a week since the first round-up was posted and here’s my rationale: now that we’re pretty settled in, things have slowed down a bit and I wanted to wait until there were enough news-worthy items to share…so there. Overall, Philly is treating us mighty well…we’ve already found some great restaurants, have finally figured out the grocery and alcohol buying(sort of), have visited several neighborhoods around the city, and are looking forward to checking out some of the touristy things soon. So far, working from home is going well for Brett, once we really turned the office into an office, although he might start going down to the co-working space once I start classes. Speaking of classes – I can’t wait! I’m doing my best to take advantage of this free time, but am very anxious to truly be a student again…just three weeks to go! Aside from that, here are the highlights from the past 2 weeks:

• We officially had our first visitor – Mike D! Mike happened to be coming to the East coast for a business mtg in Jersey, so he decided to fly into Philly and hang out with us for a few days. If you happened to catch the review for Hikari, Mike joined us for that amazing meal as well as venturing downtown with us for our first set of cheese steaks. Not only was it great to see him, but was tons of fun hosting in our new house!
• We traveled via bus for the first time, and to anyone in Chicago reading this: you are never allowed to complain about the CTA again…ever. We couldn’t help but compare the 2 systems and between terrible signage regarding our buses detoured route to not having screens inside the bus displaying the upcoming stops and especially a bus-tracking system that is still in an early test phase(2 routes), the buses here just aren’t the same. Luckily, Brett and I will be able to take the same bus to work/school that pretty much takes us both door-to-door during the cold months, but other than that, I’m glad I decided to get a bike!
• One of the things we were most looking forward to about Philly was how quickly we could leave it. Case in point, last weekend after driving about 40 minutes from our house we were in the middle of Valley Forge where we spent the afternoon hiking and checking out what used to be General Washington’s Headquarters during the Revolutionary War. The half-day trip was awesome and we’re really looking forward to trying out the several other hiking spots around…and in the winter, it’ll be all about skiing since we’re only 2 hours from the mountains – take that Midwest!

Of course we’re missing Chicago a little, and our friends a LOT, but this city is turning out to be a great place for us and we couldn’t be happier with the decision to move here. We’re having a blast and so glad to share it with you…but be on the look-out, we’ll be back to our respective hometowns and Chicago in no time!

Your urban explorers,
Brett and Kate

Moving to a city with less-congested streets than Chicago was incentive enough for Kate to get a new bike for the first time since childhood…yay! Besides, with campus only about a 15-minute ride from the house it’ll be a great way to save on bus fare. AND just a few minutes from us is the river that has some amazing bike paths/trails all along it…a great new way for us to get out and exercise together.

For our first ride Monday night, we took one of the riverside paths up to Manayunk and back, about 10 miles total, in about an hour. Tthe path is pretty nice the whole way, just a little narrow at a few points, but still easily navigable. Hopefully we can keep this up and get a ride in at least every other day:)

Rolling right along,
Brett and Kate