Conquering Philly traffic

If you guys are sick and tired of my posts on Philly traffic, please don't tell me. I have a feeling I could devote an entire blog to it.


Today, I had the pleasure of meeting one of my blogging buddies. Such a fun experience. It is so much fun to know someone cyber-ly and then finally get to meet them IRL. Bea's hubby is a resident here too, so we had plenty to talk about. :o) My kids couldn't get enough of her brand new baby and Bea was a champ letting my kids hold and pretty much maul her new baby. Okay, that isn't entirely true, my kids did really good with the baby. I was impressed. Roo spent most of the time at the park chasing pigeons. He is convinced he can catch one. Sugar spent her time chasing Roo chasing pigeons. We really had so much fun. And then the boys found out Bea has a game system at her house, which in their minds equals heaven. Anyhoo, back to getting to the park...

Since I'm finally getting the hang of this Philly traffic thing, I decided to be brave and go to her place. If you had asked me a few months ago if I could handle Philly traffic, I would have laughed at you. I seriously thought Philly traffic would have me in tears by now. And while I truthfully don't love it, I'm not as scared of it as I thought I would be. I can't tell you how proud I am of myself. The very fact that I'm still willing to get on the road is a surprise to me.

In that vein, let me tell you of my Philly traffic experiences today. First thing, what is it with the streets not being divided?! I'm driving down a road that could probably fit two or three cars comfortably, and there are no dividing lines. None. Okay, the two directions are divided, but not the lanes. I need to take a picture. My problem arises from the fact that I don't know where to drive! Do I drive on the far right and leave room for a car to pass me on the left? Do I drive on the far left in case someone wants to pass me or turn? Do I drive down the middle? Most everyone I've seen does the straight down the middle thing except for near intersections, which is a problem in itself. You don't want to be behind someone turning left, but if you go to the right side and they go straight, you are in trouble if there is a car parked on the road. Anyway, I'm probably only making sense to people who live in Philly.


The place where Bea lives is narrow. Really narrow. 'Some places I was driving on the sidewalk to avoid hitting cars' narrow. And there is no parking lots, so the streets are crazy. Okay, there are parking lots somewhere, but not that I saw. Here are the pictures I took today (and this was a good street):

Most people put in the rear view mirrors so they don't get clipped.

Yeah, try going down the street with a truck there. It was there for over an hour. Nice.

Views from the park:

The park was beautiful. It was hard to believe we were so close to soooooo much traffic. This is what I drove through today. I'm so proud of myself. See all those little narrow one way streets? Yeah, not fun. And I had to do a couple loops (one on the big one and 2 around the small one) on the traffic circles near the river before I figured out how to get to the bridge. I wasn't even stressed at all. Well, maybe a little since Sugar kept yelling "boo boo" and I kept thinking she was saying "poo poo." :o)

Me being grateful I'm not on the parking lot, I mean I-76 at rush hour.

This drives me nuts. To go home I turn from Wynnefield right onto 54th. And RIGHT THERE is a street light. Can I tell you how close I came to blowing through that light? You turn the corner and immediately have to stop! I was totally not expecting it. Yikes.

Yeah for Philly Monsters!!!
These are my reward for not letting the ivy engulf the rose bushes. Pretty, huh. Well, one is, the other looks like a glorified petunia. Roses are supposed to have rows of petals! The neighbors have some kind of bush or something in their bed. But the ivy grew over it and not it just looks like an ivy bump. When I pulled the ivy off these bushes, it had already weaved its way through most of the stems. I didn't think the bushes were going to make it, but they are starting to bloom now!
Sugar's photography skills are improving! She take pictures of things other than her eye now. :o)