2010 Philly Flower Show, Passport to the World, 2-28 to 3-7

Stormy,

I'm really getting dizzy trying to keep up with kids at my age. No wonder they laugh at me so much.

So, if I wanted to meet up with you guys, it would be on Wednesday??

Roses, there are 2 days at this point when people are going.

Stormy is going to be there Monday, and I think there were some other folks thinking about Monday also.

Holly, Ric, Terri (aspenhill) & myself are planning to go on Wednesday.

:-)

If I keep having to reschedule meetings because of the weather, I may not even get to go. This can be maddening.

Wednesday looks good for us also. Is there a time and place where you are planning to meet?

I'm not sure R_R_R I'll talk to Ric and see what he thinks. It's about a 2-21/2 hour drive depending on the traffic. We won't go real early. Maybe around 11:00 spend some time at the show and then over to the market for late lunch and back to the show. It would be farther for Critter and Terri. We can D-mail cell phone #'s that will make it easier to meet up but as Critter said it is noisy in there so you have to have your phone set to hear it. Ric's has a great cell phone ring it is someone whistling a song and it really stands out. What did you have in mind?
There was also talk of maybe diner after with Stormy. She will have to let us know if she can meet us and where would be a good diner spot. Ric and I might stay overnight at one of the hotels.

We are planning to stay over also. It would be great to get a place within walking distance so that we do not have to fight for parking near the convention hall. Have you stayed in this area before? Where are you thinging of staying? If it's ok we would like to be included in dinner.

It will take us about 2 hours to get down there, so 11 am sounds good.

If we do stay and have dinner you would be very welcome to join us. We would like that very much. The flower show is at the convention center and there is a big hotel that is attached to it. I have no idea if they have rooms available or how much they get for them. Pricey I would think. I don't know where we are staying yet I'm not quite sure exactly where Stormy lives. I was thinking diner and a hotel somewhere near her area or maybe a bit out of town depending on what we find cheap. I know she is pretty busy today but she will check in and let us know how dinner looks.

I told Holly I can meet you all in town. Roses, do you have a restaurant in town that you like? If not, we could meet somewhere off of 76, 476

Terri & I may join you too, depending on how late a return we can get by with... we stayed pretty late at the show itself, last time, so dinner after would be no problem, although we probably wouldn't be able to drive much out of our way for it. We'll see what you all plan and figure out if we'll be able to join in! Last year, we had a dinner stop in mind for the return trip, but we were both still really full from our cheesesteak sandwiches at lunch! LOL

Trying to see if I can make it on Wednesday.

Oh, I am really looking forward to this. I am so glad it will probably work out for Wed for RRR and maybe Jen too. Jill, I can't remember what time we started on the trip last year. I am so used to getting up at 03:50 am, so I'm sure I'll have the luxury of "sleeping in" and still get started on the road as early as you want :-) Terri

Terri, do you remember how long it took us? I'm thinking it was about 2 1/2 hours, maybe a bit more (Googlemaps says 2 hrs,, 38 min, just checked).

My preference would be not having to get up before 8, since Joyanna often keeps me up until 1 or 2 am. If we left at 8:30, we'd be there between 11 & 11:30...

I could suck it up and be ready by 8, if you think that's better. Last year, I think we might have been on the road earlier than that, but, well. :-)

I'll be at your house sometime after 8:00, and leaving at 8:30 sounds fine to me.

*whew* I was afraid you'd say let's leave at 7! LOL

Jim says he can juggle Joyanna while working at home that day, so she'll probably stay put. (But she'll come to the seed swap party.)

Critter & Terri, What road will you be taking out of Philly?

Stormy, mapquest directions are for Callowhill St (1-676/US-30) to I-95 South

Thanks Terri. Then, if we want to go to dinner together, it probably would be best to go somewhere within walking distance of the Convention center, or drive down to south Philly where there is street parking.. It's easy to access I95 from anywhere in South Philly.

If not we would be having to move the cars and pay to park twice..The restaurants really close to the center may be busy from the show, but maybe not. Does anyone want to look for one? The Italian restaurant that's extremely popular with Philadelphians is Ralph's.. Here is their website:

http://www.ralphsrestaurant.com/

Maybe Teri/Roses might have another suggestion.

I've got a list of restaurants near the convention center, but I don't know anything about them. If Ralph's is close by, that would probably be a good choice. We probably should make reservations if we think they might get a crowd from the show.

I see Maggiano's is pretty close. What do you think?

http://www.maggianos.com/locations/detail.asp?unit_id=001.025.0168


This message was edited Feb 24, 2010 1:25 PM

When do we want to do dinner? Stormy, what time could you break away to meet us?

The crowd at the show really thins down after 4... I'd like to take advantage of that by either eating early enough that we'd have a few hours at the show after dinner or doing dinner pretty late.

Any restaurant sounds good to me.. I like Italian, but there's probably no style of food I don't like. :-)

It it's easier for Stormy et al., it's also fine for you folks to make plans to meet elsewhere, and Terri and I will just do our own thing. We'll have a chance to see folks this weekend, also, so we won't feel like we've missed out on seeing Stormy.

I found a link on the Maggianno's site to click and get a coupon when you sign up for their email list...

We will eat anywhere. I was thinking later rather than leave and go back. We are also likely to pick up a light lunch in the Market so it will hold us over to later in the evening. How late would you eat Stormy you probably have to work the next day. R_R_R did you get hotel reservations?

"Light lunch"... LOL, this time I'd better split one of those cheesesteaks with somebody so I have room for dinner later!

Late is good for me. Maggianos doesn't take reservations.

Are you sure, Stormy? I found a reservations page on their website... http://www.maggianos.com/locations/detail.asp?unit_id=001.025.0168

I signed up for their email and got a coupon/notice for a 3 course dinner for 2 for $40... Terri, you're my "date!" (It's the least I can do for my chauffeur LOL.)

I think that we will stay at my daughter Michelle's house in Audubon, NJ (next to Haddonfield). I stopped researching when 2 searches came up with 250.00 @ night. We'll save our overnights for the next trip coming up which will involve more nights.

EEK 250.00 a night!
Ric and I decided that we would just wait and see how tired we are and I we don't want to drive home we will just head out of town and stop at some cheap motel. I don't think we really want to spend the $$ Ric has been making up a material list for the big pergola and looking at some pricey hedge clippers so I would rather use the money for that

That's a reason I didn't want to recommend a hotel. Business district hotels are expensive on Weekdays, especially with the Flower show in town.

Critter, maybe Maggianos in town does, the one here doesn't.

Holly,


We would have done the same thing, but our daughter's house is very close.

Stormy,

I just called Maggianos and they will take a reservation. Should we reserve now.?

Terri,These should be on the way out of town, Id say about 15 miles from the show, sorta' on the way to NE Ext. Ric
http://travelc.priceline.com/hotel/searchResults.do?jsk=2103010a1f03010a201002251539531A3701485540&key=g63q045m&showDP=y
Stormy, an opinion? Ric
Here's another group up Roosevelt (RT1) just past city line. Ric
http://www.expedia.com/Bensalem-Trevose-Philadelphia-Hotels.0-n6057643-0.Travel-Guide-Filter-Hotels

This message was edited Feb 25, 2010 10:55 AM

Maggianos offers a discount if you sign up for their email! Ric

Yep.. mentioned that above.. just got a $10 off coupon! They said limit of 1 coupon per table, but with a larger group maybe they'll let us split the check...

If we're a "go" for Maggiono's,. then yes I think a reservation would be good.

Stormy, do you still think you can drive in to join us there? Sounds like everybody is OK with a late time.. but how late? they're open until 10.. maybe 9?

7:30 would be late enough for us.

That sounds about right for us.
Stormy/Critter how about you?

I think I could tear myself away from the exhibits by 7:30... how about dinner reservations at 8, just to give ourselves a little more time after the crowds lessen?

I jotted down a tentative schedule to see what people thought... ?? We'll get maps of the exhibit hall when we get there. We may not all stick together, so I figured we could pick several meeting times/places.

arrive 11-11:30 (meet up near entrance to main hall at 11:30)

minor exhibits 11:30 - 1:30

quick lunch break 1:30

sales floor 2 - 4 (meet up by vendor hall entrance at 2)

4 to 7:30 major exhibits (after the crowds thin out)

7:30 meet by main entrance (pick up vendor purchases)

8 pm dinner reservations

We really need to make our dinner time no later than 7:30 but do not expect everyone to go along with it.

That's fine, Roses... I didn't know that was a definite no-later-than.

So that would give us about 3 hours to cruise the exhibits after things slow down around 4... meet up around 7 and figure it'll take us half an hour to round everybody up and get to the restaurant.

OK then. Should I make the reservation for 8 people at 7:30?

Critter, Larry and I are fine for Wed dinner at 7:30

good with us!

Us too. Critter that looks good. We will D-mail our cell phone # to everyone.
Sounds like a plan.