Philadelphia

If you know me, you know rowing is my favorite sport.

Last weekend in Philadelphia, the Aberdeen Dad Vail Regatta took place. Dad Vail is the largest collegiate regatta in the United States, with close to 130 schools competing. I raced at Dad Vail four times during my collegiate rowing career, with our best ever finish being fourth in the men's varsity lightweight 8+ my sophomore year. However, despite having been to Philly four times, I have literally never seen more than the race course.

This year, a group of MSU Crew Club alumni organized a reunion at Dad Vail. With Boston being just over five hours way, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go support my favorite team and do some Philly sight-seeing.

Bright dark and early Friday morning, Jimmy (aka Mom), Karl (aka Dad), and myself set out for Philadelphia. The car ride was exactly what you would expect it to be. Karl had control of music for the first half of the trip which meant we listened to Kelly Clarkson for the first half of the trip. Jimmy took over the music selection about halfway through and then got annoyed when Karl and I didn't know any of the words from the musicals. I napped a lot.

Within 15 minutes of arriving at the course, I had ditched Jimmy and Karl (which I think was best for everyone involved). We had missed the varsity 8+ race, but they had advanced to semi-finals so we would be able to see them race again tomorrow, and we were able to catch the JV8+ and novice 4+ races.

(Launch dock)

MSU Crew Club alumni had organized an alumni tent at the course which was conveniently located next to the beer tent, so we spent sometime Friday afternoon socializing with former MSU rowers and coxswains. Todd, Jenny and myself decided to walk down towards Boathouse Row and the Philadelphia Art Museum too. Boathouse Row is a stretch of beautiful, old-fashioned boathouses along the Schuylkill River on Kelly Drive. I won't lie, I'm a little jealous of the collegiate rowers who get to row out of these boathouses opposed to MSU's.

(Boathouse Row)

(Vesper)

(Penn AC)

After gawking at the boathouse we continued down Kelly Drive to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The main reason for this excursion was that I wanted to see the Rocky statue and run the stairs at the museum. Both of which, I successfully did. I loved the view of Philly from the top of the museum steps.

(Philly)

(Being tourists)

(Philadelphia Museum of Art)

(Rocky!)

(Philadelphia Museum of Art)

(View from the top of stairs)

For dinner, the alumni had arranged for everyone (team, parents, and alumni) to have a pasta dinner at the Undine Barge Club's Castle Ringstetten. It was really fun socializing with the current team members and alumni - and I got to meet former Olympian and MSU rower, Brett Newlin, which was the most exciting thing ever.

(MSU Crew)

(Brett Newlin and I!)

Later, Jenny, Chris, Todd and myself headed out to a bar with a few of their friends. The second most exciting part of this evening was the real NY pizza that was waiting for me in Jenny and Chris' fridge (courtesy of Tudd Kruse the best, best friend ever).

Speaking of Jenny and Chris, their apartment is super cool. It was converted into apartments from an old industrial building and has this great modern feel to it. They also have an awesome view of downtown Philly (pictured below).

Saturday morning we made our way back down to the course to watch some more racing. Unfortunately the varsity 8+ and JV 8+ were knocked out in the semis, but we were able to see the novice 4+ go on to race in the grand final.

(Men's Novice 4+ Grand Final)

Saturday night, Jenny and Chirs took us to Frankford Beir Garden (which Marissa has already informed me is not the correct way to spell "beer garden" in German) where we were able to meet back up with some of the alumni. This place was great. Great beer and great food and Jenga games on all the tables.

I loved my weekend in Philly, even though I didn't get to do quite as much sight-seeing as I wanted to.