Dioramas! Pregnant ladies! Forestry! Antiques! An Enormous Octopus!

Something I'm learning from keeping this travel blog--if I don't update the blog in a timely manner, a bunch of wacky photos pile up. And so, without further ado--

ALBANY

Here's a statement that I hope doesn't come back to bite me in the tushie: Mark and I are very punctual. It's true. We do not like being late for things. As a result, we tend to give ourselves plenty of time to get to where we need to be, which is why we found ourselves in Albany with with three hours to kill before we had to be in Troy for Tiffany's baby shower. So we went to the New York State Museum. In addition to being informative, it was free, and air-conditioned.

Did you know that sturgeon used to be referred to as "Albany Meat"? We did not. Other things that we learned:

In the winter, mastodons roam Upstate New York.

In turn of the century Manhattan, vegetables weren't purchased. They were won in staring contests.

It is very difficult for a moose to sneak up on me.

There is a historical precedent for subway riders in New York City to be cranky.

Sitting in an old-timey subway car is just as much fun as sitting in a modern subway car!

TROY

On to Tiffany's baby shower! I was too busy catching up with old friends to take any pictures. This, apparently, was not the case with my old roommate Bethany.

Little baby boy, behold your mommy.

SYRACUSE

A long, long, long, very long time ago my dad attended the State University of New York School of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, NY. I've never been there, so it was really cool to see the campus when we went to visit our friends Emily and Sung.

Hooray for Environmental Science and Forestry!

Emily, an excellent citizen.

Atticus, perhaps not such an excellent citizen.

First Barnes & Noble event ever! For me.

SCRANTON

After visiting with friends in Binghamton, we headed home to Philly. But not before we stopped in Scranton, PA!

Some of you might know Scranton as the city where "The Office" takes place and Joe Biden was born. But now we know it as the city where "The Office" takes place and Joe Biden was born and ALSO the home to Olde Good Things. If you look at the website, it looks like a fancy antique store. If you go to the national warehouse in Scranton, an amazing universe of crazy architectural remnants and inexplicable furniture bits.

We have a vague idea as to what this is, but it's more fun to make stuff up. You try!

This was one of the easier places to walk through.

We were a little overwhelmed.

We were completely overwhelmed. One day we'll go back with a plan and a truck. With our energy depleted by too much staring at awesome stuff, we went to Cooper's, a seafood restaurant that was featured in "The Office". The crab cake sandwich was delicious.

Mark in front of Cooper's.

Tali and some sort of sasquatch mid-confrontation in the parking lot at Cooper's.

And then we came back to Philly. Tilda missed us so much that she tried to claw Mark's hand off when he made the mistake of trying to put her down. It's good to be home.