27 hours in Philly

One of the things I like about my job and my service to the Archives profession are the opportunities to attend meetings in a variety of cities across the US. Last weekend I had to make a quick trip to Philadelphia to attend the Academy of Certified Archivists' board meeting. Since they hold their meeting on a Sunday, I invited Bryan to fly up with me. Even though we were in Philadelphia for about 27 hours, we took advantage of a few tourist areas starting with the Independence Visitor Center.

The last time I was in Philadelphia was the summer of 1990 when I lived briefly in Washington DC with my dad. One of the places I remembered and enjoyed visiting again was Franklin Court.

They have a unique way of identifying the location of Franklin's office and three-story home, including quotes carved into the stones identifying the rooms and how they were used, and windows displaying the home's original walls and bricks from an archeological dig.

The home of Pennsylvania State House Bell, now better known as the Liberty Bell, offers a great view of Independence Hall.

Of course you can't come to Philadelpia without enjoying a mouth-watering, delicious, drippy Cheesesteak. (My favorite came from one of the street vendors.)

We ate dinner with the ACA board and EDC committee members at a little neighborhood corner bistro called Salt & Pepper. The food was outstanding.


Sunday morning we awoke to a light dusting of snow all over and an imminent snowstorm warning for that evening. My meeting was from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the American Philosophical Society library. It's pretty inspiring to be sitting in a room surrounded by bookshelves holding the personal library of Benjamin Franklin.




While I attended the meeting, Bryan went on the morning tour of Independence Hall. He took many photos, especially of areas used during the filming of National Treasure. (We love that movie!)


(the signing room)He also caught a bus to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see the Washington monument, the Cezanne exhibit, and oh - this cool Rocky statue.



We made it back to the airport before our 5:15 flight out ahead of the snowstorm.

Wild City

San Francisco is a very NOISY city. Even from our room on the 40th floor you can hear the sirens quite often. At night, like now, when we're sitting with the windows open (yes, the windows open on the 40th floor) you can hear fire trucks, police cars, all kinds of emergency vehicles.

Today I sat in the ACA Board meeting from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. We accomplished all our agenda items and had a nice visit during the breaks. Bryan spent the day wandering around picking up gifts for various people. He rode the F-line back to Pier 39 for something we saw there in a window for Brenna, ate lunch at a touristy crepes place, then walked through Chinatown again for some inexpensive gifts. He said he really enjoyed the day.

We attended a Cuadra reception for their clients that was a little on the quiet side, then decided to go back out for dinner. San Francisco is very busy at night. We left about 7 p.m. and walked back to North Beach. I wanted to take the cable car, but Bryan suggested walking since I'd been sitting all day. Uncle Jack and Chi say everything is walking distance, but I'm not so sure. Bryan selected Michaelangelo's Caffe on the corner by Washington Square and we enjoyed Caprese and Lasagna sitting in the open window looking at Coit Tower and St. Peter and Paul church.



After dinner we walked UPhill a block and half to Market and hopped on the cable car to ride back to O'Farrell. When the cable car approached the O'Farrell stop, part of the intersection was blocked by police cars. When we exited, we could see yellow police tape blocking off the entire block south of Market right in front of Macy's (and a nightclub next door?) We didn't linger, but while walking back the three blocks to the hotel we saw two men fighting in an alley next to a parking garage entrance. Two other men were failing to separate the men and the tourists were starting to watch. Our hotel entrance wasn't much farther, so Bryan approached the SFPD officer talking to the doorman and pointed out the fight - as the police officer started that direction, two women walked up pointing in the same direction.

Bryan wonders how San Francisco compares with New York City in terms of the sirens, the noise, the crowds, the people, the urban-ness of it all. He's still standing at the window watching the fire engines. While I've been typing this he's seen 2 police cars, 1 fire truck, and heard an ambulance. He said last night there was something driving by about every five minutes.

There is a lot of different people here - you can't walk a block without hearing a different language being spoken. Some by tourists and quite a bit of Chinese. I've heard Spanish, but it's not loose slangy Tex-Mex Spanish, it's a different sounding Spain-Spanish, and maybe Portuguese. Russian. Indian.

There's been a good deal of talk among the archivists about Hurricane Gustav today. The Society of American Archivists met in New Orleans in 2005 and ten days later Hurricane Katrina blew in. I'm just hoping that Gustav doesn't decide to visit Houston instead.

Tomorrow I have some interesting sessions to attend in the morning and then we have tickets for Alcatraz in the mid-afternoon. We have to be back in time for the ACA general business meeting followed by the reception co-sponsored with SSA.

Madame Secretary

Yesterday a dear archivist friend & colleague, who happens to be the current President of the Academy of Certified Archivists called to let me know that I won the election for ACA Secretary. I confess to being slightly surprised as it was a three-person race with the incumbant one of the candidates. I've served in various positions within the Society of Southwest Archivists, but this is my first foray into a "national" organization. I'm really looking forward to serving, taking minutes, and serving as an officer.