Philly Chinese Lantern Festival Again

On Saturday we decided to see if the hotel had a room available for Sunday night so we could stay an extra day. Wanted to get as much time with my sister as we could before they had to head off to the airport. They did have a room, so we were able to stay. We thought we might go to another game or the lantern festival if the weather was good.

I will admit that after they left, my girlfriend decided to take a little nap. It got really quiet, and my mind got really noisy with sadness that they left and grief over what I think we missed out on by not knowing at a much younger age. Even had some tears. It hurts me a lot, but that is another post for another day. Oh well, that can’t be changed, but we can move forward.

I tried to find the Phillies game on TV to watch it. Tickets were cheap, and we thought about going to the game a bit late, but ultimately she was too tired. They lost to the trash Mets, so I am glad I couldn’t find it.

After my girlfriend woke up, we decided we were here, so we should walk over to the Chinese lantern festival in the evening and grab a bite there. We enjoyed it last year. After we decided, I got tickets. Actually going to that was my girlfriend’s and my backup plan if my sister and brother-in-law couldn’t make it or wanted some time without us. We wound up hanging out with them at Iron Hill Brewery, so that was even better. Might have asked them if they wanted to come here if their flight wasn’t delayed.

Our hotel was slightly closer, and her knee is good this year, so we walked over rather than taking the El. It was nice to walk along all the Asian places, smelling all the food. We do need to make it a point to eat over there some day. It is certainly neat to walk through a bustling area in a city and wonder what all the people are up to.

We couldn’t have asked for a nicer evening to walk over there. It was a far different story from what we have recently had at home and even yesterday down here. The high heat and humidity we have had this summer, and the sky and air were clear. No more wildfire smoke to block the sun and views or choke on.

The humidity was low with a light but nice breeze.

Here was an interactive thing where you pressed the button and it blew out lots of illuminated bubbles. They were smoke filled to. My guess would be dry ice.

We watched some performers this year too. We may have last year, but I can’t remember for sure whether we did or not. It was neat to see the two that we saw. I was a bit annoyed at a parent right in the middle of the front that had to keep their kid on their shoulder and managed to move in front of me regardless of which direction I moved.

It was a nice surprise to see these two sports related displays. The soccer one was because some World Cup games were played here in Philly. The baseball was a neat tribute to the MLB all star game being played here. We wanted to go to that or the home rom derby, but it was way too expensive.

On the way over, I remembered the microbursts that hit the city last week, and I was hoping it didn’t damage this stuff too much. It was fine. I noticed a couple of things not lit up, but that could have been anything.

This year it was just us. We didn’t stay as long or until after it got dark, but we enjoyed ourselves. I would have texted my cousin to see if she wanted to meet us with her kids, but she got back from Disney today at some time. Either way, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves again. It was a great way to cap off a fantastic weekend with a little time to ourselves.

We were very tired, so we walked back to the hotel as it was getting dark. Plenty of people were out and about. I had to laugh at the girl in front of us when we were leaving. She was smoking some good weed and high as a kite! Probably an interesting way to see the lantern festival stuff.

If it seems like something you’d be interested in and you can get there, I suggest checking it out. Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival. We might think about going back next year!