05/08/08 - A trip to Pennsylvania with Bryce, James, and Tony. Cheese steaks and the Philedelphia Zoo!

These cops pulled in front of us on the highway and made everyone slow down

It turned out to be because of construction on the road up ahead

Bryce chills out in a McDonalds

James is really loving his ice cream

Tony orders some late night food

We were in Bryce's house for about ten seconds when he opened a cabinet and sent pasta spilling everywhere

It's a pastastrophe

I finally met Pepper!

Bryce gives Pepper a hug

Bryce is determined to hold on

Pepper turns her attention back to Bryce

Oh no! Face licking!

What's up, Pepper?

Pepper was excited by all the people

I like her funny white ears

This one is actually kind of scary

Pepper was ready for fun when we woke up

James and Pepper chill on the couch

Pepper really liked James

Even Pepper thinks this picture is creepy

Speaking of creepy..

James actually know how to handle dogs, unlike me

Mr. Beepers!

What's outside?

What's over there?

What's over there!?

Pepper was quite a lounger

Dancing time

James is really enjoying his cheese steak

Bryce brought us to Jim's for authentic Phillie cheese steaks

Tony was more impressed than he looks here

Here's mine.. well, half of it anyway

Everyone sitting around at Jim's

Sitting around

Bryce took a wrong turn and we ended up going across the Benjamin Franklin bridge into New Jersey

At least I got some neat bridge pics

I only took a picture of this because James said "Millennium Falcon World!?"

What happened to the building under the billboard!?

Bryce made whoever was riding shotgun hold the EZ Pass up like this every time..

It's that bridge again

James is certainly having fun

Philadelphia!

A weird sculpture

Some skyscraper

Hey I know that guy

I love Central Phila

That's where we're heading

Ooo, Grand Theft Auto

Bryce was driving along

Squid sculpture?

Hey I know that place

This was a great shot until the truck drove in front of it. I just kept the picture to be able to say that

Bryce standing around in the zoo parking lot

James was really looking forward to the zoo

Alicia came too!

Yep, America's first zoo

Everyone walking into the park

Time to get tickets

Alicia and Bryce buy their tickets

This dude was talking for a TV camera

An elephant statue

Some neat fountain

Everyone looks at their park maps, figuring out where to go

Alicia apparently wants to go.. that-a-way

Fountain!

A kangaroo!

They actually are really weird to see in person

We called this guy loungie

It's strange to see them walk instead of hop

An emu!

PORSCHE!

This guy looks.. poisonous

Creepy snake

Hi snake

A snake hiding under a branch

Bryce really liked these guys becuase of how they were sleeping

They just kind of folded themselves up

A boa constrictor!

He was pretty big

Another boa

What is this, Slytherin house?

A chameleon

I called this guy the "turd lizard"

This is why.. look at him from above

Lizard

Pitcher plants! I've never seen them in person

Venus fly traps!

It's tough to see how big this alligator was in this picture

He was pretty big

A crocodile

Nile crocodiles! They sat like this the whole time

A peacock strutting around

A peacock from behind

There were some peahens wandering around too

Some zoo workers were in the tortoise pen

With a human next to it, you can really tell how big the tortoises are

Another tortoise

They're getting closer!

They don't move very fast

Closer still!

A rhino!

He's like body armor with legs

I'm not sure what this guy is but he reminded me of the GNU logo. I don't think he's actually a gnu though

The peacock finally turned around

An elephant!

He was reaching around with his trunk

Another elephant

A zoo worker tends to the rhino

Heeey rhino

James snaps a picture of the rhino on his cell phone

James was really stoked

Om nom nom

nom nom nom

"Hey! Eat the food in your own pen!"

The sneaky elephant is after the rhino's food

This guy walked up to the glass, looked around a bit, and walked off

There he goes

Off into the wild blue yonder

These guys were probably the highlight of the trip

It was nearly impossible to get a picture of them because they were constantly moving

They were really fun to watch

A mommy monkey with a baby on her back!

This guy kept trying to get through the grate

What are you looking at?

Looking around at the other monkeys

This guy was pretty cool

Some kind of monkey

Looking outside

This monkey is kind of gross, especially when you notice she's peeing

This guy was really funny. He was just idly pulling hay or something off of a net

Sometimes he'd eat a little

Tony, Bryce, and James watching the gibbons

A gibbon!

Sadly, he had no ribbon

The orangutan was chilling out in the moat-like area

Bryce and Alicia look at the animals

It was tough to get a good picture of the lion because of the fence

Don't you give me that crazy look

I think this is a panther

A lioness

Tigers!

The tigers were pretty cool

He kept his mouth open for a while

Time to relax

Hey Tony

Click on this picture, the peacock is really funny

A peahen up close

A duck!

The most detailed picture of a Canadian goose I ever hope to take

The goose was here of his own free will

A prairie dog

He was checking us out

The bald eagles look pretty majestic, until they whip their head around to a weird angle like this

That's more like it

The cheetah exhibit was actually a little worrisome

As you can tell by the quality of the picture, there was no fence or glass or anything

If they jumped like eight feet they would've been out

I guess the zoo people know what they're doing

The cheetah sits down for a bit

What's over there?

A white-nosed coati looks around for bugs

I bet that's the last coati, white-nosed or otherwise, I'll see

A rhino with the full horn!

His "armor" wasn't quite as impressive though

He was smelling the ground for.. something

Bryce poses with the giraffe

A picture of Alicia trying to get a decent picture of Bryce

Bryce busts out the "McCoy pose"

A giraffe eating some leaves

A giraffe!

See? Black tongue!

Alicia and Bryce near the giraffe

Taking a self picture

Alicia claims Bryce was messing them up on purpose

Even I got in on the self-picture fun

Got any toys for me, giraffe?

The latest in the "excited James poses near animals" series

Zebras!

It was a little difficult to tell where one ended and another started, but I guess that's kind of the idea

Alicia stands near the zoo balloon

It's an actual balloon that will go up and down on a cable

Zoo-per size? That sounds familiar..

Oh yeah, Zoopers!

I figured Melrose James would get a kick out of this place's address

James and Bryce's dad at Kabuki

Bryce's parents took us out for sushi!

What's up Bryce?

We had champagne!

The sushi guy behind his counter

Proposing a toast

Toast time!

Toasting to graduation

Miso soup

Soy sauce and wasabi

They PREFER Discover!? This is my new favorite restaurant

James and Tony at the end of the table

My sushi platter was delicious

For some reason there was a Lockheed Martin building amongst the Target, Best Buy, Toys R Us, and movie theater..

A blast from the past! Tornado Rex!

These hikers don't know what they're in for

Oh no! Tornado Rex!

We had way too much fun with this game

This dude had three cats just chilling in his back seat!

Driving back to Massachusetts!