Andrea Says: The Great cheese steak test

Nature surrounded Mike and Paul this morning as they packed up camp. Apparently a family of deer trotted past followed by waves of more herds of six to eight deer. Eventually one group got a bit curious and “walked up really close,” Mike said. 

“They were doing their morning commute,” he added.

Once they packed up camp, the men headed to some diner in Bethel, Pennsylvania. Paul thinks it was the Bethel Diner, but they couldn’t remember. For breakfast Mike had a cheese and ham omelet and Paul walked on the wild side with bacon pancakes. He thought they would be delicious like “chocolate covered pretzels.” The bacon pancakes however were “just crunchy.”

At the diner, Paul took note of an ad on the placemat. It was for www.myfurnituredepo.com, Pennsylvania’s furniture and firearm depot. According to the ad you can trade in your gun for furniture.

After breakfast they headed to Philly. Mike called me earlier in the day to report that they safely made it through West Philadelphia. He also said that he and Paul made sure to sing “The Fresh Prince of Bellaire” theme song to each other (over the walkie-talkies) while traveling through the area.

Mike made sure I got this quote accurate about the actual city of Philadelphia.

“Is a tiny patch of a nice city surrounded by miles of slums. It was pretty rough.”

In the “nice patch” Paul and Mike decided to get cheese steaks.

There were two restaurants across the street from each other – Geno’s and Pat’s.

 Paul went to Gino’s and Mike went to Pat’s. They both got a large cheese steak, cut it in half and swapped. 

Geno’s won by a mile. Paul said it reminded him of the ones at Mission Hill. Mike said they weren’t very good, but Geno’s was much better, but not better than a typical sub shop. Pat’s meat was like steak-umms and both shops used liquid cheese.  

Mike said he met a nice Swiss couple in line at Pat’s but the guy behind the counter yelled at him for not grabbing his sub fast enough. Paul said he had a nice old lady give him his sub. So I guess overall Geno’s wins!

The boys said they hit some scenic spots along the Delaware River as they traveled to his cousin’s in Alexandria, Va. Tomorrow they hit up D.C. Here's  few shots Mike sent over from today: