Annual Boys' Weekend...

Last weekend, Mrs. Schwangston let me out on parole to attend the yearly tradition of a boys' weekend, with blogging friends Reed, Steve, and V-logger Mark (P.Wade bailed on us this year probably b/c his leg hasn't healed from last year). It was Steve's turn to host, and he took hosting to the next level. I'll do my best to recap the busy 4th weekend.

Thursday: Flew in to Philly - surprisingly long from DFW (3:20 flight time). Mark & Steve picked me up, and we hit a few spots downtown while waiting for Reed. Finally the whole team was together after some confusion on how to pick up someone from the airport was resolved. We were trying to pick up Reed while he was trying to pick up some one else. Exactly.

Friday: We trained for our Saturday 3mi trail run by walking all over Pottsville, PA, checking out the Yuengling Brewery. Fun fact - it's the USA's oldest brewery, so it was fitting to see it on the holiday weekend. We were ill-equipped for tour b/c we were wearing flip flops and needed closed toe shoes.

They had some fashionable loaners that we got to test drive through the brewery. The most interesting feature was a cave they dug into the mountain to age the beer. It stays 55 degrees year round. I started digging a cave on my return in my backyard for us to move into ASAP. We stopped by Valley Forge on the way back for some more hill training. Then hit Manayuk that night for dinner and would definitely recommend it to any Philly visitor. Cool bars and the weather was great for sitting outside.

Saturday: 3mi Trail Run. Historically our trip has been more chillaxing than active. Steve's better half, along with some help from Rachel, turned the tide this year. This was a prediction run, and winners are determined by guessing your time (you run without a watch). The course was a super hilly woodsy 3miles. For more complete coverage, checkout Clark's instantaneous vlog. We all got awards, some pickles, some other random objects. It was a cool event. If I lived in PA and liked running, I would do more of these.

We celebrated our athletic morning with cheesesteaks from Jim's, then toured downtown Philly with all of the different festivities. Cool moment was seeing a Revolutionary-Era drummer and flute playing through the square.

Onto Constitution Center for some background on the USA. The video presentation is awesome, definitely a goose bump situation. The museum had more interactive, multi-media exhibits than any other I've visited. Reed took advantage of the opportunity to swear into office. P.Wade described it best, "the terrorists have won".

We finished up by grilling out at the Kennedy's and recapping the weekends events (that aren't suitable for blogging) b/f retiring to Steve's "Man-Den" to rock some old school Nintendo 64 games until the early hours.

Solid weekend for sure, and thanks again Steve (and Rachel) for hosting us. For more 360 coverage of the weekend, check the rest of the boys blogs in a month or so, or Mark's vlog today (as he updates instantly thanks to his sweet iPhone). Looking forward to taking it on the road in '10.

Thanks for reading...