If it's November, it's NCTE/NWP Time!

I'm very fortunate that I get to attend the annual meetings of the National Council of Teachers of English and the National Writing Project each November. And because I work for the Northwest Indiana Writing Project, it's all paid for me. On top of all that, the conference is held in different cities each year. My first year it was New York City, last year was San Antonio, and this year is "the city of brotherly love," Philadelphia.

Today was all about just getting here and getting to know where things are. You may have heard about the major computer problems that tied up flights all around the US today. My flight was delayed, but not because of that. No, my flight was over an hour delayed because of the weather. in fact, you'll see from some of my first day pics that it looks more like Seattle than the East Coast!

But here are some of the first day pictures. My hotel is in the historic district, so you know I'll be doing the tours and sightseeing in the area! Unlike last year, however, my room looks out on I-95, not the Delaware River (that would be the OTHER side of the hotel).




















A view of the weather and cool architecture. Like San Antonio last year, there are very old buildings with a distinctly historic shape next to very contemporary buildings.















I ate my first meal in the Reading Terminal Market. From what I can tell, it's an old train station that has rows and rows of booths of all sorts of food vendors. You can buy fresh fish, fair market produce, handmade candy, and of course, get a Philly Cheesesteak.








Here's what my meal looked like. This is a traditional cheesesteak. It's meat, onions, hot peppers, and...I'm not kidding...Cheez Whiz! When I was offered that as an option for my cheese, I said, "really"? to which the guy taking my order said "Where are you from? No local ever is shocked that traditional cheesesteaks are made with Cheez Whiz. Don't knock it till you try it." So I did. And it was good!






More tomorrow!