And I'm stalking both of you!

HLJ - Glatt did answer you chick - here
I can't offer any help myself as I just attach them too.

I better have a long talk with my posts.

Wooohoooooo!

As I mentioned before, I've got a short walk to work, living and working in the same neighborhood and all. But it's a lot of sensory input for 10 minutes. Usually, I'll run into several people I know along the way, but not today for some reason.

First stop, iced coffee! This is right in front of my favorite espresso bar, Double Shots, a few feet from my front door.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...o/HPIM0138.jpg

Walking down Market Street. Tonight, it will be a completely different crowd.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...o/HPIM0139.jpg

My favorite water tower.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...o/HPIM0140.jpg

A few well-maintained historic buildings. The top of Ben Franklin's post office is on the far right, I think, with the Bourse behind it.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...o/HPIM0144.jpg

The street I work on. The building on the far left was priced at $9M last year, but it didn't quite make it. Gee...
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...o/HPIM0145.jpg

Cute little (haunted :eek:) cobblestone street off my street, leading to Old City coffee for afternoon food coma emergencies.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...o/HPIM0146.jpg

Church St.??

SG -- your post might be gender-confused.

Yep, that's the last shot.

Cyclefrance, here's a map of my neighborhood (Old City, outlined in purple), the eastern-most side of Philadelphia. I work near 3rd and Market, and LJ cruises by on the BF Bridge to the north of me. My first photo is on Chestnut St., and the rest are on Market, 3rd, and Church.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...ao/OldCity.jpg

Working from the top down:

HLJ - oops, done it before and I'll probably do it again. Chick in the UK isn't female-specific (in the same way Guys isn't male-specific here) I must try to remember when I post here!

Bluecuracao - do you live and work city centre? It looks like a lovely cosmopolitan walk - wonderfully tree-lined!

Clod - there is so much SKY in your part of the world. And it looks so hot. It's far greener than I would expect given the above, and really quite attractive. I have a friend with family in Houston, Texas, but her photos are in houses and shopping malls. And I love Joe R Lansdale's books. But I'm pleased to see real life in a different part of a vast state :)

UT - one thing people tell me when I admit I live to travel coast to coast in the US is that I'd be on highways all the time and after a while they won't even have the tourist benefit of looking foreign. Much as I really appreciate your posting I get a flavour of what they mean. It's the same in the UK - if you are travelling between cities I mean, not between towns like CF or urban travel like me - all you get is ROAD. But hey - I've devoured your garden mentally...

Cyclefrance - cheers for the pic babba. You realise I'm not a coprophiliac, right? I just love the idea that the OS puts such mundane details in. I cheered (to myself) when you photographed it though... (ellipsis specially for you)

SG, yes...in a way. Old City is considered part of Center City; but actual Center City (to the west) has much taller buildings and is less sunlit.

It's just that... well, y'see, the Cellar was, for a short time, colocated at DCANet's Philly location... on Church St...

"All road": the commutes generally are; I have a slightly longer, much more scenic "back road" which I'll sometimes take if 422 is really hosed. It involves going over Valley Forge Mountain, past some of the most expensive houses in the area including a beautiful horse farm. The tree coverage is so dense it interrupts my satellite radio reception. Stupid question: would you like me to take pictures of that commute?

Edit: you can choose to take these kinds of "long ways" if you travel coast to coast. My own thinking is that I want to fly to Denver (sorry midwesterners, your places are nice but boring to drive through) and then rent a decent vehicle and drive over the Rocky Mountains, through the badlands of Utah, down to the Grand Canyon and on to Vegas... on mostly the smaller roads, generally skipping the Interstate Highways.

UT -- I once found a website that mapped dirt road routes across the country. I've been considering getting on my TransAlp and taking a dirt-road trip.

Oh yes!

All I meant is that although many Brits commute, the word here just means "my trip to work". And in the vast majority of cases that doesn't mean along motorways/ urban freeways. Don't get me wrong - there must be thousands of people here who have journeys like yours, it's just yours was the first of the US ones that had enclosed roads. And I still liked seeing it! It's just I now understand that days on end of a similar view might pall.

The term 'Generica' describes what you see driving the freeways across the US. Every exit looks like every other exit. McDonald's, ABC restaurants (Applebee's/Bennigan's/Chili's), Home Depot, Wal-Mart, two gas stations, variations on a theme, a strip mall, a concrete wall.

If you're going to travel around the US and want to see something, stay off of the interstates.

I feel fortunate that I don't have to see these things on a regular basis. I think I'd go completely nuts if I did.

You better have a shitload of time.