April 11-13, Bethlehem PA
Finally on Saturday around noon, we crossed over into Pennsylvania after a tedious drive though Baltimore and northern VA.
Our first stop was lunch in Coatesville PA at Jack's pizza. It was very East coasty with the various items under glass to choose from. The guys in there didn't look very friendly but they were actually pretty good to deal with. Brian's Pepperoni roll was better than my stuffed buffalo pizza but both were tasty. The rest of the drive was filled with anticipation as the miles counted down. Even just 10 miles from the Hyatt Place in Bethlehem it was very rural and agricultural/light industrial looking. The hotel was very similar in layout and features to the San Antonio Hyatt Place. Again, I got to work as soon as I could and got a little over 3 hours in that afternoon. After that we walked briefly around downtown Bethlehem to look for a Bank of America ATM machine. We failed at that endeavor and headed out in the car to eat at Red Robin. On the way we found a different B of A. Unlike downtown Bethlehem which was pretty quiet even on the Monday morning we saw it last, the Airport Road area of Allentown was very hectic. The process required to get into the Red Robin parking lot from where we started was ridiculous but we got there eventually and it was still very busy at 9 pm. Dinner was good and our server was chatty and interesting. Afterwards we met a local at the brewery near our hotel to talk about Portland and Bethlehem. He's interviewing for a job in Longview WA the same week we are getting into the moving van to head back to PA with our stuff! Pretty funny.
Sunday we headed up to Wilkes-Barre on the PA Turnpike extension to visit Mohegan Sun Poconos which was had gone to on our PA fact finding trip last year. It was a fun indulgence to go to the casino and after our few hours of casino time we wandered around Wilkes-Barre a little bit. Being the only place we'd been in PA, it was interesting to compare it superficially with Bethlehem and Allentown. Compared to Bethlehem, Wilkes-Barre seemed pretty basic and threadbare. Still, it is not crowded, not pretentious and not ghetto. We could live in WB for sure if something brought us there. Dinner was at Logan's roadhouse in WB. This is the 2nd Logan's visit that was a disappointment. This time my drink seemed lacking, was served in the wrong glass and wasn't shaken tableside as the menu said it would be. My Tilapia was ok but if the sauce they served it with was really chipotle it was very bland chipotle sauce. Oh well, I guess they are off the list for now.
Monday we got down to business. While I worked for a bit, Brian figured out where to get his new pants shortened a bit. We headed out to the dry cleaners and dropped the pants off. They were able to do the work while we poked around Giant supermarket next door.
Then we headed off to the first apartment complex I wanted to check out which was in Allentown. It was ok and seemed kind of promising until, at the very end of the visit, I asked about lease cancellation. They have no provision for getting out of a lease with a fee. People are responsible for the entire term of their lease. That's insane and I completely bristled at the idea and ended the visit abruptly. I was kind of freaked out about the possibility that this was standard operating procedure so I even called the other apartment complex to inquire about their lease terms so I could save a trip if they had the same stupid rule. Luckily, they do have a way to get out of a lease. So we hit a park under the New street bridge just to kill a bit of time between the two apartment complex appointments. It was near the river, a canal and a creek all close together. The canal has the remnants of a lock and a really cool water bridge that takes water from one side of a creek to the other without mixing with the creek itself. Quite an engineering accomplishment that canal must have been in its heyday. The second apartment complex, in Bethlehem, was an amazing property called Woodmont Mews. We looked at two different floor plans and both were wonderful. The model home was impressive but we also saw another unit that was ready to occupy and it was just as meticulously cleaned and detailed. If Brian ends up with a job near Bethlehem, we will have no qualms signing up for this apartment as our first PA home.
By the time the second apartment visit was done we were starving and ate at Dickey's BBQ. Later we headed out to Staples to pick up a laser printer. Brian needed to print a surprisingly hefty blob of application materials for an interview he has Wednesday near Allentown. I've though about having a laser printer for some time so we made it happen. Oh yeah, Brian finally got some job calls. He has 1 in person interview for a job, one recruiter meet and greet and one phone interview for a different job! So that's very exciting.
Our first stop was lunch in Coatesville PA at Jack's pizza. It was very East coasty with the various items under glass to choose from. The guys in there didn't look very friendly but they were actually pretty good to deal with. Brian's Pepperoni roll was better than my stuffed buffalo pizza but both were tasty. The rest of the drive was filled with anticipation as the miles counted down. Even just 10 miles from the Hyatt Place in Bethlehem it was very rural and agricultural/light industrial looking. The hotel was very similar in layout and features to the San Antonio Hyatt Place. Again, I got to work as soon as I could and got a little over 3 hours in that afternoon. After that we walked briefly around downtown Bethlehem to look for a Bank of America ATM machine. We failed at that endeavor and headed out in the car to eat at Red Robin. On the way we found a different B of A. Unlike downtown Bethlehem which was pretty quiet even on the Monday morning we saw it last, the Airport Road area of Allentown was very hectic. The process required to get into the Red Robin parking lot from where we started was ridiculous but we got there eventually and it was still very busy at 9 pm. Dinner was good and our server was chatty and interesting. Afterwards we met a local at the brewery near our hotel to talk about Portland and Bethlehem. He's interviewing for a job in Longview WA the same week we are getting into the moving van to head back to PA with our stuff! Pretty funny.
Sunday we headed up to Wilkes-Barre on the PA Turnpike extension to visit Mohegan Sun Poconos which was had gone to on our PA fact finding trip last year. It was a fun indulgence to go to the casino and after our few hours of casino time we wandered around Wilkes-Barre a little bit. Being the only place we'd been in PA, it was interesting to compare it superficially with Bethlehem and Allentown. Compared to Bethlehem, Wilkes-Barre seemed pretty basic and threadbare. Still, it is not crowded, not pretentious and not ghetto. We could live in WB for sure if something brought us there. Dinner was at Logan's roadhouse in WB. This is the 2nd Logan's visit that was a disappointment. This time my drink seemed lacking, was served in the wrong glass and wasn't shaken tableside as the menu said it would be. My Tilapia was ok but if the sauce they served it with was really chipotle it was very bland chipotle sauce. Oh well, I guess they are off the list for now.
Monday we got down to business. While I worked for a bit, Brian figured out where to get his new pants shortened a bit. We headed out to the dry cleaners and dropped the pants off. They were able to do the work while we poked around Giant supermarket next door.
Then we headed off to the first apartment complex I wanted to check out which was in Allentown. It was ok and seemed kind of promising until, at the very end of the visit, I asked about lease cancellation. They have no provision for getting out of a lease with a fee. People are responsible for the entire term of their lease. That's insane and I completely bristled at the idea and ended the visit abruptly. I was kind of freaked out about the possibility that this was standard operating procedure so I even called the other apartment complex to inquire about their lease terms so I could save a trip if they had the same stupid rule. Luckily, they do have a way to get out of a lease. So we hit a park under the New street bridge just to kill a bit of time between the two apartment complex appointments. It was near the river, a canal and a creek all close together. The canal has the remnants of a lock and a really cool water bridge that takes water from one side of a creek to the other without mixing with the creek itself. Quite an engineering accomplishment that canal must have been in its heyday. The second apartment complex, in Bethlehem, was an amazing property called Woodmont Mews. We looked at two different floor plans and both were wonderful. The model home was impressive but we also saw another unit that was ready to occupy and it was just as meticulously cleaned and detailed. If Brian ends up with a job near Bethlehem, we will have no qualms signing up for this apartment as our first PA home.
By the time the second apartment visit was done we were starving and ate at Dickey's BBQ. Later we headed out to Staples to pick up a laser printer. Brian needed to print a surprisingly hefty blob of application materials for an interview he has Wednesday near Allentown. I've though about having a laser printer for some time so we made it happen. Oh yeah, Brian finally got some job calls. He has 1 in person interview for a job, one recruiter meet and greet and one phone interview for a different job! So that's very exciting.
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