The Richardsons

Week One:

If you would have told me (Jessica) when we moved here to Philadelphia that we would eventually agree to give up our car for a month and rely on public transportation and our own feet to get us where we needed to go, I would have never believed it...but obviously, that is the very situation we find ourselves in today with Walk Ride Share. And wow, what a pleasant experience thus far!

After the launch party Thursday, we went and picked up our shoes from Philadelphia Runner--great people there, by the way--and hopped on a bus that literally dropped us off at the end of our street. Friday morning Andrew walked to work, and Anabel and I headed to the grocery store after breakfast, also on foot. I was initially dreading the walk, because I thought for sure it would take at least twenty minutes. Add a dawdling three year old and the journey becomes twice that long. But oh how convicted I felt when we got to Pathmark in six minutes. Yep, six minutes. Here I had been driving the car all this time, thinking it was faster and more "convenient" than just walking out the door and down the road a couple of blocks. The walk home was just as nice, although I realized that maybe one of those little multi-use carts with wheels would be helpful so I wouldn't have to carry everything plus keep up with Anabel, who loves to run ahead.

Friday night Andrew and I decided to see about renting a PhillyCarShare car for the next day. We had a lot of errands to take care of and also wanted to hang out with some friends who live in Quakertown, so we reserved a Honda Civic for Saturday. I thought this might be rather difficult for us, as we are not used to being "plan ahead" people. We made a list of all the things we needed to do, and tried to map out the best way to fit everything into the 24 hour time period. Saturday morning after breakfast, Andrew took the bus and picked up the car while Anabel and I got things around for our busy day. When Andrew got home, we loaded everything up and went on our way. I was so excited to be in a car that felt safe, and that had working windows to roll down, as our own car does not fit that description. We dropped off some things to the Salvation Army in Manayunk, then headed to Sears in King of Prussia so I could get a rain jacket. From there we went to IKEA in Conshohocken to drop off some recycling and pick up some curtains, and then headed to Bed Bath and Beyond so I could get one of those little carts that I was talking about earlier. Then we headed to our friends' house in Quakertown for a cookout. And as we turned back onto our street that night, we stared in awe as we had not used even a quarter tank of gas yet! Woo hoo for PhillyCarShare and hybrids! If that had been our car, we would have been on fumes at that point.

So Sunday morning, we headed to Trader Joes after having spent the driving time in the car Saturday making a menu for the entire next week. Andrew took the car back after lunch, and Anabel tagged along. They were able to put the carseat in the luggage area on the bus, so that wasn't a problem for them at all. The evening seemed like it was going to be a bit trickier though, as we were going to Ardmore to a House of God's Light gathering. The 44 bus would drop us off in Ardmore at 5:45pm in plenty of time, but it stopped running at 7pm, and the gathering would end at 7:45. So we planned to take the R5 regional rail to the Overbrook Station at 7:58pm and then hop on a bus at 8:20pm that would get us to City Ave and Belmont, where we would then walk the rest of the way home. We were definitely nervous about making the train in time, as the next one would not come until an hour later, but again, the walk to the station was pleasantly shorter than we expected it to be, and we had time to spare. The train dropped us off and the bus stop was right there at the street, so we hopped on the 65 and then walked home from our stop on City Ave.

So this first week went pretty well I'd say. All of the Septa drivers were kind and helpful, and we enjoyed talking with people on the buses. Anabel declared that being on the train was "just beautiful!" and we are beginning to see that the "convenience" of our car isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Week Two:

Ok so here we are in week two of our “car-less” journey. I must say that I (Andrew) am thoroughly enjoying myself! There have only been two times since we gave up our wheels that I have wanted a car. One was last Friday when I had to work on my feet most of the day (I usually work behind a desk) and walk home at 10:30PM. The other was this morning when my 20 minute walk felt like 60 due to the gusty wind and spitting rain.

Anyways, here’s a recap of our week.

Monday – What a beautiful day! I continued to enjoy my walk to work in my rockin’ Puma’s. (Side note: I know that other people have mentioned how comfortable the Puma shoes from Philadelphia Runner are, but WOW!! I have been an Asics wearer for all of my adult life and love the Nimbus and the Kayano, but these Puma’s blow them out of the water! Not the most comfortable to just stand in, but for walking – light’s out. They are the best. I am thus converted.) Jessica and Anabel took a walk to the park that we generally had been driving to. Like I had said on our personal blog – “I can walk to work, so that's not too big of a deal for me, but they do almost EVERYTHING that deals with the car - grocery store, Target, Community Bible Study, Mom's Intercession, etc. I use the car in tandem with them for Home-group, HOGL and a few other things... This will be a challenge for all of us - but more so for them I think.” The walk to/from certain places (this park trip being one) Anabel doesn’t want to walk and so we (Jessica in this case) have to hold her. THAT is taxing. J

Tuesday – We decided that we would meet at Target at lunch-time so that I could get some much-needed time out of the office and see Anabel and Jessica while we got a few things done shopping-wise. Last weekend we got a great rolling cart from BB&B (see blog #1) so Jessica put it together Tuesday morning and she and Anabel headed out to meet me at Target. Before they even got to the end of the street – it broke. One of the wheels fell off, the pins and washers came out and it was officially done for the day. So Jessica turned around and lugged the cart, or rather the carts’ pieces, and Anabel back to the apartment and turned around to head to Target sans the cart. We had an uneventful shopping experience and Anabel got to do her favorite thing at Target – push the buttons on the music “sampler” – her favorite is “Summer Salsa”. Walking home without a cart – not TOO bad thanks to the Whole Foods grocery bag...

Wednesday – Took our weekly trip down to the Wynnefield library for story hour! We are so fortunate to have a great library so close (1 bus ride). I met Anabel and Jessica down on City Avenue and we caught the 44 which drops us off literally at the door. This week’s theme – MUSIC! We all got to march around the library playing musical instruments and read books about music – playing and listening. We walked a block and hopped on the 40 back to our house. (Side note: we have two bus lines at the end of our street and they seem to go everywhere! It’s great!) On our walk home, Jessica spotted two missing washers on the sidewalk from when the cart broke the previous day.

Thursday – Pretty low key day, not too much going on because of the rain. This was my first day walking to work with poor weather. Put on some “rain pants” and my Puma’s, backpack under the coat and headed out. Not too bad of a trip actually. The worst part was having soggy socks all day. I made a mental note and brought along other socks for additional rainy days.

Friday – We generally have a home-group from House of God’s Light that we attend, but there was no group scheduled for this week, so we stayed in.

Saturday – Zoo Day!!! Anabel and Jessica had been to the Philadelphia Zoo, but I had not. We hopped on the 38 at the end of our street and it dropped us off at 40th and Parkside, just a short 10 minute walk down to the zoo (again – these two buses go everywhere!). We decided that we would get a membership since we want to come back more than once this year and it was more cost effective to get a membership vs. tickets in the future. The Zoo was awesome. We saw every possible inch (I think) and got to ride on the PZ Express train. Anabel was able to feed some goats and sheep and had a great time doing it. I carried Anabel around parts of the day on my shoulders and those Puma’s didn’t give an inch! We were going to walk back to 40th and Parkside to catch the 38 in the opposite direction, but when we got there a sign stated that we had to walk to 43rd to catch the bus instead. So about 30 minutes after we left the zoo, we finally arrived at the stop. We had to wait for another 20 or so minutes before the bus came, but we made it okay. Even though we were all tired, we decided that we’d make our grocery trip Saturday night so we would be able to have the whole day together on Mother’s Day. We rented a Prius from DuPont and Ridge in Roxborough and headed out. I have to say that I enjoyed the Prius MUCH more than the Civic Hybrid that we had last weekend; more room in the front, more room in the back, larger trunk and a smoother ride. The Civic was fine, but it felt “tight” when driving it. To get there we took the 38 to the Wissahickon Transfer station and waited for the 9 to take us up. It was at this point that I wished SEPTA would have more buses on the weekends. We were all tired and we waited for about 30 minutes before the 9 showed up. We got everything done at the store and headed home where we dropped off the groceries and I left to take the car back.

Sunday – We decided on Saturday night that for Mother’s Day we would go to the Art Museum to see the Frida Kahlo exhibit. We hopped on the 38 which was supposed to drop us off very close on Spring Garden, but as we approached where they would normally turn, it dawned on me that the Race for the Cure was that morning and we would NOT be getting dropped off very close. We rode for a while and finally I decided we’d get off at 19th and Chestnut and walk down to the Museum. We made a pit stop for a couple of pictures at Logan Square in front of the fountain and walked down the BFP towards the Museum. We had a GREAT time at the museum (where we also became members) and highly recommend the exhibit if you haven’t been yet. It ends this weekend! And if you want tickets, just become a member! They hold aside some “courtesy” tickets for new members where you can just walk up, become a member and walk right into the exhibit, even if it’s sold out! We then took the 28 bus down to 7th and Market where we walked to Jones for a Mother’s Day Dinner. This is our 2nd time at Jones and I have to say WOW again. Great food and service. Highly recommended. We walked back down to Market and saw the 38 pulling away as we crossed the street. We waited another 20 minutes for the 44 which dropped us off on City Ave and we hoofed it back to the house.

All in all, a really good week. We’ve been enjoying the bus and Anabel loves meeting new people and saying “Hi”. Jessica and I were discussing the fact that there is so much less stress in our lives by riding the bus! We can just sit and talk and enjoy the ride. We don’t have to worry about directions or parking… It’s overall a much easier option. Planning is key, but still so much easier.

What’s coming up next for us? Well, we’re going to have to take our car out of park in the next couple of weeks because we want to sell it! We’re going to take it down to the folks at Central City Toyota and after we sell it, we’ll get a $500 PCS credit! How awesome!!

See you next week!

"You're not stuck in a traffic jam, you are the jam."

--German public transport campaign, Urban Transport International

Week Three:

This week seemed to mimic the weather--it started off nice, took a turn for the worse, then ended with some sun. I (Jessica) have to say it was definitely the most difficult week for me so far. Monday was great, spent most of the day on foot with Anabel, with a trip to the park and some other errands. Andrew walked to and from work, which he has enjoyed for the most part.

Tuesday we went to the park again, soaking in that wonderful sunshine. Andrew and I had been on the phone planning a trip to the dry cleaners in Narberth after he got off of work. I needed him to go with us, as I had a huge wool blanket among other things that I would not be able to carry by myself along with Anabel. We discussed meeting at the bus stop at 5:10 for the 44 bus, and when Anabel and I got there, we waited and waited and waited. The bus came, and Andrew was nowhere to be found, so we didn't get on. I finally reached him via cell phone, and he had been waiting at a different stop for us, so he started heading our way. After an hour of waiting, another bus came and we headed to Narberth. This 44 bus didn't go into the borough, so we got dropped off at the end of the road and had to walk the rest of the way. Normally that wouldn't have been a big deal, but since we were later than we planned to be, it was almost 7pm and the dry cleaners would close at 7 as well. So we had to book it to get there in time, because among the things that we were picking up was his suit that he would need for work later that week. We got there a few minutes after 7pm, but they were so kind and graciously gave us our items anyway as they were closing up for the night. We then took the train back to the Overbrook station where we would get on the 65 bus, which of course pulled away as we were getting off of the train. So we had to wait another half hour with all of the dry cleaning, and a very irritable three year old. Not a good day for us.

Wednesday Andrew had to travel to NYC for a staff retreat, and would not be home until Thursday night. Anabel and I were homebodies that day, but by early evening we walked to the bus stop and went to the library for storytime. The bus to take us home is only a block away from the library so we had plenty to time to get there. Anabel is doing much better with having to walk since it's becoming part of our daily routines, so that is another plus.

On Thursday, I hammered away and fixed my cart, and we made a trip down to the Target. When we got there, I tried to hang it on the side of one of the Target carts, and it was not happening. No matter what I tried, my cart would not stay hooked. So I had to shove it underneath sideways, which didn't work either as I had trouble fitting through aisles and it kept sliding off. So I of course turn the cart vertically and shove it with all my might to fit under there, and it stayed finally. We got what we needed and were ready to go...but my cart would not budge. I had shoved it so far under the Target cart, it had become wedged. So there I was on my hands and knees for what seemed like an eternity trying to pull out my "helpful" shopping cart as Anabel was shouting, "Mom, you can do it!" I felt like Clark Griswald from National Lampoons, but I kept on, and eventually got it out. I am so going to write the Easy Wheels cart people and tell them my experiences.

By Friday, we all needed to take a break from the bus, so we rented a Prius and went out to eat that night. We didn't do much else, and Andrew dropped us off at home, and then returned the car and took the bus back.

Saturday was awesome initially. We took the bus down to the central library for the annual Book Festival. There were lots of great things going on, and Anabel got to meet a lot of storybook characters, not to mention Elmo! I picked out a book for her called Broadway Barks by Bernadette Peters, the broadway actress, and the publishers booth told us she was inside the library at that moment signing books, so we even got it signed for Anabel...how great is that??!! After all the fun, we walked down to our bus stop and waited for the 38 bus. After about 20 minutes, I noticed a DETOUR sign taped under the bus stop sign. The 38 bus was detoured due to the Annual Sikh Day Parade. We would have to walk to a different stop in order to pick up the bus. We had met a nice older gentleman who, as it turned out, lived a couple of streets down from us and needed the same bus. He had been sitting at the stop for an hour with his groceries and would've continued to sit there had we not told him to come with us. So we walked to the detoured stop and stood there for an hour. There seemed to be so few buses that day, it was almost spooky. We finally caught the 38, and I almost wished that we hadn't. It was so packed, it put a sardine can to shame. We had to stand, which wasn't so bad, except I had a hard time hanging on to the bar above my head, so I was in that "clenched" mode for the next 30 minutes because I didn't want to fall on the sweet older ladies sitting down inches in front of me. After a quick snack at home, we then walked down to a Spring Carnival on the other side of City Ave., where Anabel got to ride the teacups and a train, and we all went on the Tilt-A-Whirl as a last hoorah. Needless to say, we all collapsed that night when it came time to go to bed.

Sunday we all ended up taking a long walk in the rain, jumping in puddles and having fun. We got a PhillyCarShare car ( I can't believe how easy it is) and drove to House of God's Light that evening, because we figured we had endured enough rain for one day. By the end of the gathering the sun was shining, and we were prepared for another week--a week that is sure to have more of those Clark Griswald/Charlie Brown-esque moments, as that is in keeping with typical Richardson fashion.

Week Four:

So this was a fairly busy week for us. Monday was work as usual for Andrew, and Anabel and I made a trip to the park. Tuesday we rented a Prius and Anabel and I went to our Mom's Intercession group in Havertown in the morning, then after Andrew got off of work, we went all over the city for various errands that are much easier to get done with a car.

Wednesday was storytime at the library again, and we even found an easier route, so we don't have to walk all the way down to City Ave. to catch the 44. Thursday Anabel and I made plans to visit my friend Rachel and her kids, who live in Broomall. I was extremely nervous about the trip, as it would be the first time that Anabel and I would be on our own with transferring not once, but two times, for a total of three different bus trips. Plus, we had never been to Rachel's house before, so I wasn't even sure where the stops were. We got to see the 69th Street terminal this time, and I have to say, it was a lot nicer than I expected, and not that difficult to figure out. So needless to say, we made it to Rachel's just fine, and Anabel's friend Sammy was waiting for her at the door with a smile on his face.

Friday Andrew took the day off and we took the bus into Wynnewood, and he and Anabel got haircuts at Supercuts with Miss Laia. Anabel was so excited, and we celebrated with lunch at Panera, and then a walk down to Surburban Square. Friday night was our Homegroup get-together with friends from House of God's Light. We figured out the buses, and had a smooth trip heading over there, with only a short walk to our destination. The only complaint I had was that we had to leave earlier than normal to get home, as the buses only run every hour at that point and that would've made a much longer trip for Anabel, who was already up past her bedtime.

Saturday morning I decided to get my hair cut as well, so we took the bus into University City, and I stopped into the Jean Madeline Aveda Institute, where I got a great haircut for $16! The trip down there was really neat--an older woman left her keys on her seat and had gotten off the bus; someone noticed the keys and took them up to the bus driver, who had already driven down to the next stop. But he stopped, got off the bus, and took that woman's keys back to her! We all clapped for him when he got back on the bus--it was a great moment!

The Bridge theater down on 40th has kids movies on Saturdays, so Andrew took Anabel down there, and they had so much fun! In the afternoon, we met up with our friend Linda who just graduated from Penn, and we were so proud of her we wanted to celebrate! So we hopped on the bus and went to the King of Prussia mall and ate at the Cheesecake Factory! We had a great time!

Sunday morning Andrew had a ticket to the Yankees game, so he caught a train and was in NYC all day. Anabel and I just stuck around the house, hanging out and taking multiple trips around the block with the tricycle.

On Monday morning, we were up early and took the trolley down to the Port Richmond neighborhood for their Memorial Day parade. It was great! It ended in Campbell Square Park, and there was all kinds of food and music, and they had a moving flag raising ceremony with a speech from a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. We spoke with a veteran from the Korean War, Mac, who shared pictures with us of his two grandsons and his nephew, who are all serving in Iraq. We thanked he and his family for serving our country, and he got teary-eyed as he spoke of his friends who were not as fortunate as he during those dark days. The day was a wonderful tribute to those who have served and those who are in service now. Monday night, we thought there would be nothing better than heading to the Phillies game, so that's what we did! The subway was so quick and easy, we got off right at the park! It was Dollar Dog night, so we had hot dogs and Anabel got to see her first home run--woo hoo for Chase Utley! It was a great time, we actually ended up leaving early, Anabel was so tired. But we figured it was alright to go, since we were up 14-3 against the Colorado Rockies! We took the subway back into the city, and then took a bus home. What a great Memorial Day.

Tuesday morning we met up with our friends Matt and Nicole and their son Joshua, who had been visiting some other friends in Schwenksville and wanted to see us before they headed home to Ohio. We took them down to Reading Terminal Market via subway and ate lunch. Then we walked to Independence Mall and saw the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the National Constitution Center. The kids were getting a little restless, so we went over to Franklin Square, where the kids played on the playground and we were able to sit and visit for a bit. The park has a carousel, which of course Anabel and Joshua had to ride! What a great play space for the kids, nestled right in the city! We even had storytime with the Once Upon a Nation group, where we learned about how carousels came to be here in the U.S. At the end of the day, we took the subway back to 30th Street Station and got our friends on a train to the airport and then went home and crashed. It was a wonderful week and we are definitely becoming pros with public transportation!

Week Five:

I know I (Jessica) said this before, but I cannot believe how quickly this month has gone by! We are now at the end of our Walk Ride Share time, and it really has been an amazing experience for us. We feel a connection to the city that was not there before. We're starting to see familiar faces on and off the bus, which I think is so incredible. This past week was monumental for us, as we made a huge decision concerning our relationship with our car. But first, here's a quick recap of our week...

Wednesday Anabel and I just crashed on the couch for the afternoon after running nonstop the last few days. That night we walked down by Andrew's work and met him for dinner. Thursday morning we hung around the house as well until the afternoon, when Anabel and I got on the bus to head over to a birthday party for Anabel's friend, Anna. It's so funny to me that I used to be nervous about transferring to another bus, but now, it's simple really. So we went to Anna's party in Havertown and then hopped on the bus that evening to get home. Andrew decided to meet us on City Ave. where the bus would drop us off so that we would not have to walk home alone, which was nice. Friday morning Andrew met with the guys at Central City Toyota, and then went to pick up a Scion xB we rented not far from there. He got to the car, which he said was horribly dirty on the inside, so he called PhillyCarShare, and they had him check another Scion that was sitting there as well. Andrew was really shocked to see that this Scion was also gross so he called again and they apologized profusely and sent him a few blocks away to a Honda Fit, which was just great. That was the first time we had encountered a problem with a car, and I don't fault PhillyCarShare for that. I believe it has more to do with the integrity and responsibleness of the people who rent the cars than anything else. So Andrew dropped the car off at home for us, and Anabel and I headed to the post office and the grocery store. Then we picked Andrew up from work and had dinner and made a trip over to the Babies R Us, looking for a smaller booster-type carseat for Anabel that would be easier to haul around. Andrew returned the car that night and took the bus home.

Saturday I got to have some time to myself and Andrew took Anabel to Dave and Buster's for some fun and games. We met up later in the day, and took the bus home together and had some family time. Sunday we did some things around the house and then decided to take the bus up to King of Prussia to Costco because we had some rockin' coupons. On this trip, I perfected what I like to call my "septa stance". The bus was really crowded, so I had to stand and hold on to the bar above my head. At least this time there were some straps hanging down, and I can reach those much better. But for most of the ride, my body was in that "fight or flight" mode where it gets all tensed up so I wouldn't fall onto someone who was sitting. So I have learned to position my feet in a certain way which has become my "septa stance". Everyone has one, you watch next time and see.

We reached our destination, and of course that is when we realized that we forgot to bring our nothing-but-helpful-since-we-got-it-but-not-really shopping cart with us. HA. So that was an experience in itself. Needless to say, we made it home just fine after I cajoled a nice lady at JcPenney into giving us a huge shopping bag which everything fit into, except our case of Izze sparkling juice, which Andrew carried. We got home, fed Anabel a quick supper, and immediately got back on the bus to go to House of God's Light (in Ardmore at the Presbyterian Church on Montgomery Ave at 5:45pm by the way), which was just awesome! Then it was home for the rest of the night.

So here we are, getting ready for the Walk Ride Share closing celebration tomorrow, where Andrew will give an account of his day at Central City Toyota this past Friday, in the form of a "break-up" letter to our car!!! It's official, we're city slickers now!!!