Our dear friends of very long standing, Ken and Marty, drove all the way down from Detroit to Philly on Friday, October 1 in hopes of celebrating Ken's 60th birthday with us at the all day party that only the Philadelphia International Dragon Boat Festival can provide. As captain of the South Jersey Ski Club Leisurely Skiing Dragons, I had planned some special events for the day in addtion to our usual shenanigans. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other ideas. Torrential rains began on Thursday at about 4 AM, and it rained all day that day and most of the night as well. Friday afternoon the sun returned, but not before the Schuylkill was well above flood stage with the water still rising, moving at an incredible speed, and carrying with it all of the flotsam of a flood. The festival had to be postponed.
As a celebration for Ken, we went to Mercato BYOB on Friday night for an excellent dinner. Ashley was with us, too. She had come down early Thursday to spend a couple of days while their new house was being painted but was headed home on Saturday AM for a wedding. She would return again the following week for five days, and we had a wonderful time. As she put it, pregnancy+paint fumes don't mix. 
Naturally Saturday morning dawned totally clear and gorgeous. We decided to head down to the river to survey the damage. Dale, Ken and Marty are framed by the a very bucolic looking river scene, however this is what was lurking just below the damn. The speed of the water above the damn was amazing as well.
There were numerous huge logs in this turbulent water, but it is impossible to see them here.
Normally piers can be seen outside of the boathouses, but the launch boats were simply floating on those.
The bleachers at the finish line for all regattas held lots of trash, branches, tires, and runaway sculls instead of spectators on this sunny Saturday.
This would have been our Dragon Boat tent site, but it was a sea of mud instead. The debris line told us that the water had come all the way up to this picnic table before receeding in the early AM hours of Saturday.
These 3 Dragon Boats belong to some of Philadelphia's year round teams. They were washed off of their moorings and left full of water by the surge. Note all of the debris in the area where we usually launch the festival Dragon Boats.
Naturally Saturday morning dawned totally clear and gorgeous. We decided to head down to the river to survey the damage. Dale, Ken and Marty are framed by the a very bucolic looking river scene, however this is what was lurking just below the damn. The speed of the water above the damn was amazing as well.
There were numerous huge logs in this turbulent water, but it is impossible to see them here.
Normally piers can be seen outside of the boathouses, but the launch boats were simply floating on those.
The bleachers at the finish line for all regattas held lots of trash, branches, tires, and runaway sculls instead of spectators on this sunny Saturday.
This would have been our Dragon Boat tent site, but it was a sea of mud instead. The debris line told us that the water had come all the way up to this picnic table before receeding in the early AM hours of Saturday.
These 3 Dragon Boats belong to some of Philadelphia's year round teams. They were washed off of their moorings and left full of water by the surge. Note all of the debris in the area where we usually launch the festival Dragon Boats.From the river we hiked up into Fairmount Park and then back down to the Fairmount neighborhood for a late lunch at The Belgian Cafe. Our next walk took us into Center City and then along the Schuylkill Banks Trail back home. This photo was taken at about 6:45 PM on a beautiful evening. We cooked a yummy pasta dinner and watched 'Letters from Juliet' to finish off our lovely day. It was not what we had originally planned, but it was a beautiful day of friendship nonetheless.
The river flood had left all of this mud deposited on the bank just beyond the trail.
The river flood had left all of this mud deposited on the bank just beyond the trail.Sunday we joined Mark, Janet, Jen and Anthony at the annual "Sippin' by the River" wine and beer festival held as a benefit for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. That was fun but packed! Ken and Marty left at about 4 for the drive west and north, and we ended the day at Dave and Buster's watching the Eagles lose to the Redskins.
It was a lovely weekend! Thanks for coming, Ken and Marty. Hope you had as much fun as we did!
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