January 17, 2009

2009 Philadelphia Sportsmen's Show

The Philadelphia Sportsmen's Show rolled into Valley Forge this week, and today Lilly & I decided to take a look. We went to the one last year, and Lilly seemed to have a really good time, so I figured, "Why not?" and we braved the 15 degree weather and headed down 422. It also gave Mommy some alone time, which I'm sure she appreciated to no end.

This year's show wasn't quite as big as last year's, and there was definitely more of an emphasis on hunting than fishing. I'm not a hunter in the least, so probably about 80% of the show was worthless to me. I have no issues with hunters or even guns, it's just not for me. I did almost have words with the an NRA representative at the door who was "greeting" everybody and asking for donations. As I pushed Lilly in her stroller through the entrance our exchange was as follows:

NRA Dude: "Welcome to the show, would you like to show your support to the local chapter of the NRA?"
Me: "No thanks, I don't own a gun"
NRA Dude: "Don't you want to be a good Dad and protect your little one?"
Me: *Rolled Eyes, kept on walking...*


If this conversation took place at a bar and not entering a "Sportsmen's Show," I would have taken issue and made Jim Bob's head spin, but I figured it wasn't worth it. After all, sentiment like this is pretty much as widespread as camouflage & flannel at one of these shows.

So that aside, we had a pretty good time. Lilly was a little fidgety, but not too bad. She had a lot of fun looking at animals & pretending to ride all 5 riding lawn mowers on display. She does the same thing at Home Depot - I think she thinks they are race cars or something...

Lilly also got to go fishing for the first time in the trout pool. She was so excited to hold "her own" fishing rod, to quote Lilly, "I do it by myself." Even though she didn't bring in a fish (like father like daughter), she had a huge smile on her face the whole time. That was definitely my highlight of the show.

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