One of the destinations on my list for the year was Philadelphia, surprisingly I had never been. My cousin Erin's best friend lives in Philly and when she asked me if I wanted to go with her for a few days I jumped on the chance. There was absolutely no thinking about it since I knew I wanted to hit up the area and I love hanging out with them. Jamie was kind enough to offer us a place to stay and an extra ticket to the NKOTB, TLC and Nelly concert. (Thanks girl!)
I picked up Erin on Thursday evening then we grabbed Jamie's Aunt Barb (who I was meeting for the first time) and headed south. We hit the road at the perfect time. There was no traffic, the weather was good. It took us about 4 hours or so to get to Jamie's place but it went by quick since there was good conversation. Her apartment is super cute. We relaxed out on the back porch drinking a couple glasses of wine while shooting the breeze. Now picture this trip: four fun, loving, single, down to earth, low maintenance, INCREDIBLE women - basically unicorns. ;)
Friday morning we slept in, lounged around with some coffee and more chatting then Ubered into the city. We didn't have any set schedule or destination so we let Jamie take the lead. Our first stop was Reading Terminal Market, an indoor farmers market full of good eats and vendors for shopping. We shared some yummy lunch there then headed to Love Park.
Next up was drinks at Tir Na Nog, a really cool Irish bar & grill, that someone actually recommended to me so I was glad Jamie brought us. From there we headed to South Street. We stopped in Grace's Tavern, which I was stoked to see they had Two Roads - Road Jam on tap, not because I wanted to have it as I was drinking local but because Two Roads is an awesome brewery local to me! From there we headed down South St in search of a bar Jamie likes only to realize we had already walked past it and never saw it - love it, all part of the journey and we got to see more of the city! We turned and headed back. We stopped in at Ten Stone, the bar Jamie wanted to bring us to. They had great music playing at a volume that allows you to hear the people you're talking to, good beer on tap and more yummy food. This is where we shared steak & cheese egg rolls because who doesn't have steak and cheese while in Philly!? We also split a tuna steak wraps. Everything was delicious. The waitress offered us free samples of this ginger beer and vodka drink too, nice and refreshing! We may now have very similar cups of our own... Maybe.
After dinner we took another Uber to the show. Now one of my goals this year is to be more comfortable in a social setting. Essentially I want to be more outgoing. So I offer to sit in the front this drive so that I can chat to our driver. Of course when he arrives he doesn't speak much English so that backfired. But he was nice. We even offered him the extra ticket Jamie had for the concert but he wasn't interested. Pretty sure he actually couldn't wait to drop us off since we made him blast TLC - No Creeps on the way as we sang along. We were late so we missed Nelly and TLC. New Kids were disappointing yet we still managed to have a great time. One thing I truly believe is that you can make a fun time out of most situations, it's all what you make of it! Good company helps too!
(Random dude we found at the concert)
After the show we couldn't get Uber to load properly so we hopped in a cab. We all agreed this cabbie was probably the greatest cab driver any of us had ever had. He was really cool, he even shared his gum with us. From there we headed back to South St to meet up with one of Jamie's friends from school who was out with his son and his friend for his sons birthday - good people! We hit up a few places with them and just had an all around great time. We convinced the guys to go back to Love Park so we could swim in the fountain.
(One of my favorites from the weekend, crappy quality but I love that someone captured us laughing!)
From there we Ubered back home. I'm in the back seat again. This driver was our favorite out of the three we had from Uber that day, she was awesome! What a great concept, Uber is my new favorite thing. I don't know why but it feels like a more personable experience than a cab ride.
Saturday morning we slept in again. Jamie and Aunt Barb headed back to Connecticut together in Jamie's car. Erin and I headed back in my car.
(Hahaha get it?)
But first we had a mission. My friend asked me to grab him a 12 pack of assorted beer from the area for us to sample when I got back. Apparently in PA you can't just buy beer like you can in CT. You either have to buy a case from the beer store or buy "to go" from a bar. Erin and I have no clue where to go so we drove around pretty aimlessly. We ended up Googling and found a drive thru place and decided we'd split a case. Now I've heard of this before but I automatically assumed it was a drive up window like at McDs... I had no idea you literally drive through the freaking place! That was fun!
From there the GPS said we had 3 hours ahead of us. Neither of us has any idea what happened to the two and a half extra hours it took us to get home! We only made a couple pit stops and hit a little traffic at the GW - I'm assuming because they would randomly shut down a lane at the toll full of traffic. Everyone would cut into the lane next to it then that lane would shut down while the other reopened. What the heck!? Pure chaos but we finally got home.
Philadelphia was gorgeous. For a big city it was clean, you were able to move through the sidewalks easily, the people were friendly. The properties are maintained in the heart of the city as well as the outskirts. The architecture was beautiful. There is so much history in the city and we barely touched any of it, I will definitely be going back. I honestly like Philadelphia more than New York!
This trip although short was just what my soul needed. A weekend FULL of laughter, great company, good conversation. There were no worries, drama or schedule to stick to. It was relaxing yet a ton fun at the same time. This was one of the best weekends I have ever had. Thank you Erin, Jamie and Aunt Barb, I love you ladies!
The lesson I took away from this weekend is that you just need to jump into the fountain of life not worrying about what anyone around you thinks of you. If they don't like it it's their problem, not yours! It's your life to live - love the life you've been given and just be happy.
Oh and... where's Barb? :D
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