Life at Cloverhill

Travel

Travel Journal: Philadelphia

Last weekend, me and a bunch of my soccer hooligan friends loaded up a few cars and drove the 777km from Toronto to Philadelphia to watch the Toronto FC play. Despite the long hours in the car and battling this heatwave, it was a much needed break with some great friends to a city that I had yet to check off.

To start things off, we had a bit of a pool party at the outdoor pool at the Best Western we were staying at. It was a nice way to cool off after the long drive.

Then it was time to round up the troops and head to the game…but not without picking up a Philly Cheesesteak on the way. (My friend Scott cut his hair into a mohawk before we left…I swear that he is a respectable member of society most of the time…unless its a TFC game. Then all bets are off)

Sliding down the railing to catch the train to Chester.

My favorite ginger and I laughing the whole way out to the game.

Mostly we were laughing at this guy with the orb. Apparently he is a magician. Just a very awkward one at that.

The new PPL Park in Chester is gorgeous. They just opened it this year. I only wish that they had put us in the shade, because we were all suffering a bit of heatstroke by the end. Sadly Philadelphia Union won 2-1, but it was still a fun game to watch, and we met some really nice people from Philly.
After the game, we headed back to the hotel in Philadelphia, enjoyed another dip in the pool and then it was time for dinner at The Spaghetti Warehouse. Whatever they put in their sangria it was awesome (as you can see, Scott enjoyed it just a wee bit more than I did, haha). And what are those balloon hats that we’re wearing? Well, they were supposed to be bunny ears made by this guy:
The restaurant has a guy who comes around making hats for all the kids, but we couldn’t resist getting our own as well. We’re kids at heart, right? The ginger had to break away from the crowd and get a turtle hat instead…which ended up showing up everywhere for the rest of the trip.
On Sunday, we had one last thing to do before we made the big trek back to Toronto…run the Rocky Steps! (P.S. – The Museum of Art looked incredible and if we’d had more time I’d have gone in there too!)
I made it to the top!
Toronto FC is everywhere!
Placing my feet on the outline of Rocky’s. Who knew that Stallone had such small feet?
Rocky 🙂
Before we knew it, we had to load up the car and drive the 777km back to Toronto.

But we saw lots of interesting things along the way. Like this tree covered in vines that looked sorta like a hand. Can you say “invasive species” much? Reminded me a bit of Jumanji (minus the pack of mischievous monkeys).

Along the way we saw a sign for Scranton, Pennsylvania. As a big fan of The Office, it was oh so tempting to stop in for a bit.

And like I said, the turtle made many an appearance over the course of the trip…including when I came home and plugged my camera in, only to find that while I was driving my 5 hour stretch of the trip, my friends were busy having a photo session with a balloon. Roadtrips can conjure up insanity.

All-in-all we had a great trip to Philadelphia and I would go back again, explore the Old City some more and take the time to go to all of the historical sites!