Philadelphia
Early Tuesday morning, we ran a few errands, then hit the road for a four day vacation to culminate in a Billy Joel/ Elton John Concert at Philadelphia’s Baseball Field. We had booked a hotel within walking distance of the concert and planned to spend a day wandering through the Museums downtown, a day at the Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey and a day just touring downtown.
Despite forecasts of 90 degrees of heat and ferility, we decided to visit the Philadelphia Zoo on the way to the hotel. Of course I had Google mapped the entire place fifty times before we left, so I had a parking spot all picked out. We spent a lot of time visiting with docents who recognized animal lovers at first sight. We were clued in to all the newly born and some of the special peculiarities of each animal.
We left around 5:30 figuring the worst of the traffic was over. What I had not counted on was the inability to go directly across the street and get back on 76. A red light would have made it sooooo easy!. Instead, we had to go east on Girard Street ( never a good idea) and make a major illegal U turn. Then, once on 76 we breezed through downtown and were in great shape. All we needed to do was reach exit 350 and pull into the parking lot.
Did we do that?? Well of course not! Suddenly we are on an exit into South Philly, with no idea where we are or the Bubba Quotient of the neighborhood we are about to join.
Thank goodness, Philadelphia is laid out in a simple grid pattern and I had done enough homework to have a sense of where I was and what to do. We eventually worked our way over to the hotel.
The Art Museum in Philly is one of the best in the world. We took 76 in, got off at the right spot and found our way to the parking garage at the Art Museum. We spent a good three hours there, then bought tickets for the Phlash system that runs a regular loop to all the sights in Philly. We stopped at the Franklin Institute and toured the Star Trek Exhibit. Great fun.
We rode the trolley around downtown while a true gully washer hit Philly. About the time we reached the Art Museum to retrieve our car both the rain and the rush hour were over. We fired up the chariot and headed out to find 76 again and with it another adventure. I did have a plan but it quickly soured and we wound up on Roosevelt Avenure heading the exact opposite direction we wanted. After about an 8 mile detour we were able to make another of those U turns and find our way back to 76 headed the right direction this time.
Then of course the gods had one final little trick up their sleeves. Just as we reached the area I had gotten lost in the night before, the skys opened up and visibility dropped to the rear bumper of the car in front of us. At a ripping speed of 12 miles an hour we made our way to exit 350 and just as we got off, out came the sun.
One of the nicest things about our trip was the people working at the hotel. After I shared our first adventure about getting lost on the way there, they waited to hear our latest tribulations each night. I thought they were going to die laughing when I explained our trip up Roosevelt Ave. They all took great pains to explain how we should go to the Aquarium the next day and warned us several times to not get lost in Camden, as that was not a “nice place”
So warned we followed directions exactly and had a very uneventful trip to the Aquarium and back. The place itself was delightful and one of the best I have been in.
That night, we walked to the baseball stadium, found our seats in the next to top row of the ballpark and enjoyed a great concert. It began at 7:30 and continued nonstop until 11. Wonderful evening. As entertaining as the concert was the view was equally outstanding. From where we sat, we looked all the way downtown. We could see the steeple of Independence Hall and the Statue of Ben Franklin on City Hall.
The whole trip was as nearly perfect as we could have asked for.