I’m a little late with this post, but, I figure, better late than never, right?
The first weekend of June, I spent with two of my best friends in the Northeastern part of the country. One of them lives in Philadelphia and the other in Atlanta. Three Southern girls hanging out in Yankee territory usually calls for some kind of trouble and exciting adventures.
Now, one thing you should know is I am the Queen of finding good flight deals. Somehow, I came across the “Special Deals” section on the Frontier website to find that they were offering flights for $49 each way from Atlanta to Wilmington, Delaware which just happens to be a 45 minute drive from North Philadelphia — $120 round trip! How could I pass that up?! It was also appealing because I’ve never been to Delaware and I’m always up for exploring something new! So, Erin (my Philly friend) agreed to pick me up there and suggested we get dinner and check out the town before driving back to PA to pick up Jenna later that night.
I did a little research on Wilmington just to get an idea of some restaurants we could go to and to see what we were getting into that evening. It definitely exceeded my expectations! Wilmington is a cute little town/city right on the Delaware river, though it did have a “mom and pop” feel because everything seemed to close down early. It was a Thursday night, but we were in the city by 7 pm and there wasn’t too much going on as we walked down Market Street which is the popular street in the city.
We ended up checking out Ernest & Scott Taproom because they had a nice outdoor patio and the weather was incredible that evening. The food was pretty good. I had a crab cake BLT and homemade potato chips that were delicious. The atmosphere was nice, but by 8:30, we were the only two people sitting outside! Maybe it’s different on the weekends?
Afterwards, we decided to check out the Riverfront Market which, again, not much going on, but it was cute. There was one restaurant that was still open, but looked like there was mostly shops or delis that were open during the day.
We hung out for a bit at Erin’s house in charming Chestnut Hill/Mt. Airy before deciding to take a night tour of the city. This was my 4th time in Philly so I’ve been to all the touristy places, but it’s always fun to go back! We parked in front of the Rocky statue at the Art Museum and took a quick picture and then headed over to Old City for pictures in front of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. Then, off to get the Jenna!
The next day, we decided to wake up early and drive to THE Jersey Shore — Seaside Heights. We picked up hoagies on the way and I’m pretty sure the sub sandwhich has been ruined for me forever. Anyway, we found a spot and then walked to the shore house where the Jersey Shore show was filmed, went to the boardwalk, and found a spot on the beach. (By the way, you have to pay to step foot on the beach up there. Weird.) The weather that day could not have been any better! For me, at least. It got a little chilly when the clouds covered the sun, but it felt quite nice besides that.
After about 2 hours of laying out, we walked to EJ’s on the boardwalk to have a drink and hang out. We also may have stopped by the Shore Store and took a tour of the shore house. Danny was working in the Store so we chatted with him for a bit while Jenna picked out a shirt — nice guy!
Danny from the Shore Store
That night, we got cleaned up and headed downtown to The Continental for a drink. They have a specialty drink called the Capri Cooler which is a Capri Sun that they turned into an alcoholic drink so of course I had to try it! I felt a little weird drinking it, but the 4-year-old in me loved it. We tried to find another bar in the area where we could dance, but everything was either a pub or a lounge so we piled back in the car and headed to Manayuck for the college bar. We got what we wanted with some unwanted attention from the college boys. Can’t I just dance to a little MJ without anyone getting in my way?
Again, we had an early morning (vacation time) and went hiking in Wissahickon. It was beautiful! There’s a restaurant/Inn at the entrance and a wedding was being held when we were there. The hike was great — not very challenging, but good enough to get in a nice workout before going to Earth Bread Brewing for pizza. Oh yeah, and Philadelphia’s snow cone in a cup — water-ice! I got the cotton-candy flavor and it was a nice treat before lunch.
The bad side, we learned the hard way at Earth Bread that Yankees do not know what BBQ is. We ordered two pizzas; one which was delicious, the other was a BBQ chicken pizza that was not. It was topped with a dijon mustard-based coleslaw that was NOT good. No thank you.
They used recycled library books for menus
Earth Bread interiorEastern State Penitentiary was the next stop on the itinerary for the day. We decided on the guided tour which I realized we could have done without at one point. There were some interesting parts of it, but I was slightly underwhelmed. I just wanted to see the prison and hear about ghost stories or stories about the prisoners. She didn’t even mention Al Capone which is a huge draw to this site! If you go there, I sugesst hanging out for the first part of the tour and then exploring on your own since you’re allowed to do this. We had a little time after to wander around, but not enough to really see everything we wanted to. Regardless, it was still really cool and totally creepy.
Al Capone’s cell
Inside Capone’s cell 
Thankfully, Philly redeemed itself that night with the cheesesteak. We decided on Geno’s. I’ve also been to Sonny’s and Jim’s which were both really good, but it’s been so long since I had them, it’s hard to compare. Of course, we got it with cheese whiz. If you’re in Philly, you have to eat it the Philly way!
Afterwards, we went to Morgan’s Pier for a couple drinks which turned into an all night affair. This place was amazing. Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the atomosphere, but we couldn’t have picked a better spot for the night. It was on the pier (obviously) and nestled under the Ben Franklin bridge. Great view and great drinks. They serve this awesome watermelon drink (which of course I can’t remember the name of it at the moment), but they make a puree and pour a watermelon ale over it. Highly reccomended!
Sunday morning, we all woke up early to drop Jenna off at the airport and Erin and I went back to Wilmington to have brunch. We ended up in a cute part of town, just north of downtown, called Trolley Square where we ate at Eeffec. Again, the weather was perfect so we sat outside and enjoyed our coffee and talked about all the funny things that happened on the trip.
I seriously have some of the best friends a girl can ask for. So, here’s your shout out Jenna and Erin! Love y’all.
Baltimore — you’re next!
