Philadelphia – February 2020 – Sam and Katelyn's Travels

February 21, 2020 – February 25, 2020

Where We Stayed: Shannon’s House

Trip Highlights:

Katelyn’s First Cheesesteak
Visiting Manayunk, Fishtown, and Chestnut Hill for the first time

Favorite Restaurants:

While the actual purpose of this trip was to visit the doctor in Philadelphia, we were able to enjoy a nice long weekend exploring some of the neighborhoods surrounding Philadelphia prior to the appointment.

After flying in Friday, we met up with Shannon for dinner at the obvious choice in Center City Philly: Reading Terminal Market. I enjoyed my usual, Fox and Son’s, for delicious gluten free fair food, while Sam enjoyed his usual, Hershel’s Deli.

We started Saturday morning by exploring Fishtown, a neighborhood we had heard of, but never really explored. Our first stop was the original La Colombe coffee shop, where we enjoyed pastries and delicious cold brew.

After leaving La Colombe, we wandered through Fishtown, checking out a few of the stores, before grabbing lunch at Joe’s Steaks, a restaurant known for their allergy-friendly cheesesteaks! This was my fourth trip to Philly, but my first ever cheesesteak. Despite being a little dry (likely because it was gluten free) it was pretty yummy.

We then grabbed an Uber into Center City to One Liberty Place. We took the elevator up to the 57th floor to check out the panoramic views of the city.

Of course, we also had to take a couple pictures with the shoes and head of the giant Ben Franklin as well while we were there!

We had a lazy Sunday morning before heading exploring a few of the other suburbs in the Philly area. We started out at Arcadia University, where Shannon did her undergrad and was currently a grad student, to check out the castle and rest of the university.

The rest of the day was spent driving through Chestnut Hills, Manayunk, and some of the other suburbs, before getting a delicious dinner at Iron Hill Brewery.

At the end of the day, we were ready for a nap.

This quick, but enjoyable, weekend was our last trip prior to the pandemic. Just one month later, we were in full lock down, unable to travel for the foreseeable future. It’s bittersweet, but I’m glad we were able to spend this time in Philly before the world turned upside down.