What do we know about Philadelphia

In reply to MazdaFace :

As a Rangers fan, I loathe the Flyers (almost as much as the devils and Islanders) but I agree, that mascot is fantastic..

Are you kidding?  The Phanatic is funny and a crowd pleaser. Scratchy or Grunty or whatever that new orange thing is looks like it was designed by a 3-year-old. 

In reply to Duke :

Or by Scott Stevens on a Newark airport bathroom mirror after bumping half an 8 ball in a restroom stall. 

In reply to Mazdax605 :

I have no clue.  Having driven it a bunch of times I've never had to try.  How about printing out the route you wanted, late 1990's style, appropraite for Radwood. 

In reply to Sonic :

Is Mapquest still around?

Sonic said:

In reply to Mazdax605 :

I have no clue.  Having driven it a bunch of times I've never had to try.  How about printing out the route you wanted, late 1990's style, appropraite for Radwood. 

Well played. If only I had a dot matrix printer. 

We made decent time. Leaving at about 12:00 I chose extra distance over Friday afternoon NYC traffic. I-84 to I-81 to 476 got us to the outskirts of Philly in just under four hours. The last 15 miles took about 45 minutes which I expected but the wife booked us in the Westin in city center on Priceline so it has been worth the traffic.  We had a nice steak dinner at The Prime Rib which was a short roll down the street from the hotel and it looks like Reading Terminal and Independence Hall should be walkable depending on the weather.

In reply to Wally :

Sounds like fun,pictures please?

You can't go wrong with Gritty..

If you head to Reading Terminal Market, the Amish donut place is worth waiting in line for. Their Apple fritters are big enough for two people. There is an awesome wood museum in Old City off of 2nd or 3rd street. Everything in the museum is carved out of wood-not kidding:

https://centerforartinwood.org

Best cheese steak in Philly is Delassandros hands down!

In reply to dxman92 :

I didnt wait for a donut unfortunately. The line was insane and we were taking up too much space with the chair. I may try to get in first thing tomorrow morning.

In reply to TRoglodyte :

I can’t post the ones on my camera yet but here are a few from my phone 

Our first stop from the hotel was Love Park. A “homeless” snapped a pic for us then tried to get $20 for his troubles. I was ready to go as high as $2, he should’ve held the phone if he was serious. 

 I could’ve spent the day right at this intersection snapping pics but we only had one day to see everything we were hoping to get to.

I

From City Hall we rolled our way down to Reading Terminal Market.  This could have been the end of my day.  Vendors with everything imaginable, all of it looking delicious. I picked up some snacks to bring back to the room but didn’t get too much to eat as space was tight and I was hoping to find a table. It was a mistake, I am planning a trip back at some point.

From there we headed across Market St. it had an amusing 80s NYC feel to it. I could people watch for hours there and it seemed like we were very close to seeing a 3 card Monte game breaking out. My wife hadn’t seen this before and was enthralled, the guys drinking (and spilling on themselves) what looked like homemade booze. 

The Historic District was fun. We didn’t go into Independence Hall because of the line but checked out the other sights in the area. There’s something odd about having to go through a metal detector, then get patted down because your steel wheelchair sets off the detector the three times they push you through, to see the Liberty Bell. I also learned my hairline is receding worse than I thought. It might be time to wear more hats.

The walk back to the hotel was a straight walk up Chestnut St. this was good as my legs and wrists were getting tired. I love old buildings and there were several here.  The sidewalks are also annoyingly pitched more than they need to be so I wa fighting the chair to stay on course more than I’d have liked.

We stopped and got cheesesteaks at Steve’s Prince of Cheesesteaks.  They are probably not the best steaks in Philly, or as good as the ones everyone recommended, but they were right behind our hotel. I didn’t want to pull the Buick out of the garage so they were going to do.  There were two steps to get in but when the kid behind the register saw us at the door he had someone run around the side and open a fire exit with no steps. The steaks were good, and clearly made from actual steak unlike the glorified SteakUmms I’m used to at home.  The rolls were nice Italian bread and the fries were not too greasy. They’re open til three so I may go back later. 

It will probably surprise no one that I never kept up with googles expectations of how fast I would walk. 

Radwood Philly was amazing! So glad we made the trip down from MA. Long drive, but totally worth it. Wish we had more time in Philly as we didn't do much of the tourist stuff (flyers game at 1pm took a big chunk of our Saturday) as a lot of the stuff was closed by the time we got downtown. 

It was great getting to meet you guys there.  This was the most fun we've had at a car show in a long time. Everywhere we went today The Wife was showing off pictures of the people there and laughing.  I spent a good chunk of the ride home explaining that if we got one of those cool little vans she could have stretched out on the ride home, and with 4WD we could go on the beach.  

I’ve got a ton of pics to go through, here are some I’ve uploaded so far:

Brad, who put this all together:

I really want a set of these wheels:

Before:

After:

Mazdax605 said:

What's the best way to get to Philly from the New England area? 

I live in Philly and currently work in Portsmouth, NH - so I do this drive a lot.

A lot. 

It depends on the time of day. Getting up here, I leave at 4 AM Monday morning, take the NJTP to the GWB, then up 87 to the Cross-County to the Hutchinson to the Merritt to 91 to 84 to 90. If the traffic is tolerable, I take 290 to 495 to 95 and here.  Today, traffic was less tolerable on 290 so I took 90 to 495.  The GWB at 5:30 AM is usually pretty easy to deal with since most drivers crossing at that hour know what they're doing and where they need to be, so traffic moves.  Tourists stick out like a sore thumb.  I literally make time on the Google ETA estimate when crossing the GWB as everyone is usually doing 25+ more than the speed limit.

Home is pretty much the reverse, although lately Google traffic has sent me down the Henry Hudson rather than 87 to the GWB back into NJ.  This is with me leaving NH at around 6:30 Friday which gets me home around midnight. 

I'll switch it up sometimes, taking 84 to 87 and then 287 and home via non-toll roads (this is oddly the cheapest way home at under $5). Sometimes skipping the GWB and crossing at the Tappan-Zee (which is much better now that it's been rebuilt/replaced - at least at 10 PM on a Friday).

Sometimes I do what I call "the CT by-pass route" taking 90 all the way out to Albany and then down 87 to 287.  This take a LOT longer, but is generally less stressful - except last week when there was an accident on 90 which caused about a 20 min delay.  I more often do this route when going north, but leaving in the early afternoon, as long as I'm on 87 heading north before 3pm it's usually pretty good.

I've also had Google send me down 91 to 95, avoiding the Merritt which can back up badly if there's an accident or construction.

Although I can (and have) done this drive in my sleep, I always run Google maps for the traffic, which has saved me a few times over the years sending me down alternate routes when there's a accident or something.

Did I mention I do this drive a lot? 

Glad you had a good time in Philly, Wally.  It gets a bad rap at times, but it's really not that bad.

In reply to Ian F :

i really enjoyed it and am planning to go back at some point.  Every city has it's issues but everywhere we went we had fun. It's nice that all the old buildings haven't ben torn down and replaced by plain glass towers like other places.