The Love Birds Belated Honeymoon Adventure

Day 1 - Wednesday: Our flight to Philadelphia was at 7pm, so we spent the day at work and then left late afternoon to head to the airport. We arrived in plenty of time, had some food, a nice easy flight to PHL and we had arrived at the City of Brotherly Love (From the Greek 'Philos' (loving) and 'Adelphos' (Brother)). Off to collect our rental car, then a short drive to the Red Roof Inn to get some rest before our journey continued.  Of course, we had to try the local Denny's right next door to our hotel.  We walked over after putting our bags down, and shared some nachos and I enjoyed a Diet Coke ice cream float.  After our late night snack, we went back to the hotel to get ready for bed.

Day 2 - Thursday: We awoke to grey skies and cool air and realized we could not be too disappointed - it was, after all, the end of October on the East Coast. After checking out and eating breakfast at The Philadelphia Diner, we hit the road and headed for Cape May, New Jersey. After a little unprompted mini-detour courtesy of the Sat Nav, we hit the right highways and 90 minutes later we were in Cape May. Thankfully our landlady was super friendly and let us check in early - something that all our hosts allowed us to do, thankfully (probably because it was the off-season) and so we got settled into our home for the next 2 nights, the 'Mason Cottage'. A beautiful Victorian Home one street from the beach and a 3-minute walk from the downtown area of Cape May. We admired our room, rested up a little then headed out to wander and explore for the afternoon. The town was almost deserted as the holiday season ended at the start of September, so even though a lot of places were closed up, it was great having the place almost to ourselves and not have to battle vast crowds of tourists. Day 2 ended with Pizza and Beer - the restaurants that were open were still a little out of our price range - and then sleep.

In the rental Focus excited to get on the road!

Arriving at our B&B in Cape May

Cape May, NJ is a National Historic Landmark City, which means that the original architecture must be maintained.

Day 3 - Friday: We awoke and ate a delicious breakfast at The Mason Cottage, and then went off to explore Cape May and the surrounding areas a bit more.  First, we went over to see the Cape May Lighthouse, but ended up stopping at a World War II lookout point first, and then stopped by the lighthouse (which wasn't open yet, so we didn't go inside) and watched some of the hoards of birdwatchers that were there.  Apparently Cape May is a huge birdwatcher destination.  Then, headed over to Cold Springs Village, a replica of a historic town from the 1750s to the 1850s in the area, with actual remastered buildings from that time period that were moved from their original location to be in Cold Springs.  When it isn't the off season, there are people in the village who are dressed in period garb and who teach visitors about what life would've been like in that time.  When we were there, it was totally empty except for the lady at the General Store who gave us some more information about the place. We then went to the Ferry Terminal to see about taking the Ferry over to Delaware for the afternoon, but since it was already pretty late in the day, we decided we wouldn't have enough time to explore once we got there, so we skipped the trip.  Instead, we looked on the tourist map and found an Aviation Museum nearby at the small airport they have there.  The Aviation Museum was really cool (surprisingly so to me), and we ended up exploring there for an hour or more.  We then wanted to go have lunch at the Airport Diner, but it was closed.  So instead, we headed back to town and had lunch at a little cafe there.  It was mostly organic kinds of food, but it was so good (surprisingly so to Mike).  We shared a vanilla chai tea latte, Mike had a chicken BLT sandwich with french fries, and I had a Caliphillyfornia wrap (philly cheesesteak in a wrap with home fries, avocado, and provolone cheese).  It was as good as it sounds.  Then, Mike rested back at our room while I went to the shopping area to pick up some salt water taffy at the candy shop.  After, we picked up some cheese, crackers, cold cuts, bread rolls, and a bottle of wine for a picnic back in our room before heading out for the Cape May trolley ride ghost tour...which was not nearly as terrifying as the ads in the local paper made it out to be.  After returning to the room and enjoying our picnic, we went out to explore the local night scene, and watched the final game of the World Series, followed by some live music in a local bar by the beach.

 

 

 

Scary ghost tour trolley ride!

Day 4 - Saturday: Woke up and went downstairs for another delicious breakfast by Patti our landlady, then packed up all our things to get on the road again to head to our next stop in the green itinerary folder: Atlantic City.  We drove up in the rain, and got to Atlantic city before noon, where it was very wet and cold.  We checked in at our home for that evening, The Come Wright Inn, which although we were not sure what to think of it at first glance, once we got inside and met the very kind husband and wife Innkeepers, and saw the lovely set-up they had, we were happy to be staying there.  We put our bags down, and then got back in the rental Focus to go explore downtown Atlantic City.  Very interesting place - casinos all up and down the strip that paralleled the boardwalk.  Actually was the perfect day to be in a casino town, because everything is inside anyway!  We explored and walked between the casinos, taking in all the sights as we did.  After a few hours of exploring, we headed back to the Inn for a rest and to freshen up for dinner and an evening out.  We wanted something tasty and within our price range for dinner, so we looked up some restaurants on my phone and found a Malaysian/Chinese restaurant right downtown that had gotten rave reviews.  We bundled up, hopped on the Jitney (24-hour small buses that go up and down the downtown strip and cost only $2.25 each way), and headed over to the restaurant, which was the perfect choice!!  We nommed our dinner, then ran outside into the cold to hop on the very next Jitney to head to the Tropicana casino.  Being the weekend before Halloween, there were costumes everywhere!  Very entertaining for people-watching.  We were a little bummed that we had not thought ahead and brought costumes along, but enjoyed the amusing outfits people had on nonetheless.  We explored the Tropicana, watched a costume contest, stopped at another casino - then after a little while, went back to the Inn to get a good night's rest.

At Caesar's Palace

At Bally's Wild West

Caesar was way before his time.

Day 5 - Sunday: Did our regular B&B routine of getting up and going downstairs for a yummy homecooked breakfast, then went back up to our room to get everything packed and get dressed and ready to get back on the road to head to our next and last stop of the trip: Philly!!!  We were both so exited to go to explore Philadelphia.  We arrived in Philadelphia and after struggling with the Sat Nav a bit (it gets freaked out in cities...), ended up at our home for the next 3 days: The Thomas Bond House.  This place was amazing, it used to be Thomas Bond's home and has been restored to resemble the homes of the 18th century.  The Innkeepers here were not as friendly as at the other places, but the room was fantastic - complete with a fire place, a sitting room, two windows looking out onto the main street, and a massive four poster wooden bed.  After putting our things down, we went out to do some meandering.  We walked through the Old City past Independence Hall, and then followed the tourist signs to the downtown area where we stopped and did a little shopping trying to find some Eagles gear for the game later that evening.  Unsuccessful at finding gear, we went to the Reading Terminal Market to find some food for lunch.  We ate at a new bar/restaurant in the middle of the market called Mollie Malloy's.  We were thrilled at our choice - the food was delicious and inexpensive, there was a wide variety of beers on tap, and the Rams were on tv...and they WON!  That never happens, so we were thrilled to stumble upon the game and actually leave happy with a much needed win under our belt..along with Roasted Veggie Salad, French Onion soup, Mini Braised Beef pot pies, and Sweet Potato Pound cake.  After that, we walked back to our room, and rested for awhile before getting ready to head to the subway station to get to the game.  All bundled up, we got on the train with the rest of the fans, and soon enough were at the field.  The mood was jolly, and everyone was excited for one of the biggest games of the season: Eagles vs. Cowboys.  I got my face painted, Mike got a new Eagles cap, and we went to buy a grilled sausage and beer to take to our seats with us for kick-off.  All of the fans sitting around us were very friendly, and the game started off really well with one Eagles touchdown after another.  We were happy to leave the game with a great win for the Eagles.  We then headed back to our hotel for the evening,  very tired after a very fun first day in Philly.

The entrance to our room at The Thomas Bond House 

Walking back down the street in Old City to our hotel.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake at Molly Malloy's

Lincoln Financial Field - Home of the Philadelphia Eagles

 

Day 6 - Monday: Woke up and had breakfast at the Thomas Bond House, then went off to see some of the Philadelphia historical sites.  We saw the Independence Hall, which is where the Declaration of Independence was signed.  It was very cool to hear all about the history of the site, and see the original interior of the building.  Mike especially enjoyed hearing all about when the Americans declared their independence from the British.  Then, after our tour, we went for a wander around the city, starting with a search for Philly cheesesteaks for lunch.  We finally found a place, and the sandwiches were very tasty, and we ended up stuffing ourselves because we were so hungry.  Then, we went back out to exploring and wandered to the famous "LOVE" statue, then over to China Town, and then back to the Reading Terminal Market, where Mike had an ice cream cone at the same shop where President Obama stopped for ice cream when he visited Philadelphia, and I had a gigantic sugar cookie dipped in chocolate.  Very good!  Then, we headed back to our room to rest for awhile, and then went out later that evening to explore the nightlife in Philly, and it was fun, as there were a lot of people out and about for Halloween that night.  There were these very cool little places, were beautiful interiors and lots of delicious food to try.  We ended up trying something different at each bar we went to!  After a few different places, we came back to the hotel and went to bed to get rest for our final day of the trip.

Day 7 - Tuesday: Awoke for our final breakfast of the trip, and then went upstairs to pack all of our things.  We then went for one last wander around Philadelphia, and took a horse drawn carriage ride to see some more of the historic sights.  Then, hopped back in the rental Focus to go see the Eastern State Penitentiary.  The Eastern State Penitentiary is a historic prison that was built just outside of modern day Philadelphia, and we were able to go on a self-guided tour inside the whole place.  It was incredible, yet very eerie at the same time.  After a very cool stop on our trip, we headed back to the airport to return our rental car and wait for our flight.  We were very tired, but very happy after a nice and full trip to see new and exciting places.