This past weekend I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with the Hardersen family in Philadelphia to help kick off their vacation. Philly is a little less than 2 hour drive away and I’ve been itching to check it out for awhile, so when the Hardersens invited me to join them I couldn’t say yes fast enough. You know what else is awesome? I got a round-trip bus ticket from MegaBus for $2.50. Score! 

This was one trip I really didn’t do any research prior to my arrival. Usually I look up a city map and at least try and figure out places I’d like to visit, but I decided to wing it for the first few hours I was alone in the city. So as I stepped off of the bus, I really had no idea where I was going to go or how I was going to get there. Sometimes you just need those kinds of adventures in your life though..

When I got off the bus I headed to what appeared to be the train station in search of transportation. There is something magical to me about old train stations. I’ve never been in one that didn’t transport me back to their prime while being awed by the majestic architecture. Decades since trains are not our main form of long distance transportation, they still stand with such beauty. 

My initial hunch of finding transportation at the train station was a success and I found the subway line and my first destination of the day, Reading Terminal Market. I had a rough start to figuring out the subway system and a few run-ins with some unhelpful and rude people.. but I wasn’t going to let them rain on my parade and I figured out which direction I needed to head.

While I may not have had the best first impression of Philly’s subway system, I will say that Philly along with Boston’s subway systems are much nicer and cleaner than ours in New York. A few short stops later I was on my way and at Reading Market. I headed to this destination first for one reason…. FOOD! By that time in was after 1 p.m. and I hadn’t eaten yet for the day so that was something that needed to be taken care of. I sure came to the right place for food too. The market was huge! Full of eateries of every ethnicity and type of meal you could want. I had my eye on one in particular though. Being the little foodie that I have become, I was in search for DiNic’s Pork and Beef. 

Why DiNic’s? The restaurant was featured this summer on Adam Richman’s Best Sandwich in America on the Travel Channel. Not only was it featured, but their roast pork sandwich with provolone and broccoli rabe won! 

The line was long, but I had a few hours to kill before the Hardersens arrived and decided nothing else was going to do for my first meal of the day other than this sandwich. I probably waited near 40 minutes, but it was well worth the wait. The pork is cooked italian style and was some of the juiciest I have ever had. And their bread? To die for. It had a light taste of garlic and was the perfect combination of being soft inside with a little crunch on the outside. You know I enjoyed it because I ate the WHOLE thing! That never happens.. I’m the queen of leftovers! I think the combination of the level of my hunger mixed with the sandwiche’s deliciousness put me over the edge though.

By the evening I was reunited with the Hardersens and their friends and we did a little more exploring before heading for an amazing dinner to celebrate Kathy’s birthday at The Palm!

The next day we were up early and ready to make the rounds of the city. For this trip, we took a bus tour on a double-decker bus around the city. Such a great way to learn about the city and see the sights!

Philly was an interesting city because it has a lot of history because it served as a temporary capital of the city before Washington D.C. was finished, but it also didn’t seem to flow very well. Maybe I felt like this after just visiting D.C. in August, but there were some really beautiful buildings and historic sites, but then right next store there was a modern sculpture. Sometimes cities can mix the two seamlessly, but I didn’t get that vibe here. 

Something that I can really appreciate about Philly is.. Benjamin Franklin! If there was one thing I really enjoyed about the city, it was learning about Benjamin Franklin, who I am convinced never slept. Did you know he started the first post office, helped start libraries, hospitals, and the fire department? Let’s not forget he also signed the declaration and was one of the founding fathers of our country. I can also safely say, he seemed to have ran things in the city of Philly. You can’t go far there without being near something he touched.

Another thing I can appreciate about the city is their cheesesteaks! A quality food staple that has come from the city!

I truly had such a wonderful time with the Hardersens and am so happy I was able to check Philly off my city list! We saw… and conquered! If you want my humble travel opinion on the major east coast cities from my experience though.. I would suggest the following: If you have the option to visit New York, DC, Boston, or Philly.. I’d stick to one of the first 3 and skip the latter. There are definitely some cool things about the city but I have to say it is my least favorite of the 3. Travel on!

After our great visit with the Hardersens at Alder Lake we headed south towards Eugene! We made a short stop in Portland for the Pine State Biscuits experience first though. I’ve been talking about this place with Chris since I met him, so we were both very happy the day had finally come for him to try their heavenly goodness combination of fried chicken, gravy, bacon, cheese and biscuits.

After we were full and happy, we headed another two hours south to my beloved college town to go watch the ducks beat up on Arkansas State.

I’ve never sat in Autzen in any other place than the student section so it was a new experience for the both of us! The ducks absolutely dominated their opening game though so it was a fabulous night! We turned in pretty early after the game after pure exhaustion of me dragging Chris around the whole PNW in such a short amount of time! As Chris said though, this was my last “big” adventure until after football season.. had to make it count right?! How is it that football takes up all of Saturday, Sunday, Monday night, and now Thursday too? Well, that’s another blog post.. but anyways we still had some ground to cover!

The next morning we got up early and ventured around campus. I hadn’t been back in a few years so I was pleasantly surprised by all of the new buildings and changes! Well, except for the fact that Allen Hall aka my home for two years and the journalism building is under construction for renovations! I’m all for renovations, but I must say I was a little sad that the building won’t ever be the same as it was when I went there! I guess that’s how the world works though. The only constant is change!

Another change include this hefty gate in front on my freshman dorm! Now it looks even more like a prison! Rumor has it the guy who designed the Bean dorms also designed prisons. Not sure if it is true, but I wouldn’t doubt it.

Nor for some new buildings! The new basketball arena and alumni center! WOW! These buildings were incredible! Uncle Phil has been taken care of campus well ;-)

Our next stop was at VooDoo Doughnut. This is another destination Chris had on his “must see” list for the PNW. Lucky for him, a new location opened in Eugene so we got to check it out and skip the long line and wait in Portland.

Of course when it came time to ordering, we couldn’t decide on just a few so we ended up getting 6. Some for the road right? 

That sugar-high got us back up north to Portland for a quick visit in the city and meet-up with some of my friends before heading back to Washington!

Woh, what a trip! I didn’t want it to end… but alas it had to. We enjoyed our last day at my dad’s house for a wonderful BBQ with family and lots of delicious food. I was so happy that we fit everything in and we still had a day left for some quality family time and for everyone to meet Chris. Thank you to everyone who made our trip so amazing! 

On to day 6 of my trip! Chris officially arrived Wednesday night and we were ready to hit the state! What better way to start off our trip than a walk around the big old town of Wilkeson! Luckily, Chris seemed to adapt pretty well. Take someone from a city of 8 million and go to a little over 400 and you don’t really know how they will react! He actually enjoyed my mom’s little town a lot though and was pretty impressed that we had a coffee shop right down the block. I also caught him taking quite a few pics of the scenery (which he NEVER does) so all was good!

After a little tour of the town we headed to our bigger little city of Enumclaw to the world famous, Kettle. We talked Chris into ordering a full order of a scramble and boy was he impressed! He also realized even with his appetite it was enough for 3 days…

After we were stuffed to our gills with homegrown goodness, we headed to Seattle!

We really lucked out because the weather was absolutely perfect! Don’t worry I let Chris know our weather is ALWAYS that great. Year round ;-) After adventuring around Pike Place and Westlake we headed down to the waterfront to see what the new ferris wheel was all about.

I have to say I think it’s a pretty great addition to the waterfront! Great views of the city, water and if the clouds would have rolled out of the area probably the mountains too.

After riding the wheel, we walked along the waterfront and then walked up to Seattle Center.

Once we made it to the top of the hill from the waterfront we found some great grass below the Space Needle that was calling our names to rest. Not a bad view either huh?

We spent the rest of the afternoon adventuring through Seattle Center, which would become Chris’ favorite part of Seattle we visited.

For the evening, we had to take a 3 hour break for Chris to draft his fantasy football league from a Barnes and Noble.. true story. Then we headed to Serious Pies for dinner before ending the night in Green Lake to visit with my friend Lindsey for some delicious fro-yo. As our trip to Seattle came to an end I realized there is so much more exploring I need to do in our own great WA city! For living so close to it growing up, I certainly don’t know my way around or many of the neighborhoods. One day… one day…

On day 8, we were off to the mountains! AKA Big Foot land. I was really excited about this part of our trip because something that is seriously lacking in New York, and something I desperately miss, is MOUNTAINS!

By the time we made it up to Paradise, the clouds had taken over Mt. Rainier but we couldn’t complain about the beautiful weather up there, clouds or no clouds. It felt so good to get out into nature and appreciate it in all of its beauty, and the air smelled amazing! You really can’t compare anything to fresh mountain air. I wish I could can it and bring it back to the city!

After a fun adventure-filled day we headed toward Alder Lake to meet up with Hardersens to camp for the night! I hadn’t been camping in years and Chris had only been once, in his WHOLE life! So we were pretty excited for camping and to see the Hardersens! They were so generous to us during our trip by allowing us to borrow their car and join their camping trip and we truly couldn’t be more thankful!

After we made it to the lake (which is BEAUTIFUL, by the way) we were off to pitch the tent! After a little struggle, mostly on my part, we finally got it up properly! Woh hoh!

After all of the real hard work was done it was time for some relaxation, an amazing fish fry for dinner and smores around the fire! I must add that the Hardersens don’t just camp they go “glamping”! Let’s just say I’m not sure ordinary camping will ever be able to compare now that I have “glamped” ;-)