For this week’s Passion Blog entry, I will be telling the story of another one of my all-time favorite adventure days. Last entry, I told you about a day trip through PA, MD, VA, and Washington D.C., but for this week, the vehicle of choice was public transportation and my bike.

Back to the summer of 2019 (one of my favorite years and summers), my friend Carlos and I were planning another adventure. The night before most of our daylong adventures, I sleep over his house and plan out the day together, and then we wake up and go. We were headed to Philadelphia to ride our bikes around the city.

Early that morning, we got on our bikes and rode to the nearest train station. We boarded the train with our bikes and rode for about 45 minutes until we were in Center City Philadelphia. After getting off at 30th Street Station, we immediately biked to Cira Green, one of my favorite spots to hangout in the city. I may have mentioned this before in another blog, but Cira Green is a rooftop park located along the Schuylkill River near the campuses of Drexel and UPenn in the University City neighborhood. It offers amazing views, a rooftop restaurant, public bathrooms, and an ambiance of community, nature, and relaxation. After taking some pictures, relaxing, and taking a snack break, we descended via elevator with our bikes and began riding towards the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Along the Schuylkill River lies a network of bike paths connecting various neighborhoods of the city. We rode North on these trails for about 10 minutes, eventually reaching the art museum. We biked to the top of the museum stairs (walked our bikes for that part) and took in the beautiful skyline view.

We headed down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, which begins at the art museum and ends at City Hall. Once near City Hall and in the busy Center City streets, we decided to head east towards Old City. I love the feeling of riding fast through city streets. The peaceful summer winds blowing right past me juxtaposes the hustle and bustle of the city, creating a perfect balance of peace and excitement.

After arriving in Old City, we rode past Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell center, and other nearby buildings. We rode more East to the Delaware River and explored the Penn’s Landing area, which offers carnival-style summer attractions and other fun activities.

We then rode North along the river and its adjacent streets. We were headed to Fishtown, a trendy, up-and-coming neighborhood with many food options. Carlos and I were both on a tight budget at the time, so we were looking for options with cheap food and somewhere with outside seating so we could watch our bikes. After stopping and searching for the perfect spot, we stumbled upon the gem of Fette Sau, a small cafeteria-style restaurant serving up meats, desserts, and other comfort food. Our meals were amazing, cheap (~$10), and we sat outside with our bikes. That was a WIN!

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we rode to Penn Treaty Park along the Delaware River, which offers great views of the picturesque Benjamin Franklin Bridge. We skipped some rocks into the river, took some pictures, and left. We then rode onto the bridge itself, as it has a large walking path attached. It felt weird riding above a huge river, but it was a very cool experience. We rode into Camden, NJ, so that we could say we rode our bikes to a different state (haha). Now, we were headed to the parking garage of the nearby casino in search of a great skyline view.

We were greeted by two security guard stands at the parking garage, but oddly enough, we just rode right past them into the garage. We took the elevator to the top floor, and the view was amazing. It was a little before sunset, and it looked beautiful. Now we were headed back to the train station after a long day of fun.

 

 

 

I loved this day trip because it was cheap, easy, fun, and tiring. I like the idea of exercising all day while also adventuring. It felt so free being able to ride wherever we wanted, not having to worry about a car. I hope to recreate this type of trip very soon.

Rating: 9.3/10

(please excuse the formatting of the pictures; sites.psu.edu makes it very difficult to align them precisely)