We traveled to the City of Brotherly Love for a short weekend away and fell in love with the streets of Philadelphia. All the excitement, change and some difficult times in Philly, there is one consistency, everyone loves Philly. We try to make at least one drive a year to Philly to enjoy the ambiance, culture, and vibe.
This year we stayed overnight and visited the Philadelphia Zoo and Adventure Aquarium across the water in Camden, New Jersey. The drive from the Bronx is relatively quick to even a one day adventure would have been feasible, but we decided to enjoy as much as possible of the city especially the food and we stayed overnight.
There are various routes to get to Philly from New York City and we used our new favorite App Waze to find the fastest route. The Waze app allows you to calculate the quickest route to your destination using real-time traffic data from other Waze users. It is a large network of drivers that the App connects with to calculate speeds and real-time happenings. We use it often, and if you can get past the information overload, that includes ads and alerts you will definitely reap the benefits of finding the quickest routes to your destination.
We arrived at the Adventure Aquarium with our ticket in hand to take advantage of the summer discount. Check on their website before heading out to see if you qualify for any of the rotating discounts. Plan to be at the Aquarium for at least 3 hours to enjoy the highlights. We took out time strolling through most of the exhibitions below are our top 3 Adventure Aquarium favorites:
Sharks
Hands down the most popular of all our visits were the shark exhibits; they are impressive and extensive. At one point, we were able to touch the Bamboo Sharks at the Touch-A-Shark exhibit. Although Elias was a little nervous, he braved the water and with two gentle fingers tips pressed them against the sharks back. The Shark Tunnel gave us an opportunity to get up close and personal with Sand Tiger, Sandbar, and Nurse sharks. Shark #mysharkselfie spots also engaged us in some interactive fun during the Summer of Sharks at the Adventure Aquarium.
Pop Up Exhibit at the KidZone
The kids spent most of their time at the KidZone’s Pop Up fish tanks. They spent time peeking into the tank and finding new creatures from the unique vantage point “inside” the tank.
Penguin Island
Of course, no visit would be complete without visiting the African Penguins. During the excitement of watching the penguin huddles and silly movements, we read about how penguins are on the endangered list. In particular, African Penguins are thought to be endangered because of commercial fishing that is destroying their fragile and interconnected ecosystem.
The Aquarium Closes at 5 pm just in time to get in a Philly Cheesesteak the ultimate food staple. Although we don’t usually eat red meat, we always make the exception when it comes to authentic Philly cheesesteaks. This time, we went to Sonny’s. A bit on the pricey side but well work it.
After Sonny’s, we walked over to the waterfront for a beautifully orchestrated mix of children and adult play space. At night Spruce Street, Harbor Park becomes a bustling and relaxing space for children to enjoy each others company through play and oversize block buildings and chess. And the adults have a nice choice of beer to select from vendors that are allowed to sell within the area. Lay on a hammock or six relaxing on the Barge enjoying the views on the Delaware River.
In the morning, we were ready for some of Philly’s best breakfast at Green Eggs Cafe. We had delicious pancakes, eggs, etc. Be prepared to wait for your fixin’s you will likely have to wait 30 minutes to be seated so be prepared with some “hold them down” treats and ideas for games. The food was so good once we started that the kids ate quietly until they began to argue over the last helpings of pancakes.
Our last stop on the Philly adventure for this trip was the Philadelphia Zoo, the oldest zoo in the country. The zoo has taken on a added goal not only to expose patrons to the wonder of our earth’s animals but also to connect how human behaviors have threatened the earth and its animal kingdom. The zoo has focused its attention on ways not just to learn about wildlife but contribute to saving them globally. Besides the thoughtfully crafted interactive play space that connects to conservation, they have implemented strategies to get the word out about saving the world’s ecosystems and how everything we do is connected to nature.
Aside from the focus on conservationism the zoo has some of our favorites. Our top 3 Philadelphia Zoo favorites were:
Amur Tigers
We found the tigers as the Big Cat Falls; the Amur tiger is an endangered species due to the loss of their habitat and poaching. This incredible animal was majestic in its movements and impressive in size. The tigers ran through tunnels overhead, and everyone was in awe as we looked up at them.
Animal Grooming at the Children’s Zoo
The kids did some grooming at the children’s zoo that was a major highlight. They were able to touch the animals and groom them with brushes the zoo staff provided with instructions on how to groom.
Polar Bear
On of the adult favorites for us was the search for the Polar Bears within their enclosure. The Polar bears were beautiful and graceful large creatures. Seeing them reminded us of the fragility of wildlife especially in this time of global warming. They are listed as a vulnerable species and as more ice melts in their arctic homes the more vulnerable they will become.
Our drive back to New York City was short, traffic-free and quite since both of our munchkins had knocked out as soon as they hit their car seats. We look forward to our next visit to Philadelphia to check out more of the innovative things Philly has to offer.