Picture this. It’s 5 p.m. on a Thursday evening. My friend Ariane and I have plans to visit an Orlando corn maze on Saturday. It’s fall and we’re desperate, the closest Orlando’s gotten to cold is 75 degrees and everything is still a vibrant shade of green.
If you weren’t aware, Orlando’s corn mazes suck. There’s a seven-acre one that costs like $30 which was not something I wanted to do.
Curious, I look at flights.
“Maybe it will be cheap to fly somewhere,” I think to myself.
Low and behold, Philadelphia for the day is $40. For only $10 more than the sad corn maze, we decide to book the trip and jet up to Pennsylvania for some real fall vibes.
To round off the day, my friend Rebecca plans to drive up from Virginia to join us.
There were two options for an early flight. One left at 5:30 a.m. while the other at 7:30. Sacrificing two hours of exploring for our sanity, we opted for the later one.
We pulled up to Orlando Airport around 6:15 to no line at security.
Here we are getting on the plane about an hour later:
We didn’t really have anything to bring, so we were some of the last to board. Ariane had an aisle seat a few rows behind me while I had a window seat.
It turned out to be fantastic, as the views heading north were gorgeous. We took off into the tail end of a sunrise.
Before leaving Orlando we passed over the University of Central Florida (my alma mater!)
We followed the ocean pretty much the whole way up the coast.
After about an hour, the flight passed over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in Southern Virginia.
And continued along the Eastern Shore.
I’m not sure why, but we had to make a circle around Downtown Philadelphia, it was cool to see the skyscrapers!
After swinging back, we crossed the Delaware River and landed in Pennsylvania!
My friend Rebecca was waiting for us outside and whisked us all into the city. It started raining pretty much as soon as we got there, but was thankfully just a passing shower.
We passed by a pretty cool looking neighborhood with a trail jutting over the Schuylkill. I definitely want to check it out at some point.
Our first stop was the Rittenhouse Square Farmers Market, but not before battling the parking demons. Calm, cool and collected Rebecca miraculously found a spot without too many trips around the block. I was more than impressed with my friend.
At the Farmer’s Market, the stalls had tons of cool things, but the flowers and pumpkins stole the show.
They also took the best of both worlds by putting these flowers IN a pumpkin! I mean, does it even GET better than this!?
The square itself was gorgeous. The leaves were just starting to change and there were tons of families out and about. I took another moment appreciating the community feel that Orlando lacks.
After completing the farmer’s market, and still riding on the coattails of a very early morning, we wandered around to find a place to sit. It brought us to this little square with a fountain!
The break restored a lot of energy and we were back in the city walking around the shops of Chestnut Street.
After a strange experience at the Madewell, we decided to head to the Reading Terminal Market.
Right after walking in, I got distracted by some Amish-made baked goods and lost the two girls. A hoarde of people pushed them away as I continued to be enamored by my beacon of light (a bunch of treats). Eventually we regrouped and continued our journey around the market.
I found these cool Phillies cupcakes
And these tempting Pumpkin Cookies.
AND these HUGE turkeys, waiting to be devoured.
Back in the fruit section, we lamented about the lack of fresh, locally grown produce at Orlando’s farmers markets before spotting a fall festival outside!
It was adorable, with more Amish-made treats, a scarecrow contest, axe throwing and even a live band!
I grabbed some Apple Cider Donuts and we made our way back into Center City.
There was an impromptu photoshoot in front of City Hall about a block away.
Followed by another in front of statues commemorating our founding fathers.
On the way back to the car, we walked into another fall festival. This one had a maze made out of hay barrels. As we walked up, the guy told us we had to be like 75″ to do it, so we disappointedly turned away. It turns out he was kidding, but he let the bit go on for way too long. We ended up just leaving after that embarrassment.
At this point it was approaching our tour time for Independence Hall. It’s a lot like the Washington Monument, you have to reserve tickets ahead of time to see the site. After finding a parking spot, we decided to pass some time by seeing the Liberty Bell. That was quickly thwarted by a 20 MINUTE WAIT.
We saw it through the glass instead since we were running late to our tour of Independence Hall.
Unfortunately, we misread the fine print and had already missed our tour… lol. Note to everyone, they want you to show up 15 minutes before.
We ended up walking around the grounds and grabbing a few photos of the Hall.
Even though we missed our time, they let us into the secured area to see the building up close.
In need of a drink, we wanted to swing by some bars. After a quick search of nearby watering holes, we found a brewery with a Pumpkin Cider and decided to seek it out. On the way, we randomly saw about five weddings getting pictures in front of Independence Hall. Nothing screams romance like our founding fathers!
Also on the way, it started raining. It wasn’t pouring, but we were looking forward to taking shelter in the bar… until we came across an outdoor beer garden. Don’t get me wrong, had it been sunny, it would have been lovely.
Regardless of the wet afternoon, we got pumpkin seltzers from Downeast. They were so good we didn’t even mind the rain.
It took a bit of maneuvering to evade the downpour in the spotty cover, but we tried our best.
Finishing our drinks we were close to Elfreth’s Alley, one of the country’s oldest streets. We walked a few blocks through the tapering weather and poked aorund the neighborhood.
Bonus points for the historically accurate Ford pickup truck that was parked in the road:
I’ve always wanted to check out Fairmount Park. Figuring the leaves would be pretty, we drove across town and found a place to park next to the Museum of Art.
Though the leaves weren’t as colorful as I was hoping, the walk exceeded all of our expectations.
It was like, perpetually golden hour and the weather was perfect.
I also got a text from my nightmare roommate (another story) saying he was moving out, so that probably also contributed to the good mood.
We ended up walking north about half a mile before turning around.
Had we kept going, the trail continues along the Schuylkill River all the way to Philly’s outskirts.
On the way back to the car we climbed up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum. The view was INCREDIBLE.
It was a perfect shot down Benjamin Franklin Parkway toward Center City.
On the walk back down to the car, we made a reservation for this cute Italian place for dinner.
In the process of driving to the restaurant, of which we are all excited, Frontier indefinitely delayed our flight.
Weighing our options, we decided the best choice was to purchase a new flight that left in just under two hours. Suddenly what was supposed to be a relaxing evening in the city turned into a mad dash to the airport.
Thankfully, in equal parts due to low traffic and Rebecca’s incredible driving, we made it to the airport!
Ariane and I were starving and in the mood for Italian, so we got pizza from what was probably the worst pizza place I’ve ever been to.
Our new flight took off on time and we were back over Norfolk just over an hour later.
The two hour flight flew by and we were back in Orlando before we knew it, dreaming of the season we left behind.
Was the trip worth it? 100%.
Turquoise Skies 