East Coast Vacation Recap: An Authentic Philly Cheesesteak

Wanna read more about our East Coast Vacay?  Read about our plane ride out, our train ride to the city, an NYC rendevouz, and the day we spent in Washington DC.

On the day we were set to return home to sunny Southern California, we decided to see one last famous city on the East Coast: Philadelphia.  We always fly in and out of Philly (I'm like a local, shortening the name and shiz), but in all the years I've visited, I had never taken the time to see the local Philadelphia, PA sites.

Being that I married a history and politics nerd, he was excited to see things like The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, and you know me, anything to make my man happy (yeah right).

Spunkmaster Flex and Aunt Delaware joined us for our day in Philadelphia also, which was nice as we got to include both sight-seeing and some family time in our last few hours on vacation.

We spent most of our time at Independence National Historial Park, where the Liberty Bell and Hall are located, as well as some other random super important historical buildings.

HH in front of Independence Hall

 

I'm not sure whether it was actually colder in DC and Philadelphia or if I had just had enough of the freezing (read 40s) weather, but this day?  I was ready to be done with the coats and scarves and gloves and teeth chattering.  Who knew I was such a California girl afterall.

 

Glamour shot of The Bell

 

Hubs posing by Independence Hall, where something important must have happened at some point

 

The backside of The Hall

Imagine our surprise when we realized we were seeing another SCOTUS!

(Check out the DC recap if you're confused as to what the hell I'm talking about.)

 

After taking in the historical sites, we tried on something a little more my size.  Looking at some gorgeous real estate in the area.  I love me a pretty house, and the historical little row houses in Philadelphia are no exception.  I wish I could have taken some photos, because some of them were so darn cute I'd love to been able to share with you. 

 

Had we had more time in Philadelphia? I would have loved to have seen the Constitution Museum and park the car to take a long walk around the cute neighborhoods to get some better looks at the pretty little row homes in the city.

 

But alas we did not have unlimited time, but before we left the city we got to check something off the old Bucket List.  Have an authentic Philly Cheesesteak.  Spunk took us the to ultimate place to get one of these greasy sandwiches - I mean, there were literally two places on opposite corners of each other!  Talk about competition!

 

{Via}

 

In the photo above, you can see how close these two competing sub shops are from one another with Pat's in the foreground and Geno's Steaks back a ways.  These two spots are apprently so popular that sometimes their lines are touching!  They nearly were when we were there for quite a late lunch.

 

We decided on Pat's if for no other reason than it was closer to where Spunkmaster dropped us off.  We got in the line and I got nervous.  There were all these signs dictating how you should order your cheesesteak and it was intimidating.  I literally begged HH to order for me, because the guys who were taking the orders were barking at patrons.  Maybe I'm old fashioned (or who knows, maybe they are), but in my world?  You don't yell at customers, and owning a restaurant doesn't suddenly make you a damn dictator.

 

 



The worst part?  They got our freaking order wrong!  It wasn't too far off, but they managed to eff up our order.  Me thinks if you can't get it right after you yell at people for ordering improperly, you should try a new system.  But whatdoIknow.

 

So the big question - how were the (albeit messed up according to our order) steaks?  Well.  They were great.  And they were way better than the cheesesteaks you can get out here in California.  However, I gotta be honest and mention that I did not notice a huge difference between authentic Philly cheesesteaks from Philly and the fantastic steaks I've had in Wilmington and Rehobeth, Delaware.  Just an innocent California girl's opinion.

 

After sufficiently expanding our bellies with our subs, we were off to the airport and our vacation slowly came to an end.

 

Lots of hugs and some tightening in my chest as we said goodbye to our hosts.  It was the end of a beautiful trip, which I always find bittersweet.  As I get older and more established in my adult life at home, I get anxious to get home - to sleep in my bed, to cook my own meals, to get back to normal.  But at the same time, the absolute worst part of these trips to the East Coast is that most of the time when we say goodbye, we don't know when the next time we will see each other is. 

 

Aunt D and Spunkmaster, thank you for your hospitality and for taking us to see DC and Philadelphia.  We loved sightseeing with you, staying up late and chatting, and especially watching Youtube videos and Oscar-winning movies with you.  We can't wait to see you again, but I'm thinking it's your turn again and California is calling your name!  Christmas on the sand?