I’d left my car packed and ready at a BWI-adjacent lot before flying to Minneapolis for my brief Wisconsin visit, so it was a bummer to wake on August 3 to the news that my Spirit Airlines return flight to BWI had been canceled. I used up some American Airlines points to get the cheapest flight back I could, but it arrived at Reagan National in Virginia. So I Metro’ed up to DC, waited an hour and a half for a train up to Baltimore, Ubered to my lot, and commenced my late night drive to Philly. Despite the drastic change of plans, I pulled up only a minute after the midnight arrival time I’d forecast to my Airbnb host days before. Sometimes things just work out like that.

The Airbnb was in West Philadelphia so I’m sure I don’t even need to tell you what song was coursing through my head all morning when I got up and began exploring. After grabbing breakfast and wandering in my neighborhood for a bit, it was time to meet my friends Sam and Nikki, who’d gone to college in Philadelphia and were bussing down from Jersey City to give me a tour. They proved to be excellent tour guides and we ended up walking nearly 10 miles as we went on what I decided to be a food and art tour of the town. Notable stops included the Philadelphia Museum of Art (read: Rocky steps), a Wawa, Tattooed Mom, the Spruce Street Harbor Park, and LOVE Park. It was my first time in the historic city, and I was duly impressed by its rich culture.

Afterward, we made the relatively quick trip up to Jersey City, arriving just in time for me to set up a sunset timelapse at Hamilton Park. Nikki hosted us and continued her role as tour guide around Jersey City and Hoboken the next day.