Happy New Year New Place 2023! If you’re new around here, let me give you a little background. When I turned 20 (in 2016), I made a goal to myself to go one new place every year. I’ve been lucky enough to be going strong so far, making this year’s trip my 7th! If you’re interested in checking out previous blogs, head to the “New Year New Place” tab in the header under Blogs.
If you’ve been following for a while, you’d know I have a track record of my first days not going according to plan. More recently, I seemed to have had good luck on my side. Today didn’t go 100% according to plan, but it definitely wasn’t as bad as I’ve experienced before.
This year I decided my new place would be Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While I’ve been to PA in the past for family trips, I haven’t ever been to Philly. Plus, living in CT allows me the chance to drive instead of fly, which is great as I’ve had a lot of flights already this year (it’s wedding szn baby!).
I left early Friday morning, and luckily I wasn’t impacted by the recent I95 overpass fire/break. The place I’m headed? Philadelphia Zoo!
If you don’t know, Philly Zoo was the first zoo in the US. Not only that, but they are the first zoo to have implemented Zoo360 – an animal navigation system. I thought they were the only, but some of their materials seem to note otherwise, although I cannot find anything online. Zoo360 is a campus-wide network of see-through mesh trails that allow zoo animals to explore beyond the confines of their enclosures. Not only do I think this is an amazing idea, but I cannot believe it isn’t implemented in every zoo.
The great thing about going to this zoo is it’s included in the Philly GoCity Pass. If you’ve been a follower of these trips, you’ll know I am a HUGE fan of these passes as they grant you admission into many top attractions in the city while saving you money. They offer these types of passes in major cities, and I’ve used them multiple times without any issues. I’ll also be using this pass to see a majority of places tomorrow.
Now the part that didn’t go as planned – it was down pouring when I arrived. Thunderstorms not only mean that the Zoo360 is closed, for the safety of the animals, but also that the animals aren’t likely out and about. I was only able to see the animals that also have indoor enclosures, which is limited.
I was able to see some newborn naked mole rats whose eyes weren’t even open yet. I will say, they’re not even remotely close to as cute as Rufus from Kim Possible, but they were still interesting to watch!
I then got to see some Rodriguez Fruit Bats, Francois Langurs, Dwarf Caimans, and Anacondas in their Rare Animal Conservation Center.
The only animals that seemed to still be out despite the rain were the Penguins and Bald Eagles. Even the Flamingos were inside!
The zoo also has a dinosaur exhibit filled with very realistic animatronics. Luckily, I recently watched the newest Jurassic Park so I knew what a Giganotosaurus was, otherwise I would’ve thought it was a T-Rex. It was all pretty impressive to be honest.
By the time I was done there, the rain was nearly gone. I was hoping the animals would start to come out again, but I wasn’t so lucky. However, the day became significantly better when I realized they had an indoor primate exhibit! If there’s one thing I love and could watch for hours, it’s monkeys. The gorillas were pretty relaxed in the beginning, but eventually they started becoming more active. I watched some tumble around, pick and eat from each other’s back, eat leaves and berries from the branch – and even strip the branch itself!
I headed over to the other area of the exhibit where two White Handed Gibbons were, quite literally, monkeying around! It was similar to watching siblings play when they’re younger. I think I also got some insight into how the monkey in the middle game came out be.
I was hoping since the sun was starting the come out, the rest of the animals would too, however I didn’t have much luck with the big cats. I did about three laps around the zoo seeing more and more animals each time, but unfortunately, they were never out. Nonetheless, I was still excited to get to see bears, a rhino, a giraffe, a red panda, otters, and hippos!
While I will say it’s disappointing I didn’t get to see the Zoo360 in all of it’s glory, I still got to see plenty of animals which made for a great visit.
I spent quite some time at the zoo, about 4 hours, which was longer than expected but worked out perfectly as I had to pick up some people shortly after… SURPRISE! This year’s trip also features my parents!
My dad actually gave me the idea to come to Philly as it’s one of the places he’s always wanted to visit, and after some flight checking, the plans were set in motion for them to join! This is very exciting as I’ve now had many friends and family tag along these trips.
Once we had everyone, we were on our way to our next stop : The Navy Yard. Here you’ll find a Navy base with some retired naval ships, buildings, and even cannons. Not only that, but much to my surprise – the Urban Outfitters Headquarters.
After Urban became too big for their Center City space, they took over nearly half of the former base. When I tell you their buildings are amazing, they’re amazing. As if I wasn’t already in awe looking through their windows, I happened to stumble upon an open door leading inside. (Urban if you’re somehow reading this, the door was open and I just took a gander… 🙂 )
In my defense, the building is open to the public, however closes at a time earlier than I arrived. Plus, the door was open practically inviting me in! And boy am I glad I accepted.
The inside of this building is astonishing. From their greenery to their sitting areas, from the meditation pond to the Koi pond, from their glittery wall to their upstairs fitness area, and finally an amazing view of the USS JFK Aircraft Carrier – astonishing. So Urban, if you’re still somehow reading this, and are hiring, hit a girl UP, because I will seriously consider!
The last stop of the Navy Yard tour was the Goldfish Building. And that’s exactly what it sounds like. There’s a building with a flooded basement (that apparently no one cares to do anything about), that literally has goldfish swimming in it! Not every day you see that!
Next Stop: Food. You can’t come to Philly without having a cheesesteak of course, and I had a few people let me know of some touristy rival shops to visit. However, I heard straight from a Philly native, my new sister-in-law, of a local spot that we just had to check out. Insert : Ishkabibbles. They have a variety of menu items including a standard cheesesteak, but then also a chicken cheesesteak! I didn’t even know there was such a thing. They also have a signature drink, The Gremlin – half grape juice and half lemonade. If you’re questioning how that tastes, don’t. It was amazing.
It’s also important to note that Philly parking cops have nothing better to do than walk around giving everyone tickets. Including me! I was parked for 5 minutes while we got our food, and sure enough, as we walked out she was writing a ticket. Then claimed she ‘couldn’t delete the picture’ that SHE took herself. Guess you didn’t visit Philly if you didn’t get a ticket, right?😅
The only other place to go now was our hotel. We got checked in, ate our delicious food, and relaxed for a moment before my mom and I decided to check out the rooftop. What initially was an attempt for her to smoke a cigarette with some views, quickly turned into a cover charge and us finding out the rooftop was actually a bar, restaurant, and club mix. Wearing our flip flops, crocs, leggings, and t-shirts, we were most definitely out of place, but stuck around for a drink. The overall vibe was very nice, and the drinks were delicious!
Now we’re back in our room, showered, and they’re sleeping while I write this blog for you! It’s after 2am now, but you won’t be seeing this until 8am the earliest when it gets posted.
We have a jam-packed day tomorrow that I need to rest up for, so be sure to follow along by subscribing so you get an email every time I post! Feel free to also leave a comment below with your thoughts, and share to your friends 🙂
Until next time ❤
TRAUDTSTWOCENTS 