My next trip, sans best friend, gave me the pleasure of introducing my little brother to one of my favorite U.S. cities, New York. We would actually go back not long after for a trip that would include things he was much more interested in, as he is not exactly an avid baseball fan. I wanted to make the trip worthwhile for him though, so much of our time in the city, sans the ball games, was much of what he wanted to do. Although, we were very cognizant of the fact that we didn’t have a lot of time, with only two days in the city, and two evening ball games to attend.
New York Mets
We camped outside of the city, in the Delaware Water Gap, and left for the city extremely early our first full day. Knowing we wanted to visit Coney Island, we made our way there first, finding a great parking option for our second day. It was definitely an eventful morning, too, and is a constant story that our family tells about giving my mother a good scare when her children are in a place without her (He was 16 at the time, so it was one of the first overnight experiences he had been allowed in a place she wasn’t familiar).
In our first few hours in New York, we made an attempt to ride all the coasters in Coney Island. On our final trip, my brother lost both his phone and his wallet, making it possible that our trip was ruined even before it began. Thankfully, we were able to find the entire contents of his wallet, including the cash he was keeping for me, but we never found his phone. Unfortunately, when we called my mother to let her know we were down a phone, the ever-present sirens in New York were blaring right by us.
We took the subway up into Manhattan after that, and walked around for the majority of the day, before making our way to Citi Field. It was another Blue Jays match up, which led to an extremely late night in the city.
New York Yankees
The next morning, we headed back into the city for more genuine sightseeing. We headed towards the World Trade Center Fountains, which had opened just a few summers before. While we didn’t have time for the museum, we would hit it up the next time we were in the city. Then, we headed to Ellis Island. Unfortunately, many of the artifacts from the Island were not on display due to the conservation efforts following Hurricane Sandy a few years before, but we still enjoyed our trip.
We headed toward Yankee Stadium for the evening game against the Marlins. This would be one of only two games that season that I left early. I am not often one to leave a game before completion, but the travel and days running around had gotten to us, and we didn’t have a horse in the race. With an early morning to head to Philadelphia, we decided it was a smart move.
Philadelphia Phillies
Citizens Bank Park was our first stop the next day for an afternoon game against the Orioles. We enjoyed pointing out how it seemed there was more support for Baltimore than Philadelphia, even being a mid-week afternoon game. Then, we headed for the couple of big tourist spaces in the city. We had been to Philadelphia a few years prior, but only for an international soccer match, so it wasn’t a city either of us were familiar with.
We visited Independence Hall, walked around the area a bit, and gazed at the Liberty Bell through its protective glass. Following this brief foray into the city, we headed toward our campsite, in a little place called Kennett’s Square. We enjoyed a nice evening out in the small town and learned of their Mushroom Festival. Unfortunately, I have not been able to make it back for the festival, even though I have always wanted to.
This night at camp would prove to be one of our scariest, and we were extremely fortunate as a flash flood could have gotten us. Instead of leaving at a decent hour the next morning, we actually packed up camp in the middle of the night and headed back to home base. Getting out of Kennett’s Square proved to be difficult in parts, but it was a learning experience that has helped me in other situations later in life.
Raven K 