Road Trip With Abe...And Arielle: Day 2.64: Philadelphia, PA

We got up and talked a bit with Becca before heading out for the day to explore the city and take advantage of the nice weather. It only took about twenty minutes to get to Rittenhouse Square, which includes a beautiful park. Our first stop was at Goldie’s to try the famous tehina milkshakes. Arielle ordered the banana flavor, which she quickly got used to, though Abe discovered he didn’t like it after just two sips. Abe was excited about using his birthday credit from Sweetgreen, which was set to expire that day. His standard bowl with arugula, wild rice, tomatoes, sweet potato, raw corn, tortilla strips, and avocado was fantastic. Arielle got two pretzels and a dipping sauce from Philly Pretzel Factory to go along with her milkshake, and we sat and ate in Rittenhouse Park.

After lunch, we sought out a Smoothie King since Abe had seen signs all over nearly every restaurant about Ritual, with Smoothie King offering a discount option that would make a smoothie free! Unfortunately, we got pretty lost looking for it since it was in a mall and finally found it after about half an hour. Luckily, the people there were very nice and had stored it in a cold place while we were searching (which was especially great considering the Ritual app detected where we were and only transmitted the order when we were allegedly five minutes away so that it would be as fresh as possible).

We stopped to get a plain tehina shake to bring back for Becca and Max. Upon our arrival, we decided to go out to keep enjoying the nice day together, and sat on a rock right by the water with Becca and her dogs, Pippa and Paul, for a couple hours while Max went for a bike ride. Highlights included a girl who came over to ask about breeds for adoption and excitedly spent at least ten minutes going crazy over the dogs, thanking us repeatedly in a way that sounded like she was going to walk away, but remained; and Pippa wildly barking every time another dog came close.

We walked back to their apartment, changed for dinner, and took an Uber to Buddakan. This moderately upscale restaurant was a formidable experience. Our favorite part was the fire roasted edamame appetizer (hold the shellfish sauce). Arielle got the wok cashew chicken with tofu instead, and Abe got the black pepper beef. Everything was delicious.

We had a great time and then capped off the night by walking a few blocks to the Franklin Fountain to get ice cream. Abe got the Hydrox Cookie and Arielle got the Mint Chocolate Chip. It was great to be able to sit outside and eat.