Parading Around

On Friday, we did a day trip to Philly for the Eagles' Super Bowl parade. This post recaps that experience . . . and what a day it was.

The party: me, my three kids, my friend, one of this kids. Six total.

The plan: leave at 6:30am, get to Wilmington Delaware to catch a regional rail to Philly, watch the parade, and do the same in reverse.

What happened: 

We left on time, got 15 miles down the road . . . and got a flat tire. Pulling over by a BGE substation, we called a tow truck, but when their time of arrival was (potentially) an hour or more, we opted instead to put the spare on ourselves and return home, get my friend's van, and try again.

We left (again) from our home, but this time at 8:00am. The last train departed Wilmington at 9:30 . . . and it takes about that long to get there. It was going to be close. We made good time but couldn't find parking once we arrived; that, plus a long line and uncertain status of the last train (would we fit or not?) led us to keep driving to Philly.

We arrived in Philadelphia at 11:00am, slowed by bad traffic outside the city. Mercifully, we found parking easily (at 8th and Market Street, just east of city hall). The parade started at the time we arrived, but we suspected we had time to get in place; they started at the stadium and would take hours to go north on Broad Street before snaking around city hall and heading northwest to the Art Museum.

people standing on the johns . . . dicey  move

Finding a good spot was hard (good spot meaning we could actually see the buses once they came through). Seven years ago, we had done something similar but taken the train and arrived much earlier; this time, we were dozens of people from the front. As the barriers prohibited crossing the main thoroughfare, we were stuck on the east side of the route. We snaked around city hall (north, then south, then north again) before ending up in Love park. We ended up with a reasonable view given the circumstances; 80 feet from the road. The map below shows the route (in red) and were we parked/walked (in black).

our view

We got as close as we could and hunkered down to wait. And then . . . something magical happened. Jason Kelce, recently-retired Eagles legend, just happened to walk right through the crowd about 10-15 feet from us:

It was very cool to see him with the fans. (He would later jump onto the parade route and walk down the street with the team.) At one point, a fan handed him a beer, he chugged it, and kept walking.

As we waited, the crowd really pressed in. I started growing concerned for my youngest, who could have been smothered. I kept a small bubble around him as best I could.

Finally, around 12:45pm, the buses came into view. The crowd went wild, phones went up, and I had to keep lifting my youngest above the throng so he could see. (I'm still sore . . . but it was worth it.) The below video was taken by my daughter.

There were more buses than I remembered from last time. At least five, maybe seven or more. It may have taken 20 minutes all told for them to go by, based on the slow pace and frequent stops. The players were spread throughout (the owner, coach, GM, and Jalen Hurts were in the front bus . . . probably more, but I couldn't see everyone). We saw Jalen, Zack Baun, Dallas Goedert, and a few more people I don't recall now. Each one of us may have seen different players based on where we were looking.

After they passed, the crowds largely dispersed, forced by the barriers to head east. I then noticed they had modified Love Park's iconic sign to read "Love, Hurts." Nice.

Heading east led us to Reading Terminal Market, where we swung in, waited in a long (but fast-moving) line for Beiler's Doughnuts, and then kept heading back to our car, stopping one more time for Philly's Pretzel Factory twists (or a cheesesteak). 

We left around 2:30pm, getting one last view of the Linc (the Eagles' stadium) on the way out. 

We got home at 5:30 or thereabouts; traffic was predictably slow getting out of the city.

Reflections

It was a long day . . . was it worth it? The kids gave a resounding "yes." We couldn't get as close as I hoped, but it was very cool seeing Kelce so close, and it was a fun atmosphere regardless of your view. "Everyone is so nice here," said my daughter. (I definitely saw some tense moments between people jostling for a view, but that aside, she was right.) It is fun to be in a crowd of people united. To celebrate regardless of personal inconvenience. To enjoy the moment.

Would I do it again? Depends on how quickly the Birds win their next one. It is a chore going up and back in a day. But you never know when you'll get moments like this, so taking advantage was wise.