Summer Sixteen was full of travel adventures. The second trip of the summer was a trip with my girls, my bestie bestie BFFs, my college roommates. These two special girls are my sister Rasheda, and my best friend Courtney. For the past 3 years we’ve been taking a summer adventure, but this one would be different. This could possibly be the last summer trip for a few years due to adding some extra initials behind our name. In addition to our college degrees, by 2020, we will be a PhD, RN, and MBA. This trip had to be extra special, and what better place to do this than the Windy City, Chicago! This would be exciting since neither of us had visited before, and on 4th of July weekend. 

Being the natural planner that I am, I immediately began to ask for recommendations, look for hotels, and find must see Chicago attractions. We needed an agenda but not bound by time stamps. No wasting time sitting in the hotel trying to figure out things to do for the day.  A loose agenda was formulated and we were ready to begin our adventure. We all met in Atlanta airport ready to take on the city. We walked the airport ready to board our 9p flight to Chicago. Well, the wind was knocked out of our sails when we had to sit in the airport until after 3a to depart. We made it to Chicago right before sunrise; the sun rising over Lake Michigan made up for it! After catching a few hours of sleep it was time to start on our adventure, and our first stop was brunch! We loosely followed our agenda throughout our trip to include, the Navy Pier, a river cruise through the city, a blues show at Buddy Guys, Garretts popcorn, Chicago pizza at Giordano’s, and of course some shopping. 

We packed a lot of sightseeing and adventures into the trip, but nothing like the memories we will cherish forever. These ladies are more to me than friends, they’re my sisters! I’m so proud of them for continuing to reach their goals. Even though the next trip isn’t penciled in yet, we continue to make memories during the periods we all are in the same city! Our friendship continues to grow despite the miles between us, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Summer 2016 can be summed up in one word TRAVEL, and I enjoyed every bit of it. My first trip of the summer was to Philadelphia,PA. My sister was accepted into the PhD program for the fall and needed to find an apartment. This would be the first time either of us had been to Philadelphia, but we were up for the challenge. The purpose of my trip was two-fold: find an apartment, and visit love park. As long as I can remember love park was on my bucket list, and this was my chance to cross it off. During our visit, we chose to stay in an AirBnB. It was a pleasurable experience, and I’ll definitely use them again. The first day of apartment shopping was anything but stellar. After not finding the first complex, to being up on by the landlord, we decided to pause and regroup. So we headed to find a famous Philly Cheesesteak. We asked around for recommendations and was actually  in the area and decided to try one out.  Please note: when looking for a Philly cheesesteak, do not go to the tourist recommendations. Our first experience of a Philly cheesesteak, we were not impressed. We headed for some comfort food- ice cream! Ice cream always makes the day better. Day 2 was a lot better for apartment hunting, and sissy even picked up some applications; things were looking up. Day 3 we looked at the remaining options and even had a second look from day 2 to make a decision. Sissy pooh decided on a studio apartment for her first living domain in the city of brotherly love. 

Our days were spent handling business, while our nights were spent exploring the city, and enjoying each other. The weather still had a chill in the air in June with the high in the 50s some days. Each day we walked between 13-15 miles, but it didn’t feel like it. We were walking, talking, and taking in the scenery around us. We quickly learned that we weren’t in the south, and they didn’t have any sweet tea! Night time adventures included dinner at a local favorite, beer gardens, watching the NBA finals, and a drag show. Our last full day there we had some extra time to explore, and visited love park. We arrived and it was a construction zone. My heart dropped. I knew I was in the right place from looking at maps and pictures, but the love statue wasn’t there. I was devastated. I looked all around until I found it across the street. All was right in my world at that point! We also visited the liberty bell. After seeing pictures in history books all my life, it was great to see it up close in person. 

Trip to Philadelphia was a success. I’m looking forward to visiting again now that my sister is settled in!