Wilmington, Delaware is often an afterthought to Philadelphians. Personally, I had little to no interest in traveling there until I discovered on the Amtrak app that a train ride from Philly to Wilmington only takes 22 minutes on the Northeast Regional line. Wilmington is typically a 40-minute drive, but during rush hour that trip can balloon up to an hour and fifteen minutes.
Yesterday, on a Tuesday, myself and three friends traveled round-trip from Philly to Wilmington for $35 to attend a Wilmington Blue Rocks minor league baseball game against the Jersey Blue Claws (Nationals Vs. Phillies in the High-A League). After boarding a 4:33pm train from 30th Street Station and enjoying some beers in the dining car, we discovered that the Blue Rocks cancelled the game because of rain.
Despite the primary reason for our visit to Wilmington being cancelled, we ended up making great use of our five hours in Delaware! The Wilmington Amtrak station is centrally located along the Christina River which has a beautiful Riverwalk. Even with the sporadic rainfall we walked to Daniel S Frawley Stadium just to see what we missed and get tickets to a makeup game!
We bar hopped starting at Iron Hill Brewing, then made our way to Taco Grande, then finished the evening at a huge bar called Del Pez Riverfront. Each bar offered something different, Iron Hill was great for watching NBA Playoff games, we ate tacos and drank margs at Taco Grande, then a DJ was spinning at Del Pez until about 10pm.
The area was walkable, affordable, clean, nice, and fun! I’ve been in Philly for many years and never once have thought to go to Wilmington except for this one-off bit, but now I will be returning on June 3rd for a Brooklyn Cyclones vs. Wilmington Blue Rocks (Mets Vs. Nationals in the High-A League) game as a makeup. The roundtrip Amtrak trip was $19 and will take 20 minutes during rush hour. These tickets were free but are selling for as low as $8 on certain ticketing apps.
Keep Wilmington in mind for a silly little get away from the norm, it didn’t let me down. Have yourself a WilmingTuesday!
Wilmington, Delaware deserves a little love, try looking up “Wilmington” and you’ll see that they are getting absolutely clobbered by Wilmington, North Carolina in digital footprint and SEO discoverability. Even from Philadelphia, North Carolina appears to be Google’s preferred Wilmington; both Wilmington’s have a Riverwalk, a Minor League Baseball team, and breweries. Go to any Wilmington, I guess.
Philly Plain Dealer 
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