Philadelphia tourists

We got up early because I read the parking garage had an "early bird special" that would save us $7. Yeah, I know - cheap but it also meant we had more time to see the sights. We arrived at the parking by 8:45AM and went to the visitor center to get free tickets for touring Independence Hall.

We found that Philadelphia had "Duck" tours as well and since we had to miss them at Boston we decided to get tickets for them as well.

The tour of Independence Hall was really good and very powerful. They had a brief talk about the different events that had occurred there - the meetings and then creating of the declaration of Independence and then years later the Constitution. We then got to see the room where the actual meetings occurred. It was really awe inspiring knowing that this was the location that our country really was born. The Declaration of Independence was really a list of all of the people that could have been called deserters had the war not gone America's way. They were literally signing away their lives. As things did go America's way, having to piece together a full governmental operating system and basically commit to making it work would have been an incredible challenge. It really hit Stace and I being in the same place it all took place. I don't think the little boys had the same feelings but we tried to convey how important what happened there was.

The court room inside Independence Hall

This is the room where the Continental Congress met to come up with
the Declaration of Independence. President of the Congress,
John Hancock really sat in the chair at the front of the
room.

Our family at Independence Hall

We also saw Congress Hall which is where congress operated for the first 10 years while Washington DC was being developed to house congress. It was also very powerful to see those rooms and understand the types of situations and challenges they had to go through during those beginning years. It really made me appreciate how leadership and commitment are critical to obtaining good results.

Congress Hall

In Congress Hall, original chair where Presidents Washington
 and then Adams sat

Ben Franklin

Senate Room at Congress Hall-Note the seal on
the ceiling painted in 1786ish

After the Independence Hall tour, we were going to see the Liberty Bell, but by that time there was a long line waiting to get into the exhibit. Instead we decided to go to where Benjamin Franklin's house used to be as well as where the first post office was. Brynna was able to mail a letter there and get the postmark of the office which is pretty cool. We also saw a printing press in use like what they would have used back then to print the Declaration.

Printing Press Demonstration

Franklin Square

We then hopped on the Duck tour which is an amphibious vehicle developed for World War II. It was about as cheesy as I expected. They drove by some neat sites but overall Stacey and I were not as impressed as we were hoping.

Kids really enjoyed getting to do a Duck Tour

When the Duck Tour splashed into the Delaware River

When the Duck Boat Captain started playing the
Chicken Dance song

Betsy Ross House

After the tour we walked down to a house where Edgar Allan Poe lived for a while. The kids did the Junior Ranger program which they seemed to enjoy. Brighton even bought a book of the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe. Not my cup of tea as he was always too morbid of a writer for me but Brighton seems to enjoy it.

Finally we were all dragging as it was about 2PM and we found a place to have lunch. It was pretty touristy and the food was pretty bad. We did not do the Philly cheese steak stuff as neither of us really likes onions.

Hard to believe we were really there

After lunch we waited in line for the Liberty Bell exhibit. It was worthwhile seeing but the little boys were about done with history items so we went back to the visitor center and caught a quick video and some souvenir pennies. The little boys got some Dippin Dots type ice cream and we headed back to the trailer.

Little Boys used some of their "experience money" from
Grams & Gramps to buy their own cotton candy flavored
ice cream dots

The list of favorites for the kids for today are:

• Brighton - Edgar Allan Poe house
• Brynna - Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell
• Spencer - Independence Hall
• Ben - Duck tour & Ice Cream

Leaving the parking garage the bill showed we did not save the $7. I asked and they said the early bird special did not apply on the weekends. Guess I am learning lessons on patience and letting go of the small things!  :-)

Here's our campground that we got to come home to tonight