Philadelphia Freedom

Wow! I have more new followers! Yay and welcome!

Thank you for all the compliments on how spiffy my blog looks, however, I cannot take any credit! That all goes to Dan, who literally walked me thru each and every step of creating a blog, then he found me a coffee template, walked me thru putting the new template on, and then helped me to edit the blog! Yay Dan!

You should all visit Dan here: http://thewisdomofadistractedmind.blogspot.com/

So, Philly was fun! We arrived there about 10:30am and parked beneath the visitors center.

After walking through the visitors center, buying tickets for Independence Hall for an afternoon tour, and collecting the maps necessary for the day, our group of 19, yes 19 - set out! We had 9 adults and 10 kids.

First stop, the Liberty Bell! She is a beauty! She was affixed the top of the Pennsylvania State House, now Independence Hall, in the 1750's. Next, we visited Ben Franklin's ghost. You asked Ben questions and his 'ghost' answered. Very cool.

Next, the building that was our first bank, now a portrait museum. It held many portraits of the men who were brave enough to start this little 'experiment' of freedom!

Everyone was hungry then and we ate in the food court at the Bourse, a building that was originally one of the first foreign banks back in the 1800's.

Next, we headed to the Underground Museum. All about Ben Franklin! The outdoors has the foundations of his house, and a layout showing were his print shop would have been. There are some original buildings there also. In the museum we saw a film on Franklin and viewed many displays.

The boys earned a special merit badge on Ben Franklin.

Betsy Ross' house was next! Yay for Pumpkin Muffin - she was waiting to see that all day. A great glimpse into colonial life and the life of an extraordinary woman and patriot. Often, the sacrifices women make during way is forgotten...

We needed to race about 5 blocks to Independence Hall to make our tour! Yeah - I started hurting then. It wasn't pretty from then on, but I persevered! lol

Independence Hall, Congress Hall, etc, was fabulous. The kids loved it and the National Park Service really brings history alive! The speakers were great and very kind to us as Scouts at all the locations we visited!

One last destination to complete the day - Ben Franklin's grave at Christ Church. Another 4 -5 blocks... ouch, but we did it. And were a bit let down! You can only stand outside the gate of cemetary and look in - yep, there it is. Oh well.

We headed to the gift shop and did a power shop as they were getting ready to close at 5pm, then into the cars.

Thank heavens for GPS, we headed back into NJ and went to Cracker Barrel in Mount Laurel. We skipped the cheesesteaks as everyone decided they were tired and wanted waitress service. Plus, we don't get Cracker Barrel where we live, so it is a BIG treat!

We sat in groups but all together and had a great meal! Got a few candy goodies for the ride home and headed to the NJ Turnpike.

Arrived home about 9pm and we were tired, but what a wonderful day! We had perfect weather and saw everything we wanted to see and then some! Of course, there is always more... next time.

Today, I am sore, limping and tired, but no rest for the weary! I am headed to the bowling alley to watch the kids bowl with Hubby!

I will be back later to read all your blogs!

be well...