It's been a while since I've been on here; this is why I've never journaled. I can't seem commit to anything besides a Snickers bar (and Patrick Dempsey...if only he'd wake up and see that I am the girl meant for him) for any length of time! Speaking of Snickers...I gained three pounds while on vacation. Surprisingly, that's less than I thought I'd have gained after eating take out and chocolate for a week.
I believe I left off with Philadelphia last week. Wednesday morning my mom and I had tickets for Independence Hall at 11:00 a.m., but luckily, they had extra tickets available so we were able to get a jump start on our day. I had been through Independence Hall this past May, but the tour guide that we had this time around was far better than the one I saw the last time. For those who don't know, although you should know (there's my history lecture for the day), Independence Hall is where the Constitution was drafted, debated, and eventually signed. It was pretty neat being able to be in the very room where our forefathers created history and ultimately began what is now our great, independent nation. Being there really made me wonder where our politicians have failed us in the last several decades, but I won't get on my political soapbox; we'll hear enough of that in the next week!
Following Independence Hall, we were also able to tour and learn about Congress Hall. What I love so much about these historical buildings, aside from the history that was made there, is the architecture and preservation of the buildings' natural states. The town I live in is known for being historical, but here, historical pretty much equates to dilipidated. And the buildings certainly don't have enthralling stories to tell.
Next, we headed to the original Mint. This wasn't as exciting for me as it was the first time around. Unfortunately, they don't hand out free samples like the people of Hershey.
My mom and I took a buggy tour of part of the Old Town area and then an area of the city containing many colonial homes, most of which could be ours for the mere price of $500,000 - $1 million. Some of the owners were the great, great grandparents of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Wilt Chamberlain, George and Martha Washington, Richie Sambora, etc. The homes were all very well-kept and a good portion of them were part of the National Historic Register. I'd have loved the opportunity to tour the inside of one of them. They, again, were very well preserved. In Gettysburg, we were told that being part of the Historic Register dictated that the homes had to be maintained in certain fashions, so I would imagine this was probably true of homes in Philadelphia as well. It's just amazing to think that some of those buildings are 300 years old! Our tour guide, a fellow Minnesotan, was quite knowledgeable and one of the nicest people we met on our trip. We also found out that we rode in the very buggy that Doogie Howser toured the city in last year. Per our tour guide, he's a very nice man...anyway...
After lunch we made our way to Liberty Hall where we saw the Liberty Bell. Next, we went to Christ's Church, where Betsy Ross, Benjamin Franklin, and George and Martha Washington all attended service. Either the Washingtons had a huge family, or they were treated better due to dignitary status because their church pew was a box, rather than just a single pew. We also went to the cemetery where Benjamin Franklin is buried, where we placed pennies on his grave.
Our last stop of the day was the Betsy Ross house. Unfortunately, they didn't allow photo taking in the home. The home actually was not owned by Betsy; rather, she, as well as other people, rented a room of the home. It was in this house that she undertook the (dangerous and treasonistic) task of sewing the first American flag.
The next day we checked out Elfreth's Alley, the oldest alley in the United States, which sounds lame, but is really quite unique. We went to a couple of gift shops and had some time to spare so we rented a car and drove to Delaware. Word to the wise...Dover is quite possibly the most boring city in the United States. We toured the Old State House, which took far longer than we had anticipated, as the tour guide seemed as excited to see us as a prisoner would be to see a death row pardon. Clearly, there wasn't much going on that day. Overall, it was fairly interesting, but it was about the only interesting thing in Dover.
Mama Bear and I made our way back to Philadelphia and ate at the hotel bar that evening and had quite the large meal (mine was accompanied by an apple martini, which put me to sleep before 8:30). The next day we headed back to Minneapolis, which I gladly report, was a lot less adventurous (or nauseating) than our first flight!
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