Day 2

States covered: Pennsylvania

Sites seen: Liberty Bell, Old State House, Independence Hall, Congress Hall, Christ Church, Museum of the American Revolution, Betsy Ross House, Elfreth’s Alley Franklin Square.

Things we have learned: I will sunburn. Period. If the sun is shining, my fate is sealed. It doesn’t matter how much sunscreen I put on. Also, the National Parks Service doesn’t care if you’re camping or not. You are not allowed to bring your multi-tool (that you didn’t know you had in the bottom of your bag) into whatever you’re trying to get into. Your husband will have to run it back to the car (very quickly) so you can make it on the ferry you are supposed to be boarding. However, this tool will create such a commotion that everyone around you, and your husband, will make it through security with their little pocket knives and tell you this as soon as you are far enough away from security. And, your phone will overheat and not love you anymore if you accidentally leave it in the holder in the car and go about your day.

We did A LOT of things today. We took our time getting up this morning and then started our day with our family mile, got some breakfast and quick showers, and headed into the city. I will say that I hope all of our campsites have bathrooms as nice as this one. First, it’s air conditioned! And it is freezing in there. Like you need to put on sweatpants to visit the bathroom. Second, you don’t have to pay for the showers (woohoo!) and the water is warm. 🙌🏻 However, I couldn’t really enjoy any of this because my children were talking to me and complaining about how small the showers were the whole time we were in there. If they only knew.

Today in Philadelphia was amazing! There were lots of “we studied that in school” moments from the girls and they actually had a lot of questions about things. At least for today, they were interested in reading all the things so I dutifully stood by and listened while they worked their way through everything.

One of the neatest things today were the storytellers. There are storytellers spread throughout the city and you can sit and listen to stories about the revolutionary times. It was great because they were all true stories that supplemented the area you were just in or the building you had just visited but weren’t a repeat of that thing. After you listen to the story, they put a star on your flag and once you have collected enough stars you can trade it in for a free ride on the carousel. The girls were so excited about that. It was awesome to see them being kids and enjoying going around and around and up and down on the elephant and the dragon they had chosen. At our last storyteller, they asked for a volunteer and Miss A volunteered. She really enjoyed being a part of the story!

One of the interesting things today was how the girls reacted to all of the homeless men and women we passed on the street. They were very upset and really wanted to help them. So they spent the day giving away our granola bars to people we passed. I hope they always have a heart for those in need and never become comfortable with it.

We ended our day with dinner at National Mechanics. It’s a restaurant/bar (yes, I took my children in a bar) that is located inside an old bank building. It was a really neat experience made even better by the fact that we got to enjoy our dinner with Courtney and Jonathan. It was the perfect end to a lovely day in Philadelphia.

As Miss A said, “I sort of miss my legs feeling like jelly. They just feel like sticks now. Big, stiff, sticks.” At least tomorrow we don’t have a lot of walking to do.

Talk to you soon-

Deanna