Day 69

Day 69: 7/25/15 (First Landing to New York, NY via Philadelphia, PA)

369 miles

This morning we left for Philadelphia around 6am.  It was an exciting morning because we got to drive over (or should we say under) the Chesapeake Bay – almost worth the $15 toll, NOT!  The drive through Delaware was full of farms which was a bit unexpected, but overall it was pleasant.  We arrived in Philly at 11:30am and headed straight to the Independence Hall Visitor Center to see if there were any tour spots available, but unfortunately, they were all out.  The line for the Liberty Bell was pretty long so we started out at the Old City Hall which was home of the court system in the 1700's.  After a quick visit, we walked over to the Great Essentials Exhibit where the inkwell used to sign the Declaration is housed.  There is also one of the original Declarations on display as wells as the US Constitution and the Articles of Confederation.  Our final stop in Independence Square was at Congress Hall.  We had to wait outside for a few minutes for a park ranger to take us in for a tour where we learned about the early days of Congress.  The building was well preserved and some of the original chairs and desks had been maintained.  It was pretty cool to be in the same room that George Washington and John Adams were in when they swore in for their terms as President.

At this point we were pretty hungry so we walked over to the Terminal Reading Market and endured a long line for a Philly Cheesesteak.  There were a couple of food trucks we wanted to find, but they were a bit too far to walk to so we decided to just get one at the market.  There were a few sandwich shops at the market and after surveying our options we ended up at By George!  We ordered a cheesesteak with peppers, mushrooms, and onions to make the ultimate bomb.  The market was crazy so we walked back to the car to eat our sandwich.  We sat on the trunk of the car and overlooked the street while we enjoyed our finger-licking good cheesesteak.  

From there, we walked back towards Independence Hall and took our chances with the line at the Liberty Bell.  It was much shorter so we gave it a shot and were pleasantly surprised at how fast it moved.  The hallway was filled with stories about what the bell stood/stands for and all of its history.  The mob of people lets you know that you're close to the actually bell.  We were surprised that there wasn't a glass case protecting the landmark, instead just a few ropes and an employee.  It was a struggle to fight through the crowd to get a good picture so we had to settle for a side view.  Weirdly enough, this very American symbol was visited by mainly by foreigners.  Jillian wanted to demand the right to take a good picture, but thankfully she didn't whip her diva attitude.

After seeing the Liberty Bell, we headed towards the neighborhood where Benjamin Franklin lived.  Along the way we stopped in a little area where there was a building built by an early carpenter's guild.  We checked if there were any Santamarias on the list, but we didn't see any.  We continued to the Fragments of Franklin Court which has structural outlines of the house of Benjamin Franklin and his son.  In some areas you could see below to the original foundations which is kind of amazing.  The park rangers run an old printing press in the courtyard as well to mimic the one Franklin used for his newspaper.  From there, we decided we were done with the past and headed back to the car.

We stopped at Yards, a local brewery, to try some beers.  They had a small menu of beers made with some of our founding fathers' beer recipes so of course we tried a few, and they didn't do too bad 200+ years ago.  We also tried an ale that was brewed with cranberries and raspberries, though we didn't think that one was a real success – overall we weren't impressed.  Once we left the brewery, Jillian was in need of a snack and magically, there was a food truck outside!  We grabbed some good ol' beer battered cheese curds and headed to a store to pick up some beer.  We wanted to bring home some of the Steigl Radler and the closest we could find it to home was in Pennsylvania.  The place we went to was definitely in the ghetto part of Philly, but we survived.

Finally, we were on our way to NY and it was a pretty short drive.  In just about two hours we arrived right outside Kristy's door (our friend from UNH/Rico's high school).  We begrudgingly paid another $14 toll to go over the George Washington Bridge, but at least we could park at Kristy's for free – holla to Harlem, the place that no one wants to go to.  We brought up all our things and spent a little bit of time catching up before our stomachs got the best of us so we set out in search of some food.  Eventually, we tracked down a Chinese food restaurant and grabbed some take-out to bring back to the apartment.  After dinner, Rico headed to bed early since it was a long day and he did all of the driving from VA to PA.  Jillian stayed up with Kristy a little longer before they were both starting to nod off.

 Fact:

We drove through 6 states today – VA, MD, DE, PA, NJ, NY

Lesson:

If you want to go into Independence Hall, get tickets ahead of time or show up early

Eat Well; Travel Often

Rico & Jillian