Thursday, July 7, 2016

Philadelphia, PA 2016

July 4, 2016

While having breakfast, I saw a gentleman come and start to work on the float that the Elks lodge is going to put into today's parade, so you know me, went out to ask if he (Dave) needed help.  He said sure, so I proceeded to help him put this float together.  In a couple of hours, we were done!!!

Around 10:30 we drove to Marlton and found a place to sit and watch the parade.   Great little home town parade.

Afterwards we went to Old Navy and a few other stores.   Then headed home to wait for the fireworks.

We decided to watch the local fireworks as weather is supposed to get horrible, which it did.  We arrived around 8:00 at the Cherokee High School and about 15 later it started to pour.   We waited about 30 min and then I decided I did not need to sit in the rain and watch fireworks, I've seen enough.   Got home and about 30 min. later we could hear them but couldn't see them.  Oh well, we'll see them next yr!

July 3, 2016

First stop was the Liberty Bell, it's a free exhibit and well worth your time to see, but recommend getting there early, as the line can get blocks long.   It's amazing to learn how they attempted to repair the crack but only made it worse.   They explain all the details and the history on this very important piece of history.

We then bought tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus.   Took the entire route so we could then decide what we want to see.   They did a great job of explain the sites and the history of this city.  You get to see the Museum of Art, Penn's Landing, different areas of the town where they point out different historical facts, etc.

When we got back to our starting point, we went to look at Ben Franklin's gravesite.   Since it's 4th of July weekend, they had people playing him so we got to meet Ben Franklin.  Along with him, their are seven other individuals buried here that also signed the Declaration of Independence.

July 2, 2016

Our plan was to see the Franklin Square area, it's basically everything that the National Park maintains.   It's a lot of walking, so unless you want to put 6 to 6.5 miles of walking under your feet, you need to break it up into more days but we are only here for 3 days.

Our first stop was the visitors center where we got our tickets (free) to see Independence Hall at 12:45.   After looking around and watching a movie, we headed to National Constitution Museum.   Here we listen to a narrative (given by a young gentleman) about the history of the constitution.   It's a great performance and worth your 20 minutes.   The theater is great, not a bad seat in the house.

Looked around the museum and then headed to the car to move it, as we were in a 2 hr parking spot, found a lot near by and then headed to our tour of Independence Hall.   I had been here in Philadelphia back in 2005, but it has changed.   Independence Hall is basically the same except they've spruced it up with paint.   Looks great!!

Started our tour at Independence Hall, here you see where the constitution was created and get to see the area where the participants sat.   Across the hall is the court house, here they tried individuals of their crimes.   The individual on trial would stand in the barred area during the entire trail and that's why they call it "Standing Trial".   Great piece of history.

We also saw Congress hall, which was used as the white house from 1890 until 1900.   In the lower floor is where they held meetings and President Adams was sworn in as our 2nd president.

We then went to the Bourse Building and had lunch, while there someone tripped the alarm and made all of us leave for about 10 minutes.   Other than the alarm was very loud, it didn't cause us an concerns.

We then walked around the square and saw Carpenter's Hall, Todd House, Bishop White House (these house are extremely small and very expensive to purchase today), Merchant's Exchnage

July 1, 2016

Left Port Republic around 9, it only took us a little over an hour to get here.  Traffic was great, I was concerned about it being the beginning of a long weekend, but worried over nothing.  Yeah!!!

We are staying at the Marlton Elks, which is about 30 miles outside of Philadelphia.   This is a small lodge but they have 30 AMPS and water, all that I need.

Got settled in and then drove into Camden, which is just across from Philadelphia on the Delaware River.   Looked around the waterfront, went into the visitors center for the battleship New Jersey and took pics of the battleship, Ben Franklin Bridge and of Philadelpia.   I didn't want to get stuff in traffic trying to get out of Philadelphia, so we headed back home around 3, it was smooth sailing.

Got back to the lodge, went in and had a drink, like I said it's extremely small, only holds about 20.  Very friendly and we watched the Philly baseball game with the bartender, there were only to other individuals there so very slow.

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