East Trip - Day 8 {Philly}

We woke up in Philadelphia and were headed to the bus just a little after 8am. We explored all over Philly! There are so many things to do here! I'm not sure how many miles we got in today but it was a lot! The weather was absolutely perfect!

 

Our first stop- The Philadelphia Museum of Art steps aka the steps Rocky ran up. Brielle ran up them (more than once) and threw some punches at the top, receiving lots of cheers from her fan club. 😄

Champion Girl Dad 🏆

Philadelphia City Hall

There are giant game piece statues all over the plaza. The girls chose all of their poses.

Since all of the girls have B names, we label things B1, B2, etc.

We walked to the Reading Terminal Market for lunch. So many options made it hard to choose!

We didn't even realize until after we ordered that the desserts we chose were Amish- Beiler's doughnuts and Dutch Eating Place. Take the boy out of Amish country and he still found the desserts like back home. 😄

Washington & Adams lived in the house that stood here during their presidencies (prior to the building of the White House).

When you have children who are immigrants from a communist country, liberty feels even more important.

Independence Hall 

Sitting in a replica of the "Rising Sun" chair Washington sat in during the Constitutional Convention. 

The first National Bank, established by first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton.

Exploring Independence Hall- "Birthplace of America"
The steeple was redone in 1828 so it looks slightly different (now with a clock) than it did when America's government was being established.

Congress Hall - where the Bill of Rights was written.

Assembly Room- The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were both debated & signed here. Note Washington's chair in the center.

An artist's depiction of the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

Dinner at Sonny's Famous Cheesesteaks - We had told the girls were were getting "Philly cheesesteaks" for dinner. Bria was slightly disappointed when she saw the sandwiches as she thought we said "Billy's cheesecakes." 🤣

We made it to our next campsite just before dark and Alex deemed it the "least level" spot we've ever had. Thankfully, it's only 1 night.

East Trip - Day 7 {Delaware}

Today was our 1st new state of the trip for all of us!  Delaware makes #49 for Alex and me. (We might have ventured into Delaware back in 2005 when we vacationed in Ocean City, Maryland as they are really close but this is our 1st official visit. Virginia was a new state for BellaMei and Maryland was a new state for the little girls.) 

We started the morning with one last bike ride back to the mainland. It was a short drive north to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. We headed to the Boardwalk area for an afternoon at Funland! We ended up driving the entire length of the state from the southern border, north to Dover, and through Wilmington on our way to PA. 

The bike shop owner gave Brielle & Bria ice cream treats when we returned the bikes.

Then he made Bria take an oath to give her new horse lots of love and kisses.

One of my drug reps told me about this place & it was a hit! They sell only french fries (and no ketchup). So good!

We love finding old, local places.  Thrashers opened in 1929 and this candy shop opened in 1927.

Thumbs up for the mango salt water taffy!

BellaMei was a little nervous. 😄

All of these retro rides reminded me of the many trips we made to Kings Island with my Grammy & Gramps when we were kids.

This ride went upside down while spinning in circles.

She thought she was big stuff riding by herself.

Reading a book about Pennsylvania at bedtime in preparation for our visit to Philly in the morning