Philadelphia -- Guest Post by Pixie

Last month, we went to Philadelphia for the day.

It was fun to go back to the city we lived in when J proposed, and where we were early marrieds. During those years, we often took visiting family and friends to tour the historical downtown. This time, we took the 4 Ninjas! So fun.

After we returned home, the three "olders" each wrote about the day. And so, with her permission, I share Pixie's write-up as a guest blog post. She chose the photos to accompany.

Our Trip to Philadelphia

by Pixie

Philadelphia was amazing! I really enjoyed seeing the Liberty Bell, which was a lot smaller than I expected. The line was really long, but we were in it for less than 15 minutes! Security was really stiff there, though. Actually, it was strict everywhere we went!

Afterwards, we went out and got Philly Cheese Steaks at Jim's on South Street. They were sooo good! (Booo Pat's). Mine was just plain steak, though--no cheese sauce! With it, I had a Coke--but it almost broke my heart when Meggie asked me to get a Barq's. She was so cute and sweet!

By then I really had to use the restroom, so we went back to a museum and used their restrooms. When we finished there was this really cool brick tunnel that was a cellar in colonial days. 

The Second Bank of the United States, which houses a collection of portraits by Charles Willson Peale. The portraits were amazing...and the cellar pretty cool, too.

Then my dad remembered a big dilemma.

We had to pick up our tickets for the Independence Hall tour 45 minutes in advance! But is was only 25 minutes until our tour. Dad ran to the ticket booth while we walked to the Hall. He got the tickets, but just barely. We met him in the security line for the tours. 

He had run all the way there! Again, super-stiff security, but this time I was mostly glad we had our tickets. We had to wait outside for a bit, but it was worth it. I really enjoyed the guide's talk that happened before the tour. It was all about the history of Independence. 

There were only three items that were proved to have been there at the Constitutional Convention. The first is a painting on the wall of the Pennsylvania coat of arms. This is a reminder that Independence Hall is actually the Pennsylvania State House. 

The second item is the chair George Washington sat in as president of the convention. He also sat there while the Constitution was being signed. 

The third item is the Syng Inkstand that was used to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We went to see it afterwards, along with the copy of the Declaration of Independence that was read to the people. 

After all that cool stuff, we started heading back towards the Independence Welcome Center. We planned to watch a short film, and then head home. But guess what? Our parents took us on a carriage ride!

It was really fun, and our guide was nice, too. He kept pointing out fun stuff...and we KNEW they were fun...because we had already done them! We got dropped off at the visitor center, which was nice, because it saved us a LOT of walking.

The film was an interesting documentary about young people during the revolution. It was good to relax there, and in the car on the way home. We were tired but happy. What a good day!