The trip to Philadelphia

*disclaimer again, our houses are being babysat haha*

Tuesday night we headed to Seatac Airport to catch our plane at 11pm.  Our plan was to fly all night to have more time during the day.  Sleeping on the plane was a mess.  It was FREEZING blowing air everywhere (and yeah, we turned off our personal blowers) I had 3 layers of jackets and 2 blankets and still froze.  Oh, did I mention I hurt my tailbone 2 months ago? Apparently it hasn't healed because I was in pain the whole time. Ick.  Our layover in Atlanta was delayed like 40 minutes too, but we were so exhausted, we all fell asleep before the plane even took off and slept the whole way to Philadelphia. It was supposed to be foggy and thunderstorms so they had to wait for it to burn off a bit.

After the freezing airplane, we stepped outside expecting rain and it was bad.  80 degrees and I think it said 90% humidity.  I had to wear my under tank-top all day!  First, we waited for the train at the airport. The rental cars at the airport were $400 more than if you paid to take the train to the amtrack station and rent from there instead!

We drove downtown.  I hate cities because they are concrete and have too many people, and Philly is no exception.  Luckily, we made our way to the historic area, which it much better.  We saw independence hall, the liberty bell, Ben Franklin's burial site, the mint, a copy of the declaration of independence earlier than the one in DC, and even George Washington's actual handwriting.  It was just this crazy feeling to know that all of the founding fathers had walked in the same footsteps that we had.

Independence hall

constitution bldg

the mint

Ben Franklin's grave

We were getting hungry and wanted something local.  There were random little silver food carts all over the city with hot dogs and stuff and decided one of those had to be the place.  I had the most delicious lamb gyro ever!  I'm sure it was not up to health codes but that makes it tastier.  And like Will Smith said, it isn't Philly if it isn't leaking grease through the bag! Plus, everything was super cheap and lots of food!

This sweet back alley fire escapes, I don't think I can do it justice

Next we drove downtown to see the classic love statue (didn't get out), and to go find the rocky steps.  We found some pretty sweet statues there too, and of course, climbed the steps.

joan of arc i think? super shiny lol

rocky

skyline

the steps

george washington

Next we decided to drive out to Valley Forge (about a half hour but a little longer since it was rush hour.)  We got there and it is pretty much a place that everyone goes to jog, but you can drive through too.  We were tired and had a time crunch so we drove around.  It is so hard to believe the hardships there when it is so beautiful there now!  I could never take a picture to do it justice!  We got to see wood shacks that the men stayed in and even George Washington's house!  It was very cool.  I would love to be able to jog/bike through there all the time.

Memorial arch for all the soldiers that died

G.W.'s house

I'm sure GW did that to get to his house

You in there Mr. Washington?

For our final act in Philadelphia, we wanted to get some REAL Philly cheesesteaks.  We seriously had to drive through the hood (like Will Smith BEFORE moving to Bel Aire lol) to get to the place I read about, Chinks.  It was worth the drive.  That place was real.  My mom ordered a chocolate cherry coke! I had regular cherry (which was flavoring, not a real cherry coke so its better!), Andy had a chocolate coke and dad had regular.  My mom and I ordered ours "whiz wit" which means cheese whiz and with onions.  Lingo lol.  Yum yum!  We even got whiz to dip the fries in.  Definitely worth it for the real experience!

See, ghetto.

Chocolate cherry coke

Afterwards we headed to New Jersey!!!  The weather was so warm and we took kind of back roads (i think the GPS was avoiding toll roads- there are so many here) so we rolled down the windows and it smelled like awesome summer.  We got here to the hotel and I got to hang out with Toni for awhile...awesome!!! Tomorrow we head to New York!