After a crazy, adventurous, chance of a lifetime week we really just wanted to sleep for a week- but who can do that when you have Philadelphia and Washington D.C. so close?! As far as RAAM goes, we were pretty much done. We had a dinner that Sunday night but nothing else planned during the day, so we decided we need to go do some sight seeing. We knew we wanted to go to either D.C. or Philly, and since our day was short because of the RAAM Banquet we decided to hit Philly and leave D.C. for the longer day on Monday. We hopped in the car, paid about 4 different times to stay on the same freeway, and arrived in Philadelphia. We headed right into the Independence National Historical Park. There is so much history there! We started out at the Visitors Center and we found this cool 1700's guy!
We walked around some more, got tickets to a tour, and then headed out to find the Liberty Bell. There was a huge line, so we went up to the spot where you can see the bell without actually going into the building. It was smaller then I thought it would be, not too exciting. It was around lunch time and we still had time before our tour so we headed out to find some authentic Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches. We found a cute little place that had some good reviews on Google and gave it a try. It was pretty tasty, but I'm always a fan of the Philly Cheesesteak.
On our way back to Independence Park we went through a little alley and found where Benjamin Franklins house was. They did some preserving of the footings of the house that was still there, but it all just looked like badly poured random concrete (obviously if it was like 300 years old!). Kyle was over looking at a piece of concrete from the kitchen when he heard Chris and I gasp in excitement- we found his septic tank! It was by far the coolest part- only because it actually looked like something though :)
We found the Visitors Center to Benjamin Franklins place and ventured in. We found these really cool National Parks Passports that my Mom and I just had to have- now we have a reason to travel! To get a stamp! At each National Park they have a stamp that you can use for your Passport- too cool huh?! I know, we're kind of nerds, but we're excited!
Here is Kyle and I by a statue of Benjamin Franklin- The Signer.
Yay for our Passports again! We already got a stamp and we were on the hunt for more!
We stopped by the courthouse that the Declaration of Independence was signed. It was a neat little building.
Waiting in line for the tour...
The guy that did the tour kept calling the room that the Declaration of Independence was signed the most historical document, in the most historical room, in the most historical building, in the most historical square mile, in the most historical city, in the country. He knew a lot of information about who signed it first, where everyone was seated when they signed it, and all that historical stuff. The rooms really weren't that exciting though and the only original furniture was a chair that was tucked away in the corner.
We found LOTS of stamps!! Here's a out take picture- there's Chris photo bombing us in the background and Mom telling Kyle that this was not a good angle.
Aw that's a better one!
After we walked the Independence Park we drove around a bit to see some of the other sites and found where Rocky ran up the stairs! Chris was pretty tired from all his Chiefing duties and wasn't really into taking pictures, so we helped him out.
Even though we had our Rocky picture we had to run the steps! In Chris' case, walk the steps :)
But we all made it to the top.
Then off we went to the RAAM Awards Banquet back in Annapolis and the Doubletree resort. It was a fun dinner and these two got some stellar finishers plaques.
Afterward we met a few crew members that didn't make it to the banquet at the pier to have some ice cream. Check out Dad's recovery diet- that's 3 scoops right there!
We got to bed nice and early and it was a beautiful full nights rest!
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