Philadelphia

Took a brief trip to the city today. Our agenda wasn't necessarily very long, but it saw us in the city for more than seven hours. Sam, Caroline, and I arrived around 10 am, scored with a lucky parking spot, met friends, and traveled the historic section of the city for the day.

So, what did we see?

1) Benjamin Franklin Museum
2) Bourse (lunch)
3) National Liberty Museum
4) Independence NHS - story telling and mustering
5) Franklin Fountain

My photographing wasn't very earnest today. I let the phone take a rest, mostly. But I did capture some shameless selfies.

Important to my last iteration as a teacher: Carpenter's Hall.

Importanter to my current iteration: Second Bank of the U.S.

Prices were relatively high but portions were generous. 

Independence National Historic Site could be really dull if the National Park Service and the city allowed it to be. This is my third consecutive summer taking kids down there, and I'm impressed at the efforts those organizations make to create a kid-friendly experience. The Franklin Museum is more engaging than most NHS sites. Rangers offer trading cards for q-and-a sessions. Historic Philadelphia offers a great number of story-telling and living history experiences to make the experience stand out. They make it easy to take kids down there.

One of the boys on the trip suggested we get admission to a hop-on-hop-off bus to see the city. Not today. But I think that's a brilliant idea for a future trip. It's important that my kids get to know their city. Two weeks ago I was in Pittsburgh and couldn't help but be a little jealous of that city's natives. They've got a cool little town of which to be proud. We've got an excellent city to be proud of. Ten years from now, I hope Sam and Caroline know what goes where down there.