The Philadelphia Story: Some More Details

Okay, it's already Wednesday. This is typical of the front-loaded work week. We got back, exhausted, Sunday night, as noted. Saturday had already had only a short posting. Monday and Tuesday, catch-up. First time to recap some of the Philadelphia trip, that would be now.

We hadn't had a serious trip out of town, I don't think, since our vacation in August. We, as a family, don't handle that well. We need to get away. And if we do the same old places -- Shenandoah Valley, Solomon's Island, etc. -- at least Mom and I get less and less return. We like to show Sarah new places, new things. As I've noted earlier, she herself chose a city over country for the Thanksgiving trip; New York being beyond our reach in three days, we chose Philly. So far as I can tell, it was a great success, though being seven, she is still unwilling to say so in so many words.

I already blogged day one pretty well. And the pictures on our private sites ought to tell a lot more of the story. The huge hits of day one were the Italian food at the Reading Terminal Market, and the (rather cold) horse-and-buggy ride. We got the Liberty Bell in too, but she claimed it didn't look like it did in National Treasure, which as I've noted was our main way of persuading her to go to Philadelphia in the first place.

Day two we started at Independence Hall. (You have to get timed tickets and we were too late the day before.) I think she was impressed, though she often doesn't admit to it. The guide was a good one, and when he asked who came from outside the United States we urged Sarah to tell him she came from China but was now from Virginia. She did.

The whole afternoon was spent at the Franklin Institute, the great science museum in Philly. Tam had wanted a better lunch but we ended up in the museum cafeteria. But Sarah really got into the museum. Videos on our site.

One interesting discovery we made lately: because we are members of the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, we can get in, free of charge, at a consortium of science museums all over the country. So far we've gotten in free at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond, the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, I think the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News, and now the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. A great deal. Join your local science museum. Even if we don't go back to Baltimore all year, we've saved enough in other cities to make it worth our annual membership.

By the time she'd exhausted much of the Franklin Institute it was time to head back to the hotel. We at at a nice Italian restaurant (Bertolini's, which also has restaurants in Las Vegas and Indianapolis [!?!] in King of Prussia Mall, a huge, up-market shopping center.)

The third day started at Valley Forge where, as I've noted before, my/Sarah's ancestor William Martin spent that rough winter in '77. Then we made our way home trying to avoid I-95, rather successfully. In fact we zigged and zagged over back roads and alternatives and probably added an hour to the trip (turns out I-95 wasn't all that backed up) but also giving us a sense of outsmarting the traffic.

More as time permits.