TR - Spirit of America 09/08 ~ Chapter 1 - Photos Added!

[wsapooh]

9/4/08-9/11/08
Spirit of America: Philadelphia, PA – Washington DC – Williamsburg, VA
DH – Dan age 38
Me – Laurie age 36
This trip was to be a celebration of our 15-year wedding anniversary
Adventure Guides: Karen & Elizabeth

Chapter 1 - Philadelphia

9/4/08
We had been waiting very impatiently for this date to arrive! Our flight from Minneapolis/ St Paul to Philadelphia was uneventful... which is always a good thing. As we descended the escalator on our way to baggage claim, we were met by one of our Adventure Guides, Elizabeth. Also there to greet us was our driver, Andy and another gentleman whose name escapes me, although we never saw him again. They retrieved our luggage and escorted us to a private Lincoln Town Car that Andy would use to drive us to our hotel. Pretty snazzy! Elizabeth snapped a photo of us (the first of many!) and Andy whisked us off to the Hyatt. It was only about a 10-15 minute drive from the airport. On the way, Andy chatted with us about what we should do during our free time. Upon our arrival at the hotel, our second Adventure Guide, Karen, was there to greet us. We had plenty of time to ourselves before the welcome reception so we got Karen’s suggestions and information on using the Phlash transportation system to get us where we wanted to go. By the time we got to our room, our luggage had already arrived.

We decided to check out the Reading Terminal Market. After getting a little lost on where to find the Phlash trolley bus, we eventually found it. $8.00 total cost round trip for two people and we were on our way. It was a short ride followed by short walk to get to the Market. What an amazing place! Every fruit and vegetable known to man was offered for sale. Lunch counters serving Mexican, Thai, Mediterranean, Italian, BBQ, Indian and numerous other cuisine as well as cheesesteaks, of course. Flowers, spices, honey, coffee, candies, cakes, ice cream and cheeses. Row after row of butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers! Though we weren’t overly hungry, the baked goods offered by the Pennsylvania Dutch were just too hard to pass up. A slice of apple pie for DH, a slice of cherry pie for me, and a glass of freshly brewed iced tea from a coffee vendor were just the ticket. Delicious! It’s a shame we don’t have something like this back home offered ever day of the week. We bought a few small snacks for our journey and then headed back to the hotel.

We met our fellow Adventurers at the reception. We numbered 23 adults (1 more joined us half way through the Adventure) and 5 children. Montana, Idaho, Oklahoma, Oregon, California, Florida, Nevada, and Minnesota was represented along with Japan! Introductions were made and conversations began. We made the short walk to the City Tavern for a lovely dinner. The original City Tavern was established in 1773 and became the unofficial meeting place of the first Continental Congress. It was eventually damaged in a fire and subsequently demolished in 1854. In 1976, a replica of the Tavern was built and the cuisine of colonial times recreated on its menu. I recommend the potpie. DH recommends the Thomas Jefferson beer. Our dinner was excellent. Made even more so by the company of Benjamin Franklin himself! He patiently answered all our questions and made us laugh. We all got our photos taken with him too. Darkness fell while we dined on a dessert of apple blueberry cobbler that was simply divine. The seed of friendship had already begun to grow with some fellow Adventurers. But at that point in the day, it was time to head back to the hotel and a cozy bed. So tired!

 

[Aunt Cawa]

Sounds like a great start to your trip! Can't wait to hear more. Thanks for taking the time to write a report!

 

[sayhello]

I don't think I've seen a Trip Report for this tour! Really looking forward to hearing about it.

Sayhello

 

[wsapooh]

9/5

Even with that comfy bed in our beautiful room, I didn’t sleep well. Very groggy. But there were things to see and do! We started our day with a tasty breakfast buffet at Keating’s in the hotel. Breakfast was available starting at 6:30am. Karen was moving from table to table and asking each person to choose their menu selections for two of the restaurants that we would be visiting later on in the trip.

We met everyone in the lobby for the 8:45am departure of our Philadelphia City Tour. We were all given cold bottles of water as we boarded the trolley bus. Once onboard, we met our local tour guide, Pat, who would be with us for the rest of the day. The tour began with a quick stop at Betsy Ross’s house. From there, we moved on to the Constitution Center where a group photo was taken. Karen and Elizabeth were constantly snapping photos. I really appreciated that since I am often the one behind the camera and can only rarely be found in any of our vacation pictures. We saw a moving presentation in the Constitution Center called “Freedom Rising”. We all had a great time in the Signer’s Hall posing with life-sized statues of the Declaration’s signers. There is a computer in the Signer’s Hall where you can enter your e-mail address and have a beautiful certificate e-mailed to you commemorating your visit to the Constitution Center. Being a scrapbooker, I had to have that to help me with preserving these memories.

As we were getting ready to cross the street to the U.S. Mint, DH realized he had lost his first day’s pin. Elizabeth reassured us that she had an extra one to give us so not to worry. But that made us realize that maybe we didn’t want to wear our pins on our lanyards. It just wasn’t worth the risk to lose them. The U.S. Mint wasn’t very exciting. But it was kinda cool to see buckets and buckets of pennies being made. We saw the various medals of honor the Mint created including one for Walt Disney. We learned how to identify which mint made the coins in our pockets by small letters embossed on them. Upon exiting the Mint, our guides gave each of us a single penny and offered some snacks. From there, we walked across the street to the First Church Cemetery and the gravesite of Benjamin Franklin. Rumor has it that it’s good luck to toss a penny onto Ben’s grave if it lands heads up. But his famous quote, “A penny saved is a penny earned” combats that rumor. So, some chose to toss their pennies and some chose to keep theirs.

We moved on to the Liberty Bell that was also just a short walk down the street. This would be a good time to mention that any and all bags were searched at each location so it’s always best to only bring small bags with the bare essentials to speed the process along. We didn’t get to spend much time with the Bell. Only long enough for each family to get their photo taken with it. So much to see and so little time! Across the street again to the completely amazing Independence Hall and a tour there. I was so busy snapping pictures that I really only half-heard what the guides had to say. So much history here. It was overwhelming to me. After another family photo shot in front of Independence Hall, it was time for lunch. We were on our own but were brought to a building called the Bourse where there were many selections to choose from. DH and I ate quickly and walked back to the First Church Cemetery to do some more exploring.

Those that decided not to do the scavenger hunt had the rest of the day to themselves. Most of us decided to participate and were very glad we did. It was adorable! We were all given tri-corner hats. Costumed actors and their puppet companions guided us along. Our favorite was the lady with the French frog. What a riot! I don’t want to spoil it so I won’t say anything else about this fun adventure except to encourage everyone to join in. Don’t skip it!

From that point we were on our own. DH really wanted to visit the Franklin Institute and we were encouraged to do so even though we only had two hours before it closed. We bought round trip tickets on the Phlash and were there in no time. However, once we arrived, we discovered that the main gallery of the building was under refurbishment. Since that was what we really wanted to see, it was quite a disappointment. We wandered around the other displays of this science museum but our hearts just weren’t in it. There was an exhibit going on called “Real Pirates” done by National Geographic that we thought would be very interesting. We asked about it and found that it was actually open much later than the other museum exhibits. Huzzah!! The trip to the Institute was not wasted! There are timed entrances to the exhibit. We bought our tickets for 5:00pm entry, which were discounted to $15.00 per person. The Phlash trolley stops operating at 6:00 but we didn’t care. We’d find another way back to the hotel. I highly recommend this exhibit if anyone else will be there during its run through 11/02/08. It is the story of the slave ship turned pirate ship Whydah and its sinking in 1717 and eventual discovery off of Cape Cod. It began with a short movie presentation followed by a dramatic reveal of the ship’s bell recovered from the shipwreck. There were very few people there so DH and I were able to take our sweet time at each display. It was absolutely fascinating. I purchased a few things in the gift shop including a book about the exhibit and copies of real pirate treasure coins to use as scrapbook embellishments.

We made the decision to walk back to the hotel. It was long (about 2 miles) and hot but very enjoyable. We took in the sights of Philadelphia including the gorgeous fountains and buildings along the way. We ran into a couple from our tour and invited them to join us for a dinner of cheesesteaks at Campo’s. Nummy! We would have loved to stop for dessert at the Franklin Fountain but we were just too full. Plus the line was out the door! We headed back to the hotel with our new friends. My feet were tired and sore but we had had such a wonderful day that I wouldn’t have changed a thing. We packed our things for the 7:45am luggage pickup and hit the sack. Tropical Storm Hanna was on her way. Was it going to be an ugly drive to Washington DC the next day?

 

[wsapooh]

A few photos added!

 

[teruterubouzu]

This trip report is really interesting! Great photos.