Brotherly Love

The rest of Philadelphia was uh-mazing!

We stopped at the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin,

And talked about his many accomplishments:

Then we headed to Independence Hall.  Our tour good guide was fantastic!  Incredibly knowledgeable with a hilarious presentation.  He was an older gentleman with a balding top and longer sides. I asked him if he ever personified a Continental character.  He responded that yes, in fact he played John Adams in the History Chanel movie "Founding Brothers"!  Now I'm going to have to impose myself on our cable subscribing friends.  Shelly, that cool with you? 

Seeing the room where the Declaration was signed so shortly after seeing the Signed Declaration itself stirred a strong sense of patriotism and concern about all that's happened in the past 239 years.

We were able to see a Benjamin Franklin printing press, and Gannon purchased his much desired and anticipated copy of the Declaration.

The final stop was the Liberty Bell, providing a beautiful for ground for the tower where it hung.  Philadelphia, you impressed me!  

Traffic put a damper in our day, but we made it to our next stop before midnight.  

The adventure continues!

Iiiiinnnnnn West Philadelphia born and raised...

Well, not born and raised,  but visited briefly, for sure.

Quick rant: I HATE STAYING IN HOTELS!  So, I am a total loser and missed the exit for out campsite off the Philadelphia Turnpike.  After I realized what I'd done, we were already 50 minutes south east of the park, and I'd paid the $10.00 toll (Me: Ten dollars?  Toll booth girl:  well, you came from Gettysburg.  Me: oh.), we opted to just continue into the city.   After conferring with Gordon, a decision was made to not drive an hour backwards and to not sleep in a Walmart parking lot.  I found a Wyndham near Independence Hall and booked a room.  Then we had to pay for parking.   Then we had to find parking on the 4th level of an over full parking garage (btw, parking for the night was $37.00).
    I found that really awful spot that no one else wants...you know the one, in between the elevator and a huge pole?  Yah, that.  So we start unloading the clothes and the shower bag from the trunk.  Kayleigh had to climb over the seats to get out, even after my 21 point turn to try and make more room in the vacuum of a space we were in.  We finally unloaded all the gear, got two sleeping girls situated in arms WITH all the gear and realized the parking garage didn't connect directly to the hotel.  GAHHHHHH!  Down 4 floors of parking garage, down the block to the hotel entrance and up five floors to the room.  Between checking in, unloading, and actually GETTING TO THE ROOM, I could be asleep in my tent and NOT be out over $200!
Que the next morning.   9am and people were just waking up.  Breakfast was still in the car.  A yogurt from room service was $4.00.  That's a dollar an ounce!  Clearly, I don't make enough to survive hotel lifeslonger than 17 hours in the City of Brotherly Love.  The shower didn't drain well.  The coffee was decent.  And there was WiFi.  Not a total loss.
By 11:00, we were eating pop tarts in the car.  Keeping it classy in PA.  Off we went.