Philadelphia

The first day we were there we went to Philly and went to the original makers of the Philly cheese steak -  Pat’s King of Steaks. You better know exactly what you are ordering and how to order before you get to the window, otherwise they will look at you like you are a moron and you could be asked to step out of line. The proper way to order is to say, “ one wiz with” which means 1 sandwich with cheese wiz and with onions. Of course that could change if you didn't want those things, but we dared not disturb the “delicate genius Philly cheese steak makers’ with our “measly preferences”

Our minds and eyes were again filled with history as we walked through Philadelphia.  We went to Independence  Hall where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. We stood in the Assembly Room and saw the actual chair that  George Washington sat in during the signing of the Declaration of Independence,    We visited Congress Hall where  George Washington was sworn into presidency for his second term.

                                                       Ink stand used to write Declaration of Independence 

Liberty Bell

George Washington's Chair in the center

The line to see the Liberty Bell wrapped around the building. People waited in the freezing cold and we joined in so we could view the great symbol of freedom that has lasted through such a long span of time. We grabbed some hot chocolate to try and stay warm partly drinking it partly hugging it while we walked to Christ Church Burial Ground where Benjamin Franklin and his wife are buried, as well as four other signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Benjamin Franklin's Tomb 

Christ Church Burial Ground

We also visited the sight of Benjamin Franklin's home, where they built a “skeleton frame” of what the home looked like right over the foundation of the original home. You can still see the foundation underneath.

We stopped by Betsy Ross' home’ the women who sewed the first American Flag. We had had just about enough of the freezing cold at that time so our visit there was pretty short.

Location of Benjamin Franklin's Home

The most interesting thing we saw was the Original Declaration of independence written on scrap paper by Thomas Jefferson himself. We also learned that the Declaration of Independence was “penned’’ or handwritten out by Timothy Matlack. We all had assumed that it was Thomas Jefferson’s writing.

Thomas Jefferson's chair he sat in while writing the Decleration

We learned that before the handwritten declaration was the Dunlap broadside, a "typed/printed" version , around 200 of them all sent out to the colonies to be read, before the handwritten one was signed.  

Thomas Jefferson's draft of the Declaration

First Post Office

Ally and Shelby were super excited about being able to have dinner with their online Science teacher.  Mrs. Sam lives in Pennsylvania  and it worked out that we could have dinner with her sweet family of 8. We went out to chinese food and while the restaurant turned out to be a pretty bad place the company was awesome. We all had such a great time visiting with them and getting to know her family a bit. 

Dinner with Ally's and Shelby's Veritas Press teacher

Wes and I also celebrated our 15th year anniversary  . We went to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse, and just enjoyed a quiet evening talking about some of our favorite memories over the years.