Woot! America's birthday!
The kid and I ventured into Philadelphia for a bit on a day on which it is fitting to be in the City of Brotherly Love.
Parking was a bit tricky but we found a garage and made our way over to Franklin Square.
Because it's the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the War Between the States, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission had a fantastic mobile museum on a truck bed at the square! There were a few re-enactors encamped and a small tent with souvenirs. Additionally, there were periodic musters of little kids with the re-enactors.
Inside the trailer, the exhibits were very well done, interesting and thorough. Really interesting to me was the focus on Pennsylvania's contribution to the war effort. Nicely focused!
After the museum, we went over to the fantastic playground and got reacquainted...
Considering both our fascination with miniature golf, (or Putt Putt as I know it), we couldn't let the course at Franklin Square go un-played on such a nice day! It's a nice course with nice replicas of Philly landmarks etc. We give it a 6 of 10. A fair amount of debris on the course, medium to easy difficulty and kind of expensive. Still, lots of fun!
We took in a story at the Story Bench. A few summers ago, the kid and I visited all 13 sites in the historic district and heard lots of fantastic stories! Go Historic Philadelphia!
Now that we had worked up some hunger, we decided to try Square Burger, the Steve Starr hamburger stand on the East side of the (very beautiful) fountain.
Really good, simple burger...we both enjoyed!
Next, we walked down 6th street toward Independence Hall, past the new WHYY studios WOW!
We entered the new visitor center and it was busy! Had a few bean bag tosses at a tea stand and made our way outside onto the mall.
As soon as we stepped outside, we saw a ring of tents and heard a speaker praying. It seemed every organization supporting the Tea Party had a kiosk or tent and the speakers were all Tea Party folks. Go free speech! It was a nice opportunity to explain to the kid that even though one might think one group or another is wrong or a bunch of anti-intellectual wing-nuts, our Constitution guarantees their right to have that opinion and let everyone know no matter how much we may disagree.
We tried to get some eyes on the Liberty Bell but it mysteriously closed just as we got there...in the middle of the day on July 4th...what gives? We found out later that a special citizenship ceremony took place for a bunch of kids and teenagers...nice!
What better way to cap off a little jaunt to Philly than some delicious ice cream at Franklin Fountain! There was of course a line but it was totally worth it! Peach ice cream and a Lime Rickey for me and Vanilla/Hydrox for the kid YUM!
So happy 235th America!
Ellie sez
My antennae located a very historical place in Franklin Square
