pennsylvania day 2: rainin on our american pride

philly is fabulous.
art around every corner
and then surprise there's the liberty bell
and wait could that be independence hall....
you don't say-
history?
right there?
one things for sure those philadelphians need to spruce up their city pride.
my brother had gone before we went and he had mentioned that he didn't feel much philly lovin philly going on-
philly you got a lot of things to love.
a lot.
besides there's that one love sign that's really a constant reminder to give it some love.
i love me some philly-
granted i felt a bit more uncomfortable walking the streets; i prefer to walk around certain parts of harlem as opposed to some of the main areas of philly, but that could be just because it was unfamiliar to me.
with that being said if you have any american pride philly is a must see attraction.
here's america's philly in all it's glory

while smaller than the nyc one this one may be more epic

that straight shot view of the long city street can't be beat

 our attempted love family selfie.... 

fail. 

 it was raining all day

soaking through our clothes raining

which made the random pieces of artwork even more artistic

 this was awesome- in this square they had statues representing all the epic board games 

pretty much any game that needs mentioning

had it not doubled as a potential pond right at that moment we would have freed mares,

but alas she was in a rain shelter cave and had to stay

she was a bit sick so we tried to create a comfort shell for her teeny ailing body.

 i took this pic the first day we came into philly but decided to include it with the philly post

i love old architecture- so. much. 

 also there was this view- 

 when i saw the "subway" map of philly online i thought, wowzers- theirs is more complex than nyc's

come to find out the map i looked at was a map of all of their public transit- all of it... 

their subway system is the easiest i've ever seen- straight lines, straight forward, easy to navigate

really we could have just walked everywhere, but since we didn't know distances at first we bought a day pass- the second day we decided to just walk and everything was less than a mile away. 

i felt ashamed we hadn't walked the previous day- but then again it was raining so, nevermind.

 mares loves transportation ease

 our first site seeing stop was the liberty bell. 

we first, first went and reserved our tickets to tour independence hall, then we waited in line to see the bell. 

since it was raining it was mini compared to what we saw the next day when it was sunny.

it was incredible to see her first hand. 

there's nothing i love more than seeing history first hand. 

plus i love liberty. 

 we wandered around independence hall for a little while

because it's beautiful in every way. 

 millions of pictures needed taking

 teeny, sweet, independence lover

 then we wandered down and saw original cobblestone roads

can't even imagine riding/walking/traveling on these babies every day

that's some rough terrain

 had i not waited 5 months to write about philly i would remember the exact name of all these building... blasted procrastination ruins my ability to remember.

 where the declaration of independence was written

respect. 

 we paid our respects to mr. benjamin franklin

 wish i had had a penny to lay on his gravestone

 then i illegally got this pic from the u.s. mint of the graveyard in which mr. franklin is buried

 while we waited for our independence hall tour we took a tour of the u.s. mint

 it's really spectacular to see the process of money making. 

it was really interesting to me. 

not to interesting to mary. 

when you take a toddler to a museum you already know you won't be reading any of those little signs they have up- you just go look at things to look at them to say you did.... 

it was awesome. 

 how are day looked... 

umbrella fighting,

rain battling,

pack horse wandering,

glorious day filled with american history.

 we were denied entrance with our stroller into this building because of the original floor

i took just enough time to snap a pic before we left

not going to lie it made me a little mad- because 1st off they had a handicap ramp

which means to me wheeled transport vehicles are welcome 

not babies. 

 because beautiful stuff like this was around every corner

 then there was stuff like this

and i forced dale to pose with mary in the reflection.... 

 then our time came to tour the grand hall

we were pumped.

 where it was signed

and a bunch of other random pictures from our tour of congress hall, which is right next to independence hall. 

 old staircases.... extraordinary

 mary was less than impressed

 until she got to walk on the stairs

then she decided old buildings were ok

 teeny great traveling buddy

then there was rocky- 

yes

yes yes

 uncle stahl came into town (he's mares non-blood nyc uncle)

we had some tickets to see a philly's game

which naturally got rained out

 he took this pic for us- he's a fine photographer

not such a fine umbrella/stroller tender... 

looked down to see our umbrella heading straight for the intersection

with a stranger chasing after it for us

but he did take the best pictures ever so we overlooked the tending neglect

 nothing to pump you up like a family run up the rocky steps-

nothing ever

if that won't pump you up then i don't know what will

 post pump up run

there's this view

which makes you even more pumped up

it's a pumped up vicious cycle

that you hope never ends

 that mares is a stair champion

 thanks for another fine picture michael

reading market (pronounced reding- just so you feel local; my bro gave us the tip-off)

it really is the finest market i have ever been to

 if you're taste buds can't find satisfaction in these parts- you'll never be satisfied

 it was near closing time so it was starting to slow down a bit

 michael watched mary while we ordered a cheesesteak

this warmed my mama heart

 an establishment that serves presidents needs trying

holy this cheesesteak was delicious

 we also tried a whoppie pie and a pretzel

mercy if it were possible to ship those pretzel's i'd have done it 40 times by now

that was the best pretzel i have ever tried by about 100 times.

made from scratch

by the amish- anything made by the amish is superior.

it was carbs transformed into heaven

this picture

because i love her 

 reading has rows and rows of eating places and home-made good shops

it was really cool to wander around

we liked it so much we came back the next day and checked everything out again

 since the game got rained out

we swam

"swimming" toddlers=the cutest aquatic thing possible

we had a really lovely time in this beautiful city.

mary got sick and then i got sick so it wasn't such a bad thing that the game got rained out-

seems to be a recurring vacation trend... me being sick- 

the last day we swam some more

went and wandered around the independence hall area again

tracked down an awesome shirt store- they custom make them for you in about 30 seconds for $5

it was the greatest souvenir apparel store i've ever been to. 

then we went back to reading and had some lunch

and headed for home

really grateful i got to see this fine city

it was an adventure i don't ever want to forget. 

hope all of you have had a fine week. 

here's to weeks start!