Day 5 - Annapolis to Philadelphia

Tuesday July 4, 2017

We left Jon and Sheba's house after catching up a little more in the morning.  They are not early risers.  We were able to load up the car and get on our way to Philly by 10AM.  We thought we'd have to hang out until 4PM, which is what our check-in time was. Luckily after contacting my best friend John, he said they were able to check in early at their hotel. 

The drive was easy, around Baltimore, with a stop for gas and an attempt to check out a couple of state parks along the way (fail), however, I think I-95 has the most tolls of any interstate highway I've ever seen. I believe we spent approximately a billion dollars just to drive on the damn road. No bridges, or tunnels, --here have the interstate through our town, oh that'll be 9 dollars. W.T.F!! 

We arrived at Philly early, thank you John, and just relaxed at first, admiring the view from the window.  Today was the get stuff done day as far as freebies were concerned, so after about an hour to hang out, we met up with the Garber's. After all, John did say he wanted to eat a Philly Cheesesteak with me in Philly.  

We walked our way to the park containing the grave of the unknown soldier on our way to view the Liberty Bell.  Since my son wore his Drew Brees Jersey about oh, every day since we started this trip, we caught a little flack from the local fans--it was all in good ribbing though-I do certainly remember hearing a "who dat" from a person who cheers for the right team.  The city was easy to navigate on the way to the Liberty bell, I used google bitty (whom I secretly think send us on toll roads to cover adverstising costs) to navigate but the roads were somewhat easy to understand, with the beautiful City Hall in the center of the city-an excellent waypoint and landmark.  

We arrived at the Liberty Bell after viewing the grave of the unmarked soldier. I frankly remember my son, who appeared to be pouting again state to us--"It's Just a bell with a crack in it".  I about murdered him right there in line.  He has a way of pushing my buttons, so after counting to 5 (very quickly) I started to let him know about all the history, also while backing up my claims with the wording from the line stops.  We only had to wait 20 mins.  Darn kid didn't even give me a smile for the family photo, taken by Avery.  #thekidsdontgetit #damnteens.

Not long after we met our friends to attempt to find the perfect Philly Cheese-steak. We asked a local horse carriage master how to get to Jims and he said that's touristy.  I asked him his advice and he stated definitely go to "sonny's".  We arrived, all eating a cheesesteak in philly only to have a little hearburn and sour stomach after.  This place has absolutely NOTHING on the Philly cheesesteaks offered by my motherland home town of Williamsport, who blows them away. Bar NONE.  Nice try Philly.  At least I can say I ate a philly cheesesteak in Philadelphia.  What a let down. 

After loading up on useless carbs, we headed to Penn's landing to see what was happening there.  Not much-a garbage carnival with a ferris wheel. It took my son ONE ROTATION to get kicked off the ride (I guess the ride master thought he was rocking the cart where he was actually trying to STOP the cart from rocking). Considering the way my son was acting, I'm believing the carnival guy today!

We stopped by the grave of Ben Franklin, before retreating to our rooms for a new rendezvous with our friends later for fireworks. 

On our way to the fireworks show (easily seen by my friends Embassy suite) a downpour occurred.  Luckily we were able to see it in the distance and were able to get cover.  The storm lasted about 15 minutes (further helping my son's mood) and luckily, we met our friends at their hotel. 

On our way to the hotel, we stopped at the fountain on Ben Franklin blvd.  There were people leaving the show, and some stopped to apparently bathe and hang out in said fountain.  After a few minutes, and stating to Avery that she should do that, she took me up on the offer.  The Garber kiddos appeared to get a kick out of it--GT, the stickler for rules, chose to stay out of the fountain with us.

Because of the storm, the free Mary J Blige concert was postponed.  When she came back on, I was joined by both my kids at the same time having meltdowns.  Avery: "I'm bored" and sat on the sidewalk viewing her phone. Jen attempted with GT to get ice-cream but was denied, because apparently all the shops in Philly close at 4PM, even vendors at the fireworks show!. Another WTF Philly!

We decided to get gelato and a much needed beer at a nearby restaurant while Mary sang songs.  It was kind of weird being able to watch her on TV while we waited (and waited, and waited) for our lazy waitress to bring us our beers and food.  Philly, you don't not have a very good service industry--justsaying. 

After we drank our beers and the kids had their sugar, we went back to the street once the explosions started. We hung out about 15 minutes, watching something we've seen hundreds of times before, then walked home, looking forward to our day tomorrow with the Philly pass.