Monday, Day 17: Philly Traffic and Cheesesteaks

“An hour,” they said, is all it would take to get into downtown Philadelphia. So, we optimistically made our way toward Independence Hall, planning to arrive mid-morning – in time to look around a bit before lunch. Hah! What foolishness…

Ah, the traffic. Living in the West I am unaccustomed to the constancy of thick, slow-moving, bumper-to-bumper stuff of daily life on the east coast. It took TWO hours to make the 58 miles trek into Philly, and we hit the visitor center for an overview of best options. Quickly grabbed somne of the last tickets for the Independence Hall tour, getting into the very last one of the day, scheduled for 4:30. Everything here out east closes at 5 p.m., so we had to be a-moving.

Met Bill and Kim and their two children and found some genuine Philly cheesesteaks for lunch (thanks, Bill!). They were greasy and good! After fueling up the gang, we made our way to see the Liberty Bell, which had a good bit of historical introduction along the walk preceding the actual bell. Then we toured a bit more of the grounds, and eventually saw the rooms where the Declaration of Independence was actually signed. What an amazing event to think about, and it was indeed a wonderful moment to be in the very rooms where our country’s founders met on that historic day!

We dawdled for half an hour to allow the afternoon rush hour traffic to thin out a bit before heading back to Lehigh. Only took 90 minutes to make it back, and a pleasant meal topped off the day.