The Vampire Tour

(This is not my photo)

We made a last minute decision (seeing a pattern here?!) to do the vampire tour of Philadelphia last night. We were driving around trying to find a place to eat dinner. We had already done a mall food court a few times, and it was looking like we were going to have to do McDonald's or Chili's... We made a rule earlier in the trip after having had KFC and Steak n Shake, that we wanted to try our best to eat at places we do not have at home.

Since Corey will be busy the next two days all day at the music show, we decided to go ahead and drive into Philadelphia to eat a Philly Cheese steak. With several recommendations, we decided to eat at Pat's King of Steaks. Our photos didn't turn out well so I found this one online.

We brought our food back to the car because there was no indoor seating and it was COLD!

Katie and Noah had hot dogs.

Corey got his "wit whiz" (with onions and cheese whiz)

I got mine "wit widdout" (with onions, without cheese whiz, provolone instead)

We got plenty of cheese fries too! Mmmmm!

The cheese steaks were good!

Since we were already downtown and SEPTA still on strike, we decided to just go ahead and see what we could see together! We saw...Washington Square...a beautiful park with memorials.

Here is the tomb of the unknown soldiers of the Revolutionary War.

After MUCH walking around and seeing other sights, we finally found the Liberty Bell!

They were doing construction all around it and it turned out we had actually parked RIGHT beside it but we didn't know. We were actually getting in the car to leave and Corey went to check out one more place...and there it was!

(all my maps were in the hotel room!!!)

This is through the window because of course the building was closed for the night.

You actually can't get super close to it inside anyway.

There was a fence outside the building with a brick ledge.

I suggested we put the kids on the ledge so they could get another good look (they had already seen it up close from the side and heard the automated narration).

When we put the kids up there a guard across the street blew his whistle really loudly a few times and yelled something.

It kind of startled us!!!! We really didn't know you couldn't do that, there wasn't a sign at all!!

Oh well..we got down and left. ha ha. It is funny now, but not at the time.

There were policemen on every street corner and especially around the monuments.

After seeing the Liberty Bell and many other big and awesome buildings around the city, we decided to go ahead and find the "Rocky Steps."

IT WAS SO HARD to get where we wanted to go! We accidentally got back on the interstate headed back to King of Prussia accidentally because the lanes were so confusing! But, we were determined, since this was the last thing on our "must-see" list.

FINALLY, we found it!

We took so many pictures here! These are just a few.

Katie and Noah "running" up the steps. Corey and Noah really did go all the way to the top but those photos didn't turn out well because of the lamps.

Katie wanted to go to the top but we got up the first flight and when I turned around I got really dizzy from looking down the stairs so I know I couldn't have come down once I got up there!

Here is one more shot from our night tour. This building had lights to make the Phillies emblem!

Now we had seen and done the "big" things we wanted to see in Philadelphia. AND we got to do it together! I am very happy about that. It was cold, but the kids were thrilled to see the Liberty Bell in person and we had a cheese steak! Check, check, and the Rocky Steps...check!

Today we plan on seeing Valley Forge.

We will get to spend much more time there than we did in actual Philadelphia, but with the schedule being what it is, this is just the best plan for us.

At least we got to come! We had never seen any of it before, and now we have.

Driving around Philadelphia was a MAZE and now that we have seen most of what we really wanted to see (that is free!) there is no reason to pay for a bus pass even if they do end the strike.

Valley Forge is less than a mile from our hotel. I can drive there myself!

I would NOT want to drive around Philadelphia by myself...it was SO confusing! (plus it costs to park anywhere!)

Between Valley Forge and the King of Prussia Mall, we have plenty to keep us busy until Monday (New York New York!)

Oh, and there is also all the schoolwork I brought as well. We spent several hours yesterday on bookwork and have plenty more of that to do too!