Hi there. Today we left Harrisburg, PA and drove to Old Cedar Park Campground in New Jersey. We arrived early so that we could venture off to see the sights and sounds of Philadelphia. Our first stop in Philly was the Independence Hall Visitor Center. We picked up some pamphlets and maps and we were off..

Here’s a little history of Philly that I was not aware of. Philadelphia was actually the nation’s interim capitol while our politicians were selecting the permanent site, eventually Washington DC. It was the capitol for a period of 10 years. Below is Independence Hall. This building is where the Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution was debated and signed…

Unfortunately, Aimee and I weren’t able to get tickets, they were sold out for the day. We were able to tour the Congress Hall. This is the building that housed our first congress. Here’s a picture of Congresswoman Aimee, she looks official!

The desk in the next picture is pretty significant in our country history. It’s actually the place where our 2nd President John Adams was Inaugurated. This is significant because it was actually the first time that our nation’s first leader, George Washington, handed over his power to publicly elected John Adams. Up until this point, changes of leadership have only taken after revolutions or natural deaths of nobility. People actually thought that George Washington might not peacefully relinquish his power, but as you all know, he did and did it proudly.

The senate met in this space…

Here are some very old (but not original) paintings. These were gifts from France. They are actual portraits of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI…

After touring the historical areas of Philly, we decided to take in some local cuisine, Philly Cheese Steak. We googled a couple of places and finally decided on Jim’s Steaks on South Street. On the way down there, we saw some interesting Apartments…they look like Rocky’s apartment!

After walking about a mile, we got to South Street. It actually reminded us of Bourbon Street a bit. Plenty of bars and restaurants. We walked up to Jim’s by following our nose, it smelled awesome inside. After looking over the menu, we decided on Cheese Steak with Provolone Cheese. Here’s some pics of our great dinner…

I know, 13 sandwiches in one hour, incredible. Aimee and I were both full after eating…we walked a mile or so back to the truck. Philly had some cool alley ways..

We hoped back into the truck hoping to go check out some Rocky sites. He’s got a statue near the Museum of Art and it’s actually the museum stairs that he climbs while “Eye of the Tiger” is playing. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn and went over a bridge. To get back over, we would have to payed another 5 dollar toll, I know, 5 bucks to cross a bridge! We complain about $0.60 in Nola. We took it back to the campground, lit a campfire and enjoyed our last night in the quite countryside for the next week and a half.

I tried my hand at taking some night pictures…here’s some pictures of stars. Until tomorrow, bon soir!