Thursday 4/8 Philly

Once again after a long day before we woke up early and headed into Philadelphia. We parked the car in a lot where we thought someone would break in and steal everything, and since we basically had all our possesions in the car, we covered everything up. From the lot we walked to Liberty Bell, way cool. It's amazing how much passion and inspiration can come from an inanimate object.

Then we went and got a tour of Independence Hall. WAY COOL!! They have THE CHAIR that Mr. Washington HIMSELF sat on!!! CRAZY!!

Our tour guide was funny, even though he repeated himself about three times.. but whatever.. we still learned alot.

After the tour we walked a couple blocks to Benjamin Franklins Grave. Of course as we were walking our stomachs were rumbling and we walked past a hot dog stand. You know, the ones that you see on the food channel and on tv but never see on the West Coast. Well we found one, so we HAD to get some. Personally I was expecting a cheap, poorly made hot dog that was barely warm.. but Oh was I wrong. They were actually really good. Nice big size, plenty warm, and no soggy bun! We all enjoyed but Adam didn't. He savored! He smelled it for a good 5 minutes before he even took a bite. Even after he actually started eating it still took him forever. When we asked him what he was doing he answered : " I'm soooooo hungry! I want to enjoy ALL of it!" Dad's response: "Ha. Best dollar I ever spent!"

Since you had to pay 2 dollars a person to go into the actual cementary, we said our Hellos and Thank Yous to Benjamin Franklin from behind the gate, then continued walking.

On our way back to the car we found a Ross and bought Alisha some shoes. Now I'm not saying that Alisha is in any way a nonintelligent person, I'm just saying that forgetting good tennis shoes for a trip like this was not the most intelligent thing she has ever done. But we still love her :)

After finding the lot and smurking to ourselves while the poor attendant pull our giant van out, we drove to the famous Pat's for the prized Philly CheeseSteak. The ordering was actually a hilarious thing. While waiting in line there is a poster above that instructs you how to order. After the 4 or so steps it says "If you mess up go back to the end of the line and start over" We thought it was some joke.. but it wasn't. By the time dad had finished the order and realized he had said something wrong our sandwiches were already done. Dad tried to change it, but after getting some sass from the lady taking orders we decided to deal with it. Being in the Food business I was taken back that she would talk like that to a customer but then I realized something: 1. We were on the East Coast (no offense to anyone)  2. If you are that famous and busy all the time, you really don't have to worry about one guy.

Now in my opinion, the sandwiches aren't all they are hopped up to be. It's bread, with some meat and cheese. None of the ingredients have a fabulous taste or anything. So again I'm thinking.. It's a East Coast thing. Now I think the rest of the family did enjoy them, but if I recall correctly we did decide they weren't 8 bucks worthy. Sorry Pat :(

Adam didn't like the Cheese Steaks either, and of course the poor little guy was hungry, and of course he has the nicest mom who bought him another hot dog. The funny part was that while mom bought the hot dog at another stand we found on our way to the freeway, the rest of the family stayed in the van, the van that was parked in a handicapped spot. Now the REALLY funny part was that across the street (which was a very small and narrow street, especially in our GIANT van) was a parked cop car, which we assumed was stopped to eat lunch (luckily for us a long lunch). Thankfully mom is fast so we didn't spend that much time wondering if the cop would be coming out and ticketing us.
From Philadelphia we drove to New Jersey. We went to Liberty Park, sat on nice green grass and ate melted animal cookies while we planned the next few days. Once again, thank you to the wonderful invention of broadband :) After we had planned we drove to our hotel in Jersey City and then started on our adventure.

First step of the adventure: The Train System. Gratefully there is a nice big button on the machine where you buy your tickets that says "Push for Assistance" and luckily a nice lady came and helped us. After we got a good explaination and felt like we could get to New York and back without trouble we headed off. Everyone loved the trains. No Doubt, everyone could tell we were tourists. No Shame :)

From the station we head toward Time Square. As we got closer we got hungier and decided to stop for pizza. Adam threw a fit because he decided he didn't like New York style pizza (even though he'd never tried it before) but lo and behold after practically forcing him to eat a bite... He Loves It. (Shocker) Not only does he love it but he said he never wants to eat any other kind of pizza.. Ever.  We were all able to get our own toppings, and they weren't just cheese and pepperoni but the yummy stuff. Let's just say New York knows what it is doing!

World's Largest Wall Of Chocolate :)

World's Biggest Dorks

Ewww

What happened when we saw this: Michelle and Alisha BUST out in song. Sarah groans. Adam laughs.

After filling up we wandered around Time Square, saw the pretty lights, then walked to the Empire State Building.

( Alisha and Adam had a Dancing contest while waiting in line... Alisha won)

After a good long wait in line and 20 bucks each we went to the 86th floor. Never before have I felt wind like that!! Never before have I been on the 86th floor of a building either, but still.. It was WINDING!!

After freezing our tails off we went back to the train and was back at the hotel by 1 am. Did we have a Blast? Of course! Were we all sleep before we even opened the hotel door? Of course!