Big Fun In PA-Part 3

On day 5 we stopped in Amish Country. Certain individuals were really looking forward to Intercourse, PA (insert joke here). The boys left with a few "I heart Intercourse" mugs and pot holders and the girls just got some cute purses (with no Intercourse logo).

Uncle Brad got to share a room with us, and he was good about entertaining E. I had to get a picture of him sitting still because it doesn't happen very often. (E...not Brad)

Hee hee. We are all little berries.

Valley Forge stuff. It wasn't as good as Gettysburg as far as the trail being marked. It was really pretty small. Plus the park rangers were really crabby.

Little E trying to figure out how to work the cannon.

At the end of day 5 we arrived in Philadelphia! We made it to our hotel without incident, but poor Ashley had a heck of a time meeting up with us after work. We were so glad when she finally made it (even without a GPS!). Grandma J opted to stay with E since it was his bedtime while the rest of us ventured out to find the best Philly cheesesteak. My cousin Amy used to live in Philly so she recommended Jim's. We took our lives in our hands I tell you as we walked down the streets at night. There were some pretty scary characters there. Then when we got to Jim's there was a huge line. So we carefully studied how to order since they weren't very patient with anyone. In the end, we made friends with all the black people working there even though we were a little afraid because the cashier lady thought it was awesome that we were taking a sandwich home to our mom. :) Mmmm...I'm craving a cheesesteak right now just writing about this.

The next morning we woke up and got started with all the stuff we wanted to see in Philadelphia. We stopped by the U.S. Mint since it was just a block or two from our hotel. It was pretty neat. It would've been better if the machines had been running though. *Note: If you're ever going there, you can't take any cameras in. Not even if they're off or stowed in your bags. They made us designate someone from our group to stay behind to hold the cameras.

The Constitution Center. This was actually really cool. This was probably my favorite part of Philadelphia. Well, it's hard to pick a favorite, but this was so worth it.

Yay for duck tours!

E really liked his duck lips. He still hasn't figured out how to blow through them to make a quacking noise though.

Benny and me in front of Independence Hall

The Liberty Bell (All of this made me really want to watch National Treasure again. So we did...2 days ago)

The Betsy Ross House

Independence Hall

E playing his favorite game. He played this while we were on the go, in the car, at the hotel, you name it. The idea is that you have to guess where he may have gone. "Oh no! Where is Emerson? Did we leave him on the duck tour bus? Is he at the Liberty Bell? Is he playing in the grass? Did we leave him at the hotel?" At this point he would remove one or both hands and you could exclaim "Oh THERE he is!" We were unsure about the rules when he just removed one hand though. Can we see you or not?

Inside Independence Hall

And don't forget Rocky

I didn't.

Yes, we even ran up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (?) like in the movie. It wasn't even hard.

Philadelphia at night

I must insert here that in the quest for the perfect Philly cheesesteak we did try Pat's as well. After weighing both Jim's and Pat's, the general consensus was that Jim's won. And you all must try it with Cheese Whiz. It's soooo good.

After Philadelphia we drove back to Hershey and spent the last night there. In the morning we met up one last time at this delicious donut place called The Fractured Prune. Picture this: piping hot donuts with an assortment of toppings in such combinations to produce things like Reese's, samoas, french toast, cinnamon roll, mint patty, and so on. There are so many to choose from. After breakfast we said goodbye to Scott and started the long drive back to Columbus. We made it in pretty good time. When we got here we got some pizza and then went to Graeter's for a little closure. We were dreading the next morning because it meant saying goodbye. :(

The fam came over early and we cooked breakfast for them before their flight and then said our tearful goodbyes (tearful mostly on my part...I don't know why but I ALWAYS cry. And then I set off everyone else.) and we sent them on their way. When E was saying goodbye he stayed in Grandpa's arms and waved goodbye to Ben and me. He really wanted to go with them in the big van again and he cried when we wouldn't let him go. He loved having everyone here and he even learned to say "Pa" for Grandpa and "Ama" for Grandma. Thanks again for the wonderful trip Mom and Dad! It really was big fun. We would be happy to accompany you anytime. And yes, we'll bring E too.