Spring Break 2012--Day One: Philadelphia

Our family is very fortunate.  We have lived in some amazing places.  We've seen some wonderful, awe-inspiring things.  We've had the opportunity to expose our children to places, people, and history; we've shown them sights I never expected to see in my lifetime.  We've had some great spring break trips over the last few years, and this year was no exception.

A couple of weeks ago our family loaded up the van for a spring break trip to someplace we'd never been, and when you're a military family who moves all the time, that's saying something!

We left on a Monday for the lovely city of Philadelphia, just a few hours north of our little town.  We knew it would just be a quick afternoon stop on our way to our other destination, but we wanted to take in a few of the city's sights.  We knew we wanted to see Independence Hall, but couldn't arrange a tour until Friday.  No worries; we rearranged our itinerary and took some time looking at the relatively new (4 July 2003) National Constitution Center.

It was really cool, and had a very moving live theatrical presentation about the history of freedom in America.  It was called "Freedom Rising" and was powerful--even little Dallin sat still!

After leaving the theater we wandered through the core exhibition--The Story of We the People--and then moved our way to the Signers' Hall, where the kids had fun hamming it up with historically accurate statues of the signers of the Constitution.

Nice, Josh.

 Then it was down the steps and back outside to the gorgeous sunshine.

We passed the US Mint as we walked, but they were closed to tours.  Boo.

We walked quickly through the Liberty Bell Center (little man's patience was wearing thin), pausing to take a few minutes for photos at the actual bell.  It's a great setting for the bell, with Independence Hall in the background across the street.  So sad that the bell cracked on its very first use.  A quote from the website reads:

 "A bell for the Pennsylvania State House was cast in London, England, however, it cracked soon after it arrived in Philadelphia. Local craftsmen John Pass and John Stow cast a new bell in 1753, using metal from the English bell. Their names appear on the front of the bell, along with the city and the date. By 1846 a thin crack began to affect the sound of the bell. The bell was repaired in 1846 and rang for a George Washington birthday celebration, but the bell cracked again and has not been rung since. No one knows why the bell cracked either time."

Independence Hall was just across the street--but more on that visit later!

We spent a few minutes admiring this lovely park as we walked--the blossoms were just beautiful!

We really enjoyed our afternoon in Philadelphia, and were looking forward to coming back on Friday to see more, but we headed back to the car to continue our journey north.


Places to go and things to see, don't you know?!