For the past three weeks I have been planning a super secret family vacation to Philadelphia. Holli is a hard person to trick and keep secrets from. I have been extra cautious not to let anything slip, but it was really hard for me to hold it all in. She was very surprised to see me still in my PJs when she came home from her run on Friday. I then handed her a series of letters with clues in them, but didn’t spill the beans until we were in the car driving to our destination. I had planned it for the previous weekend, but things just didn’t work out. So we ended up going on one of the hottest weekends of the year (well I hope it will be the hottest). Temps got well into the 100’s during the day and in the 80’s at night! Let us not forget about the humidity!
We did as much as we could on Friday considering the heat. We would go to a historical site, and then run back to the visitor’s center to seek shelter in the AC. After a cool down we would go to another. I brought a cooler full of waters and one of those spray bottle fans to help us stay cool! We saw Independence hall (I would put a picture of it up, but it was covered in scaffolding), the Liberty Bell, and a few other Benjamin Franklin sites.
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| Charly loves Liberty! |
We did as much as we could on Friday considering the heat. We would go to a historical site, and then run back to the visitor’s center to seek shelter in the AC. After a cool down we would go to another. I brought a cooler full of waters and one of those spray bottle fans to help us stay cool! We saw Independence hall (I would put a picture of it up, but it was covered in scaffolding), the Liberty Bell, and a few other Benjamin Franklin sites.
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| I don't think anyone told her it is 105 degrees outside. She looks so happy! |
Pat’s was better by a lot! Geno’s was dry and they put their cheese on the bread so it soaks into the bread and doesn’t mix and mingle with the meat. We wanted to try both so we could be the judge of which one is better. I wish we would have skipped Geno’s.
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| Pat's on the left and Geno's on the right |
Here are a couple tips on ordering from these two places. If you want an authentic cheesesteak ask for “Wiz Wit.” This means a cheesesteak with cheese wiz and onions. The wiz sounds crazy, but it’s pretty good. Also they only accept cash so be prepared for that. Of course our GPS had to break when we were leaving so we had to call my family to get directions to our friend Katie’s house.
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| Finishing it off! |
Saturday morning we spent time with Katie, her fiancé Bryce, and her family. They had a small dog that Charly found hilarious! Every time he walked into the room she would crack up! It was really funny.
We then headed back to Philly and went to the Please Touch Children’s museum. It was geared towards more of the toddler age group, but Charly had a blast nonetheless. She loves to reach and touch things and loves to watch other kids, so she was in heaven!
She rode a carousel and got to grab everything in her reach! I wish we would have had time to go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but we just ran out of time.
We then headed back to Philly and went to the Please Touch Children’s museum. It was geared towards more of the toddler age group, but Charly had a blast nonetheless. She loves to reach and touch things and loves to watch other kids, so she was in heaven!
She rode a carousel and got to grab everything in her reach! I wish we would have had time to go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but we just ran out of time.
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| My little girl is getting so big! |
We went back to Katie’s house and Holli and I got ready for our anniversary dinner (our anniversary is July 31st, but Holli will be in Utah then). We went to a little Colonial French Restaurant at a small house that used to be a part of the Underground Railroad. It was very fancy and I’m glad we dressed up. There was a guy playing Piano, candlelight, the whole shebang folks. We were even greeted by a guy in a suit with an accent. Holli got a Filet Mignon with béarnaise sauce and I had the Steak Diane Flambé. For those of you who don’t know what flambé is, it is when they cook you food right in front of you on a gas burner then pour brandy on top and light it on fire. You know when you are at Applebee’s and someone order’s the fajitas and they come out sizzling and everyone ooohs and aaaahs and watches you with envy? This is like that times a million and a huge ten foot flame to boot! It was very cool and very good!
On Sunday we went to Church, relaxed and hung out. We then drove home to find out our AC broke while we were on vacation and it was about 95-100 degrees in our apartment. Welcome home! It got fixed, but not exactly what you want when you come home from a hot vacation. Even though it was really hot this weekend I would do it all over again! We had a blast! Thanks Daltons for being such good hosts!
