Founding Fathers

Monday morning, we woke up in our parking lot with our normal dilemma--where can we find a public bathroom that is open first thing in the morning? Daddy-o went out searching and had quite the adventure trying to find one, but it was all good in the end. And then, while I waited for them to get ready, I went out for a little walk to our first stop of the day. Sometimes it's better to have fewer people in the van during the getting ready part, and sometimes we just need to get away from each other for a few minutes ;).

I wandered over the cemetery where Benjamin Franklin is buried and found a plaque

and a bust.

His grave is right by the corner fence, which is good because the gates weren't open yet. Daddy-o and Peanut caught up with me there and we made our way down to Independence Hall for our tour.

The birth of our nation.

we got to learn about the history of Philadelphia and our nation.

We got to see where Independence was declared in 1776.

It's a little crazy to think of what happened in this space--who has been there. Both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were signed here. Abraham Lincoln's body was brought here to lie in state after his assassination. It's full of history.

We really enjoyed the tour.

Got to hear lots of stories about the time the government was based here.

After that, it was time for lunch--Philly Cheesesteaks. I'd never had one before, but we found Oh Brother which is known for their sandwiches, and it didn't disappoint.  I also found it really amusing to watch the young employee who was so into the Harry Potter movies playing on the TV on the wall that he paused it when he had to leave the room for a minute, haha.

Then, we went to look at other locations in Philidelphia, like Benjamin Franklin's post office.

Benjamin Franklin is everywhere in this city.

We looked around the area he lived,

and loved what they did to show his house, which is no longer there. The simple outline,

with lots of open views of the excavation they have done.

We decided we wanted to visit the Benjamin Franklin museum while we were there, and were really impressed with the exhibits. It was fun to learn more about him.

Finally, we went to check out the liberty bell. It was cool to see.

And Peanut went back to get his Jr Ranger badge. This program was nice because it just involved experiencing a few spots of your choice from the many options in the area.

And with that, it was time to say goodbye to Philly. We had a few hours' drive to get to Washington, DC where we planned to sleep.

And got there just in time to settle in for the night.

Not a bad place to "camp"--it's hard to believe that there are streets so close to the capitol that you are allowed to sleep on, but we found two with overnight parking and no signs to indicate we couldn't stay.

Peanut was happy to get out and run around for a few minutes before we settled down for the night.

And then, it was time for bed. But one last look at the view before we put up the window covers.

 

City of Love: Day 12

After attending church, we drove into Philidelphia for a couple of days of sightseeing. We found a great parking space along Benjamin Franklin Parkway and I made a snacky lunch while the boys went to find a bathroom.

Peanut needed to get some energy out, so he ran up and down the sidewalk for a few minutes.

And then we walked down to the art museum where we got to see the infamous steps. There were hundreds of people reenacting the Rocky scene during the time we were there. I've actually never seen the whole movie, just the running montage, but maybe we'll have to watch it now that we've been there.

And then we walked down the street and spotted the LDS temple!

Also popped into the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul which was beautiful. Our churches may not be as old as the ones in Europe, but we do have some very pretty ones.

Then we walked over to see the city hall.

It's a beautiful building that's over 125 years old.

Nice afternoon for a walk.

Found ourselves the Love statue

And a fun fountain. 

It was dinner time so we walked back to the van and move to where we hoped to spend the night--

in a paid parking lot right on the river with an incredible view.

Peanut and I went for a walk along the river while Daddio made dinner. And then we had dinner in the van by the river. 

After we cleaned up, we decided we wanted to move to a different part of the parking lot with less foot traffic for the night and that was when one of the attendants came to visit and told us we were not allowed to sleep in this particular parking lot. They had allowed it in the past but the owners were no longer letting people stay in their vehicles, even though the vehicle could stay overnight. They refunded us our money, but sent us on our way. Our first issue with overnight parking. I'm honestly surprised that we had made it this long.

So, we drove around for a little bit, checking out other lots, and finally decided on one right in the middle of the area we wanted to explore the next day where we'd be able to stay parked for up to 24 hours. It was unattended, so we guessed we wouldn't have a problem with sleeping there, and settled in for the night. 

 

Gettysburg or Bust

We slept at a Cracker Barrel just east of the airport in Indianapolis after picking Daddy-o up, so we got breakfast there the next morning. It's a small thank you for their policy allowing vans and RVs to use their parking lot overnight which we greatly appreciate.

And then, we started the drive for Gettysburg, with one stop. Whenever we have kind of long drives, I try to look along our route to find something fun to stop at just to break up the drive, and to see some of the things along the way. And every now and then, they're kind of a let down.  Shrum Mound, which was is a historical landmark, was one of those. It's a burial ground for the early Native Americans in the area, the Adena, and I'm glad that it is preserved, but other than a couple of plaques, and the grassy mound, there was nothing there. Maybe it wouldn't have been a bad stop if I hadn't had to pee so badly at that moment and was hoping for at least a pit toilet in the parking lot (there was no parking lot, let alone a toilet, haha.) It took us a couple tries to find a gas station with a working toilet in the area, so in the end, the stop cost us at least an hour, and wasn't very satisfying. But now we've seen one of the mounds that dot the map in the east.

And we finally made it to Pennsylvania! It was a rainy driving day, but this marked the end of long driving days for awhile. Once we made it to the east coast, our stops were much closer together.

Love the turn pike sign. We ended up parking for the night in a rural residential neighborhood in Gettysburg after making a stop at a grocery store for a couple items and a bathroom.

And the next morning, we moved to the parking lot at the National Military Park where we made breakfast in the parking lot and got ready for our day of exploring.

We started with a guided walk that highlighted some of the battles spots and stories about the people who fought here. It was really nice having someone who knew a lot of history to make our walk come alive.

We saw several of the many, many monuments that are spread throughout. I remember the first time we visited, back in 2015, being blown away at the size of this place. We had thought a couple hours would be plenty for a visit and left wishing we had a whole weekend.

We still didn't get to see everything, but I do feel like the guided walk helped us feel like it was a more meaningful trip this time.

It's sobering thinking of how many people died here. 

There are a lot of accounts recorded from the residents who were left to live with the stench of death for months afterwards.

We really enjoyed the tour and all we were able to learn.

So many monuments.

We feel like we got a better idea of the park this time, even though there is still so much more to see.

And we found some fall colors!

After lunch, we went to look around the museum, including the cyclorama.

Peanut did the Jr. Ranger program here.

Our tour guide was the one who gave him his badge!

And he got to hang out with Abe!

We finished the day with a drive up to Culp's Hill Observation Tower.

It was a beautiful evening.

When we drove back into town, we decided to stop at the cemetery.

They were setting up for an event that evening.

We walked around a bit,

and found the memorial to Abraham Lincoln's speech.

There were reenactors standing guard,

and someone played taps at sunset.

We walked around the downtown for a bit--there were a lot of people around for the weekend and bands playing, a camp of Civil War soldiers. It brought everything to life.

And then, it was time to head to our Airbnb for the night. We were ready for showers and laundry and a little more space to spread out for a few hours. However, when we found the condo we had rented, there were already people in it. We tried messaging the owner through Airbnb, and tried calling, and after awhile, finally got ahold of him. There was a mix-up with the property being listed on multiple platforms and it was double-booked, so we were out of a place to stay. Not what we wanted to hear at that point in the evening when we'd been looking forward to settling in, making dinner in a full kitchen, and watching a movie. Instead, we got to frantically search for a new place, which ended up being another half hour down the road. So, late dinner, late night, but we managed to get a couple of loads of laundry done and enjoyed the space.