Operation Honor: Philadelphia Part 1

The Grant threesome has made their way safely all the way from California to Europe! We are so grateful to all of you who prayed for our safe travel, and we feel blessed to have made it here sorta following our schedule and without any major incidents. Though this is only our first day away from home, we have already been many places and have seen so much history!

After a 6 hour flight from Sacramento we had a 15 hour layover in Philadelphia. Tired but unhen daunted, we decided to fill it in with as many of Philly’s sights and experiences as possible! Pennsylvania boasts thousands of historical attractions, and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing as many of them as 15 hours would allow.

Brief note here...our flight departed at 10:00 pm in California, and we landed five-six hours later at 6:00 am in Philadelphia. Our original plan was to sleep the whole flight and land more-or-less rested and ready to start our adventure! Except that us girls assumed (rashly) that it would be easy to fall asleep—and stay asleep. Turns out, it's not so easy to sleep on planes as we remembered. At least not when you're all almost or over 6'.

Finishing school + Packing + All night flight + No sleep = Coffee. Strong coffee!

The first place we stopped off at in Philadelphia was a parking garage. Philadelphia Fact #1…car garages (especially those near Independence Hall) are ridiculously expensive! Philadelphia fact #2…if you  stay in a parking garage for more than 3 hours and less than 10, you pay the same price. Who knew? The first place we visited in Philadelphia was The Christ Church Burial Ground is a beautiful old graveyard that holds the bodies of five Declaration signers, including Benjamin Franklin and his wife Deborah, as well as Dr. Benjamin Rush. The cemetery is a quiet, quaint square of history tucked away in a busy corner of Philly—although traffic and business bustle just outside its doors, Christ’s Church Cemetery is a very peaceful place. Century-old trees spread their branches gracefully into the sky, squirrels and birds hop around the green turf, and the crumbling granite gravestones are surrounded by flowers and American flags.

The place where Dr. Benjamin Rush is laid to rest (Drive Thru History, anyone?)

 We then walked to go see Independence Hall, the amazing location where the Founding Fathers debated, wrote, and signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Our tour began at the visitor’s center around the block from the Hall, which was full of beautiful murals and informative displays. From there we took a 30 minute tour inside the hall itself, which was wonderful! We were able to walk into the room where the Constitutional Convention took place…and although the majority of the original furniture and décor was lost in the hundred years after the Convention, two of the original features of the building remain. The first is a large painting which is predominately displayed in Independence Hall’s court room. The second is George Washington’s chair—the real, original chair in which he sat when he presided as president over the Constitutional Convention. Wow! The tour guide laughingly told us that whenever a president is scheduled to come see Independence Hall, they remove Washington’s real chair and put an imitation in its place. They say that Washington’s chair is sacred to the memory of the president, and even modern presidents aren't allowed to sit in it. We heartily agreed and told them “Good for you!”

This is where it all happened!

After enjoying a few National treasure moments, including but not limited to…

1.       Pointing out the brick structures on the Independence Hall roof where Ben Gates supposedly found Ben Franklin’s spectacles. Yes, they really are there (the brick arches, not the spectacles)!

2.       Getting a blackmail shot of us debating whether or not we should climb up the stairs to the bell tower, like Ben, Abigail, and Riley did.

3.       Buying a copy of the Declaration of Independence to dramatically unroll while inside Independence Hall! J

…we then headed over to Sonny's, a Philly Cheese Steak joint highly recommended for and by local Philadelphians. Oh. My. Goodness. Words fail to adequately describe how good a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich is. Anything that combines onions, bread, cheese, and ¾ of a pound of steak into one, single-plate lunch time food gets an A+ in the Grant book and this was no exception; we absolutely loved it! We may have to find a way to go get another one on our way home…

Philadelphia Part 2 will be coming soon as long as our internet connection agrees with us!