The City of Brotherly Love

This weekend we packed our bags and headed to Philadelphia! On the way we stopped in Delaware, which didn't really have anything to offer except license to cross it off my state bingo card. We'll have to get better acquainted another time.

Our little cohort of interns spent the night in Pennsylvania at a place called the Freedom Foundation--a summer camp-esque institution where we had (a questionable) lunch and then took a tour of the surrounding Valley Forge area.

The Eastern countryside is just gorgeous. Freeways lined and hooded with trees, miles and miles of rolling green hills, yellow buttercups and purple fringed orchids. The years have stacked up here, heavy with history, sunken into the soil. I think I could live the rest of my life in this place and be perfectly content.

Our passionate tour guide took us to the place where General George Washington forged his Continental Army and the place where thousands of soldiers died during the harsh winter of 1777. It was fascinating. There is so much US history that I don't know.

Unfortunately, the experience was hampered by the fake philly cheesesteaks we'd had for lunch. Everyone was feeling sick.

After a night of upset stomachs and creaky beds, we gracelessly rolled out of bed the next morning and headed out to spend the better part of the day in Philadelphia,

Philadelphia is beautiful. I was traipsing down those old brick sidewalks in euphoric awe. The streets are so much quieter than the streets in DC--there's almost a ubiquitous reverence to the whole city. We stood inside Independence Hall, in the very room where the Constitution was signed; we stopped at a few cemeteries, ate the obligatory philly cheesesteak (legit ones this time), visited the Tomb of the Unknown (Revolutionary War) Soldier, and dropped by the United States Mint.

I watched squirrels chase each other up and down trees and thought, "I could live here."

Outside the Mint, I balanced on a stone pillar as clouds gathered. It was starting to drizzle but we had an hour before we had to be back at the bus. We decided to visit the Reading Market, which meant we'd have to walk through a sketchier part of town. Unfortunately my high opinions of Philadelphia were a little sullied on our little journey to the market, but I think the other parts of the city make up for it.Opposition in all things, or something like that.

After a dinner of Italian pizza we piled onto the bus and drove home toward the sunset--the first sunset I've seen in awhile. I stared out the window hoping that this wouldn't be the last Philadelphia and I saw of each other.

 I don't think it will be.



P.S. I learned one less historical, albeit still important lesson on this trip: Restaurants at rest stops don't need to worry about maintaining a good reputation because they don't have a solid returning customer base. So they can get away with charging you $5 for a "shake" that is really just blended soft serve ice cream with two packages of reeses pieces dumped inside.

"I can't finish this milkshake. Like, it won't go away!"