philadelphia friday

matt and I finally scheduled our weekend away. after much thought and talking over many options, we decided to head to Philadelphia. matt had been there once with alexis and mike & cami, so I was excited to go. we got girls off to school and Delaney off to darrows and we were on our way!

first stop - visitors center. we got pictures with this Philadelphia hottie.

2 hotties!

we brought our bikes so we could make good time and not have to worry about parking. city exploring on bikes is becoming one of our favorite things! we loved it in dc and we loved it in philly!

:)

it wasn't until after we took these pictures that we noticed the "no climbing" sign on this guy. oopsie.

I had made a list, and of course the liberty bell was at the very top! check! it was smaller than I thought it would be.

independence hall was another agenda item.

unfortunately we got there late and there was a long line for a tour of independence hall. but as we walked around, we noticed another tour getting ready to start, so we headed over there. it turned out to be the continental congress building.

it was a nice small tour and we were glad we got to do it.

it is fascinating to walk in the footsteps of our founding fathers. I love history!

nerd alert. :)

from there we biked on over to the mint. I've always wanted to check one out, and it did not disappoint! we got to see coins being made and since it was closing time, we got a quick private tour from one of the security guards. no pictures allowed inside, but just know that it was awesome.

what's this antiquated old thing?

Benjamin franklin's burial site is right across the street from the mint, and even though the cemetery was closed, we were still able to snag a quick pic.

next up was mrs. besty ross' house.

the only flag pic we got and honey had his eyes closed. oh well. :)

the house is done up very cutely, but there really wasn't much to it. i'm all for cute though, so I think it was still worth a quick trip.

my very own seamstress in Betsy's upholstery room. ;)

the next day they were opening their Christmas markets, so there were tons of news vans and they had everything decorated so prettily.

because we're in love. :)

there was a homeless man there taking pics for people, so he posed us and walked all around to get good angles. can't blame a man for trying to work for a dollar.

then we biked forever and back and forth and all through detours and construction over to the Rocky steps, or the Philadelphia museum of art, if you are so inclined.

how could he not?

it was really beautiful up there. we were wishing we had a cheesesteak to eat and we would have parked it and hung out for awhile.

but alas, no cheesesteaks to be found, and we were starving and cold.

time for  a few more pictures, and then to head over to a little Mediterranean restaurant for dinner. deliciousness!

as we drove to our hotel, we spied the cute little Philadelphia lighthouse all lit up for Christmas. see it there, next to the house?

we had to laugh because here we were on a weekend without kids, in a big city, and we were heading to our hotel at 9pm. to be fair, we'd been physically going, going, going all day long, but still, we are so old. :) hot showers and tv time ended a perfect day.