Summer of Traffic

We had a late start to the day. After checking out we had breakfast and headed to the Constitution Center which is near Independence Hall. Buddy got in free since he is a defender of the Constitution. Apparently I am not and had to pay full admission. They do a performance type thing in the beginning which was interesting. I spent a lot of energy keeping Nyla from being too noisy so I couldn't give it my full attention. Nevertheless, I thought it was good. After the performance, we were herded into the upstairs museum portion. The museum was set up in a circle with a linear progression over time about how the constititution has been challenged and ammended. There were many interactive displays. The earlier topics covered the debate over the constitution itself (the split into the House and Senate was passed by 1 vote with nobody happy with it) to a federal bank and slavery. Towards the present the topics were mostly Supreme Court rulings. I thought it was a fascinating museum and wish I could have had more Bohdin free time to explore it.

I forgot to mention that part of our breakfast was more gelato. Today we had 2 cups with 3 flavors each. Buddy had the chocolate hazelnut, cinnamon, and lime with lime being his favorite. I had the cinnamon, blueberry, and peach. I didn't like the peach as much so Bohdin ate most of that. He wanted the orange flavor but we have some orange gelato in our freezer at home so I wanted something different.

For lunch we had a Philly speciality which is the pulled pork sandwich with sharp provolone and greens. The greens are broccoli rabe. We also had a chicken cutlet sandwich. In all we tried many of best of the city's offerings. We didn't try a cheesesteak because the best in the city as closed on the weekend. That sandich has over 1000 calories so I don't want to waste that many calories on crap. We need to save something for our next visit anyway. I need to drive back and get more of that gelato. Just FYI, Iron Chef Morimoto has a restaurant in Philly. Since we're not raw fish lovers I don't think we'll ever make it there but it does show that Philly is a good food city.

We tried to avoid two of the toll booths on the way back by taking a longcut. It was successful but perhaps a bit slower. We'll never know for sure. We saw huge backups northbound on the interstate going through the toll booths. We had heavy traffic but it didn't slow us down too much. What should have been a 2 hour trip took over 3 hours due to multiple child stops and traffic. Our summer of fun plan may need to be reworkded since the millions of people who live around here take weekend trips.

On the drive up to Philly Bohdin decided to play store and sell ice cream. I purposely chose to drive so the playing duties would fall to Buddy. On the trip down Buddy and I alternated telling him stories. He was relentless in his asking. Nothing would distract him from asking for another story. In the hotel he liked to play bus and office. We had 2 phones and Bohdin would "call" different things on the other line. Buddy spent a lot of time playing with him this weekend.

On the way back down we discussed our favorite parts. Buddy liked looking at the buildings. There was a lot of neat architecture in the area including many murals painted on the sides. I liked the Constitution Center. We all loved the gelato. Bohdin said his favorite part was the museum but I'm positive it was not. Anytime we went near one he said he didn't want to go in. When we were inside he asked if it was time to go. I think his favorite part was riding the purple bus. He wanted to go on the subway but it wasn't really going where we were.

It was a good trip but a little tiring. There was a lot of walking and even more cajoling. I think we need to do something even more laid back next trip. Perhaps camping.


Eating a pork sandwich in Reading Terminal
 

Scooping up the gelato from his shirt
 

Playing store in the car
 

Playing bus in the hotel room