Living in York, PA, Philadelphia is only 1.5 hours away. I have taken many trips there to visit the zoo, see shows at the Troc, TLA and the Electric Factory, hang out on South Street, you name it. But never have I “stayed over” as the campaign ads say. So we decided that on May 27 and 28 we were going to do just that. I brought the camera along to capture the moments. The first day we went to the zoo. I didn’t take many photos because I was taking it all in with Briar since it was his first time seeing animals like this. He loved every minute of it. Surprisingly enough, he enjoyed the birds the most. After visiting the zoo we headed towards center city where our hotel was. We checked in around 4pm then went for a bite at the Reading Terminal. We decided on Carmen’s because we just love their cheesesteaks! (And so does Briar!) After dinner we went for a walk around the fountains and then headed over to Chinatown. Later that night we went for a swim in the hotel pool. Day 2 we headed for historical district. We went to Franklin Square where we ate lunch at Square Burger and Briar got his first carousel ride. (He was not a big fan.) Then we walked around Olde City, visited the local comic shop and went to Penn’s Landing. Afterwards we took a “Ride the Ducks” tour which drives you around the city, then into the Delaware River. It was a lot of fun and I got some great photos. Then we headed for Independence Hall. It was so awesome to be in the same building that housed our forefathers. Before we left we stopped at Sonny’s for dinner. Hey, when you are in Philly, why not get some cheesesteaks! We had a lot of fun but it was HOT as you will be able to tell in some of the photos. Well worth the trip!

Briar really enjoyed pounding on the bingo pieces.

This was the view from our hotel window. You can see the roof of the Reading Terminal in the foreground.

Firemen’s Memorial in Franklin Square.

You can really see how bad Briar was sweating in these photos. Those are not tears.