Day 12 (June 30) and Day 13 (July 1)

(As promised, here is Zach's post from a few days ago...)

Zach here. In case you haven’t noticed, I have not yet posted on the Family Blog. I will be writing about day’s number 12 and 13.

Day 12 (June 30)
Day was a driving day. We drove from Nashua, New Hampshire to King of Prussia, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Philadelphia). It was around 430 miles and 10 hours total (we made quite a few stops). The highlight of the day was driving through New York City. We drove around the city, saw the Empire state Building, Ground Zero, and other landmarks. Some of us got out of the car and saw the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park, and we bought some authentic New York hotdogs and pretzels. It was great to get to actually see the stuff we always hear about. We ended the day with a workout and a quick swim and went to bed exhausted.

Day 13 (July 1)
We spent today in Philadelphia. We started our tour of the city in the Independence Hall Visitor’s Center, which was actually a few blocks from Independence Hall. After checking stuff out there, we headed to the building that holds the Liberty Bell. After seeing the bell, we went to a restaurant called Campo’s, which we were told was one of the best places to get an authentic Philly Cheese Steak. The sandwiches were great. Following lunch, we went to Independence Hall, the site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, two of the most important documents in our country’s founding. We toured the Hall, and then went to a room where original copies of the Articles of Confederation, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution were displayed. After seeing the documents, we went back to the Visitor’s Center to grab some souvenirs, and then ran into Dunkin’ Donuts for some coffee and donuts. On our way out of the city, we drove past the Philadelphia Museum of Art, whose front steps were immortalized in the movie Rocky. We will be doing some more touring of Philly tomorrow, before heading down to the place we’ll be staying near Washington D.C. (about 150 miles from Philadelphia).

Thanks for keeping up with us. More to come…

Zach