4-5 Jul - Philadelphia on the Fourth of July and Packing to Leave New Jersey

4 July
Today is our big day at Philadelphia.  Because of that and the travel time from our campground, we are taking our dog with us and having her boarded and groomed near Philadelphia, and we will stay in a motel there.  So we headed out of the campgrounds early and arrived at the Petsmart in Lawnside NJ across the river from Philadelphia at 8:00 am when they opened.  Then we had a short drive to the Woodcrest train station and we headed into Philadelphia.

Since today is the 240th anniversary of our Nation's independence, Philadelphia is one big celebration!  We arrived at the 8th and Market train station about 09:30 and proceeded directly to view the Liberty Bell.

At 10:00 we attended a huge event at Independence Hall.  Various dignitaries and groups were recognized and there was a reading of the Declaration of Independence.

One of the National Park Service personnel celebrating our Nation's 240th birthday and the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.

At 11:00 was a huge parade with many nationalities and groups represented.

Color Guard from McGuire Air Force Base.  

Doreen says I ran into some of the guys I enlisted with!  Nice!

 

Some fun with William Penn and wife!

The parade went on forever

Fire department in the parade

Tiller

We then toured Independence Hall,  Incredible to think our Nations forefathers were in these chambers and finalized and signed the Declaration of Independence.

The Supreme Court Room

The Assembly Room

 After that we headed to the City Tavern built in 1773, demolished in 1854 and rebuilt in 1975.  The servers wear authentic costumes and they serve great food and drink.

After lunch we passed a very nice firefighter memorial.  It was built to commemorate three Philidelphia firefighters that were killed in the line of duty at a 12 alarm high rise fire at One Meridian Plaza on 24 Feb 1991.  Great words.

We then proceeded to One Liberty Observation Deck, the second tallest building in Philadelphia.  The elevator took us to the 57th floor and there we had a fantastic 360 degree view of the city.

Inside the observation deck

 

Some of the neighboring buildings and construction

A great view looking east towards New Jersey

About 2:00 pm we walked to the Broad Street subway and headed south to the Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies major league baseball team.  

Unfortunately due to distance we did not get a tour of the stadium, but it is a beautiful facility.

Statue of Mike Schmidt in front of the ball park.

The Phillies celebrated the 4th of July with a Salute to Veterans. Each state flag was carried to the field and then veterans from each conflict since WWII were recognized. National Anthem and God Bless America performed by the 78th Army Band.  All Service Color Guard presented the colors and Veterans injured in the line of duty led fans in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  It was an amazing presentation.

State Flags lined the infield, carried by members of the Phillies staff who were veterans

The Phillies played the Atlanta Braves and won the game 8-2.  Neither team has been doing all that great and the fans were pretty sparse.  They filled in a bit since this picture was taken but I doubt the stadium was filled to half capacity of 43,647

Doreen and I sampled the fare to include a Phillie Cheese Steam sandwich, the signature treat of Philadelphia.  I tried one of their hotdogs and it was pretty good.  Officially, Cincinnati still has the best hotdogs!!    We have now visited four ball parks (St Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and now Philadelphia) and have four more to go on this trip. We will see what the mets, Yankees, Red Sox and Indians have to offer!!

After the game we headed back to New Jersey.  We took the SEPTA Broad Street subway to Walnut and then transferred to the PATCO train which took us back to New Jersey where we parked our truck to head to the motel.  A bit spooky as the train station was nearly empty.  Reassuring were the law enforcement and PATCO security personnel who were always right around the corner and asked if we needed anything.

5 July
Today we departed the motel and picked up the dog from Petsmart, with her new haircut!  About 1-1/2 hours later we were back at the campgrounds in northern New Jersey.  We spent the rest of the day prep'ing the RV for travel.  Tomorrow, 6 July and Doreen's Birthday, we will depart Navel Weapon Station Earle RV Park and head to Round Pond RV Park at West Point, NY

Our next broadcast will be from the great State of New York!