It's Independence Hall! After school ended mid June, I took off for Philadelphia, PA to visit a previous roommate and friend, Allyson Merrell. She moved to Philly in February to take a post-doc position at a lab at Penn State. She's a smarty! I arrived early Thursday morning, June 25th and caught up on sleep as I had flown on a red eye from SLC. My adventures included an 8 hour drive up and back to New York to visit Watkins Glen State Park, a gorge with 19 waterfalls! We also saw the sights of Lancaster, PA where the Amish live and then Valley Forge just outside of Philadelphia. We then saw the sights of Philly and finally I ended my last morning with a hike with Allyson and her roommate Hailey to Wissahickon Park.
Watkins Glen State Park, NY, a gorge with 19 beautiful waterfalls! We hiked across the bridge and back into the gorge. It was so green and the power of the water thundering down its carved path was impressive!
Rainbow Falls. I love how the water falls over the greenery, rock and into the pool.
Allyson's favorite flower, the Lily!
Oh the Amish, it was interesting to see their buggies outside of homes and driving down roads with cars flying by them in Lancaster, PA.
Allyson and I took ourselves on a Covered Bridges tour of Northern Lancaster, we followed many directions like "turn left in 0.4 miles" but luckily we found all 5 bridges. This one is abandoned and replaced by a concrete bridge, but still cool to see these historic architectural buildings.
And this is Willow, named after one of Allyson's and my favorite movies! He was so cute and was skittish when my camera chirped.
Liberty Bell! It was so cool to see the crack and learn it was intentionally created to help fix a prior crack. I love Independence Hall in the background.
Independence Hall or as it used to be known as, Pennsylvania State House. The place where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 2nd (not July 4th!) and the Constitution was debated and eventually signed
.
Carpenter's Hall, the building where the 1st Continental Congress met while Britain had rule. Independence Hall at the time was being used for political purposes for the British, so the Colonials met here.
Christ Church was founded in 1695 by members of the Church of England. The main body of the church was constructed between 1727 and 1744, and the steeple was added in 1754, making it the tallest building in North America at the time. Christ Church's congregation included 15 signers of the Declaration of Independence. American Revolutionary War leaders who attended Christ Church included George Washington, Robert Morris, Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross.
Penn's Landing hosted the
Tall Ships Challenge, an annual event, which drifts in a three year cycle between the waters of the Great Lakes, the Pacific and the Atlantic coasts of North America. This June, the festival will pull into port in Philadelphia for four days of sailing, sights and more.
The World's 2nd Largest Rubber Duck! Allyson didn't really want to be in the picture but I convinced her it was going to be awesome!
The beautiful bow of this "tall ship"!
The famous "LOVE" statue!
Allyson and I stopped at this cute little shop before we headed to the Museum of Art steps. Federal Donuts, a popular place in downtown Philly! This donut was a Strawberry Lavender cake donut, super good!
The Rocky statue outside the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where Rocky ran up!
The stunning view of Philadelphia from the steps of the Museum of Art. City Hall can be seen at the end of the road. I had a great time and only wish I had longer to enjoy the city. Thanks Allyson for the tour!
Wissahickon Creek.
I loved the massive boulders on the trail and the green surroundings! Go Philadelphia!
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