Anniversary Trip | Day Four (Our Anniversary)

Today is our 2nd wedding anniversary! I’m so blessed that God brought Travis into my life. It was a long wait, but worth every minute. Never forget that God’s timing is not ours and that when we wait for what he has for us that it’s always perfect. Travis is truly my perfect soul mate, and I thank the Lord for him every day.

Today we got up and had a wonderful breakfast in our hotel. We then took the subway to Independence Hall. While on the subway, we met a very nice man and as he was getting off the subway he said, “I hope you all have a fun day visiting Philly.” I said, “I guess the camera around my neck was a dead giveaway that we’re tourists.” He laughed and said, “Actually, it was the map he was reading” and pointed to Travis. This was definitely our day to be tourist.

First, we walked around the visitor’s center for a while and booked a tour and got tickets to Independence Hall. It was raining most of the morning, so I was glad we were doing things inside. We went to Independence Hall and sat through a long (one hour) but interesting lecture given by a lady that looked like Quasimodo without the hump and sounded like she was born and raised in Jersey. Next, we went to Congress Hall and listened to a shorter (about 30 minutes) lecture. It was all very interesting. I wish I’d finished watching the John Adams documentary on HBO. I guess I’ll do that when I get home.

We then walked across the street to go look at the Liberty Bell. If you haven’t seen the Liberty Bell before, I must say … it’s small! I imagined it was about four times larger than it is. We took lots of pictures, including one of Travis licking the liberty bell (Paul’s request).

After all that fun, we went to find a Philly Cheesesteak for Travis. He had found two he wanted to go to before we left for our trip. Then when we got to the city, he asked everyone he saw where they thought had the best Cheesesteak. Just like finding a pizza place in NYC, everyone had a different answer. We finally decided on Sonny's Famous Steaks. It wasn’t one of the ones he found before we left, but it was one that was recommended by more than one person and it was close to Independence Hall. I knew the sandwich had steak and onions on it (if you want onions, you just say “Philly Cheesesteak with”), but I had no idea that they used cheese whiz! Apparently, you have had a real Philly Cheesesteak unless you’ve had one with cheese whiz. So, Travis got one with steak, onions and peppers with lots of cheese whiz. I got mine with meat and cheese whiz only. I was good, but not that great. I’m not sure why they’re so popular. Guess it’s just a Philly thing!

The last “touristy” thing we did was ride the Duck. It’s this ridiculously looking thing shaped like a duck and it drives on land and in the water. It was fun, but I couldn’t take any good pictures out of the plastic windows. I did get a good one of our driver with a plumber’s crack. A four-year-old little boy told him, “Hey driver, did you know your pants are falling down?” As cold as it was, I thought he’d be able to feel the chill. Guess he was well insulated. ;-)

By the afternoon, I was ready for a nap. So we went back to the hotel. Travis went driving around trying to find landmarks he wanted to see (mainly, the football and baseball stadiums), and I took a nap and a long bath in the Jacuzzi tub (I love that tub!)

We then got ready for our anniversary dinner. Travis found a wonderful restaurant called Moshulu. It’s right on the water. It was so much fun to get dressed up and have a very nice dinner. I took a few pictures, but they don’t do the place justice. If you’re ever in Philly and you want to have a nice dinner, I highly recommend this place.

And the rest of the night was just as wonderful, but I’m not going to blog about that. ;-) Let’s just say, “We lived happily ever after ….”

PS - I have a lot more pictures of the architecture and of us to post, but I am spending time with family and I haven't finished editing them. I have some good ones. I just wanted to upload some of the "funnier" ones. Check facebook tomorrow. :)

(Note: I wrote this yesterday, but didn't get to post it.)