Day Nineteen - Phurther Philly Adventures

June 25 - This was a long but successful day. I got up at 7:00 a.m. to talk to my sister, who'd already left the house for work. My question related to where to go to have a blood sample taken for my anticoagulation therapy. Two voice mails didn't bring an answer, so I search my e-mail and found a message she'd sent a couple of weeks ago. I found the lab and had the sample drawn within an hour. Later in the day my nurse from Louisiana called to confirm the results--no change in treatment.

Last week we tried to visit Independence Hall in Philadelphia only to be told that there were no tickets left. We made a return trip yesterday and got tickets for the 2:15 tour. The look inside Congress Hall where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were argued and approved was fascinating. A very large percentage of the building dates back to the 18th century when these events took place.

From Independence Hall (parking $17 for three hours) we drove through Center City to the Franklin Institute (street parking $3 for same time period). Ben Franklin, of course, is Philly's number one historical superstar. The Franklin Institute salutes the non-political side of this self-taught genius who invented both bifocals and the lightning rod.

The attraction yesterday had less to do with Franklin, though we did spend some time touring the scientific exhibits. The Institute features a traveling exhibit called "Real Pirates", all about sunken treasure recoved from the Whydou, a pirate ship that sank in a storm off Cape Cod in 1717. For all the lore about pirates and sunken and buried treasure, the Whydou, first discovered in 1984, is the only pirate ship from which anything has been recovered. Probably the most fascinating artifact was a leg bone from a 9-year old boy who sailed with pirate captain Sam Bellamy on the Whydou.

Kay and Sacagawea navigated the Schuylkill Expressway and Route 202 to get back from Philly to West Chester, and Kallie drove the last two miles from Genuardi's grocery store to the house. My brother-in-law was shocked when the car rolled into the driveway with both adults in passenger seats. There we enjoyed a home-cooked dinner and a couple of drinks, including a Kahlua and cream. I didn't stay up long after that, and missed seeing the Phillies break their six-game losing streak with a 4-0 win over Oakland. I also missed (more thankfully) several episodes from a Law and Order: SVU marathon. Both my brother-in-law and my daughter were watching this show--each on a separate TV.

Day Thirteen - Land of the Free

Zimmermans and Lathams

The crack has silenced the Liberty Bell since 1846.

Frisbee in the parking lot

General Washington's headquarters



Soldiers' hut at Valley Forge

June 19 - Puppy, now on its fourth name (though I can't remember what it is), dominated the morning agenda. Kallie even got up at 9:30 to play with her.

At around 11:30 we had things together well enough for our afternoon history expedition. We planned to go to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell in center city Philadelphia and drive through the Valley Forge National Historical Park on the way.

The Valley Forge part of the trip worked great. The park is beautiful and green this time of year. We stopped at the soldiers' huts and at Washington's headquarters to look around. Kallie, Dan and Liz played frisbee while others went to the bathroom before we headed on to Philly.

The trip to downtown included our first "crisis" with Sac. Kay programmed "Independence Mall" as a destination--the area that includes Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell is often referred to this way. As expected, Sac took us down the Schuylkill Expressway toward downtown, but surprisingly sent us onto I-476 after just a few miles. Even more surprisingly, when we got to the intersection of I-476 and I-95, she directed us south on I-95, away from downtown. We were already far off track, and this move just made then problem worse. When I saw the Chester City Limits sign (a city between Philly and Delaware), I knew I needed to turn around. I cursed Sac and exited, eventually to get headed north on I-95 and back toward the city. In the meantime, Kay analyzed the problem--there is an Independence (shopping) Mall in Chester--Sac was taking us there.

We arrived at the intended Independence Mall just a few minutes after the other car in our caravan (being driven by my nephew Dan, who knew where he was going (or whose GPS was properly programmed)). Unfortunately, all the tickets to see Independence Hall had been distributed, so our tour was limited to the Liberty Bell and lunch. This may have been just as well since Kallie was starving, having not eaten breakfast. She got something to eat at the City Tavern at about 4 p.m. The food at City Tavern was just OK, but the Thomas Jefferson 1774 Ale was great. I drank two big glasses and slept almost all the way home while Dan drove. My sister Judy (one glass of chardonnay) drove the CRV. Thanks, Dan and Judy!

Back home we played with puppy and found the LSU-UNC game from the College World Series on TV. Very sadly, lightning and rain postponed the game. After one episode of Law and Order, SVU, most of the crew stayed up to watch a movie. I went for some reading (JR Moehringer's memoir, "The Tender Bar", about a '70s childhood on Long Island being raised by men in a bar) and an early bedtime.

This afternoon we'll head to the north side of Philly to visit June and her family. She's been my friend since high school. Her concern during my medical odyssey has been very heartening. We saw her in NYC a couple years ago, but it will still be fun to see her again.