Road Trip to Philadelphia

Several years ago, Tom attended a firefighter conference in Philadelphia so Logan and I tagged along. We were in Philly for a long weekend so while Tom was at his conference, Logan and I did a lot of sightseeing. From our house, Philadelphia is about a five hour drive. We stayed at a fabulous hotel, the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. The hotel was great and Logan loved the indoor pool, which I think was located on the 7th floor. We ordered room service and it was amazing. The location was perfect because it was located within walking distance of the convention center.

Our hotel was steps away from the Reading Terminal Market. There are more than 80 merchants and you can get everything from arts and crafts, flowers, and fresh produce to the best cheesesteaks. There is indoor seating so you can shop and then eat. The cheesesteaks were delicious!

Logan and I decided the best way to see everything we wanted to see was to do a Philadelphia Bus Tour with the Hop-on/Hop-Off option. Tickets cost about $15 per person. We spent all day hopping on and hopping off the bus. Logan had the map of stops and decided what he wanted to see.

We walked from our hotel to the Independence Mall and started our tour at the Bourse Building. Our first stop was the Betsy Ross House, where we took a tour for about $8 per person. It was a very good tour and we were given hot chocolate, which was a plus since it was a cold, Fall day.

The next stop we hopped-off at was the National Constitution Center. We loved this stop! We checked out various exhibits and spent some time in Signers’ Hall. We walked among the statues of our Founding Fathers and even got to sign the Constitution. I bought Logan a pocket-sized Constitution as a souvenir.

No trip to Philadelphia is complete without posing in front of the Rocky statue. The Rocky statue is located below the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A line forms to have your picture taken in front of the statue, but it moves fast, plus it was funny watching everyone pose.

One of the things we were most looking forward to doing was running up the “Rocky Steps“, the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I videoed Logan running up the steps and snapped some pics. Everyone around us was running up the steps!

We stayed on the bus for the entire loop after our stop at the Rocky Steps and just enjoyed the sights. We saw the Friendship Gate in Chinatown, City Hall, the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the Eastern State Penitentiary, the Christ Church Burial Grounds, Elfreth’s Alley, Society Hill, and the Liberty Bell. The Liberty Bell Center was closed by the time we got there, so we could just take pictures from outside.

We loved our long weekend in Philadelphia! It was a bit cold and Logan insisted on riding on the top deck of the sightseeing bus so we could see better. It was so worth it! Tom had a great conference and Logan and I saw all the sights. I highly recommend a trip to Philly and would definitely go again. The hop-on/hop-off sightseeing bus tour was the perfect and cheapest way to see everything we wanted to see.