My Trip To Philly, May 9-14, 1999
During the second week of May 1999, my cousin Tyler and
I vacationed in Philadelphia, staying at the Holiday Inn Express downtown. His dad Steve, who took a separate flight and stayed in another room, accompanied us on our adventures for the first half of the week.
General
Downtown Philly was full of one-way streets. Many times when driving, at one intersection we'd find the one-way sign at the cross street pointing right, then the next intersection would have a "no turns" sign since the one-way sign pointed left and the flow of oncoming traffic would not leave any room for left turns. But walking was more fun than driving; the location of our hotel gave us the convenience of being within walking distance of Rittenhouse Square, City Hall, and various restaurants and shops. We could even see City Hall, topped with a statue of William Penn, from our hotel room window, although that wasn't the place from which I took the pic. One street along which we walked was a walk of fame for singers including Bill Haley, Bessie Smith, and Dizzy Gillespie. One night in our hotel room (I don't remember which night it was), Tyler surfed the channels on the TV. He happened upon Ally McBeal, and to my surprise, one couple on the show sang "Your Precious Love"!
Sunday, May 9
Tyler and I arrived at the Philly airport at about 8:30 AM Philly time and took a train downtown. Since we had taken a 2-leg, late-night flight from Salt Lake, and I had a cold, we spent most of the day in our hotel room.
Monday, May 10
In the morning, Tyler and I bought a bouquet of flowers. Then he, Steve and I drove to Mount Lawn Cemetery. We had difficulty finding the graveyard, but once we found it, we easily found Tammi's grave. The left side of the stone mentioned her birth name, but not her stage name. The names at the right side were apparently those of her parents. Although the "-ina" suffix feminized the name Thomas, little did I suspect before that Thomas was her dad's name; what a pleasant surprise! Anyway, the big moment I'd been dreaming of for months had arrived--I was laying flowers at the grave of my favorite singer.
After we left the cemetery, we drove across the Delaware River into Camden, New Jersey, where we visited the New Jersey State Aquarium. We saw plenty of fish and sharks inside the building, but the animals I most enjoyed seeing were the seals in the pool outside. As one seal perched on a rock, the other seal swam. As we walked back to our car, I caught a glimpse of a clock-tower building that apparently was part of Rutgers University. Then we drove back the same way we came--on the Ben Franklin Bridge.
Our next stop was Philly's Museum of Art, the third-largest art museum in America. We got there only to find that it was closed on Mondays, but I did take a pic of Steve (left) and Tyler on the steps leading to the museum.
Tuesday, May 11
We spent the morning in Valley Forge, where George Washington's troops spent the winter of 1777-78. When we arrived at the visitors' center, I noticed some elementary school classes on field trips. We saw cannons resting in random spots, a memorial arch, 2 log cities, a train station, and the building that served as Washington's headquarters. We also visited a chapel, where religious services are still held and memorial plaques list the names of people killed in action in America's wars as late as Vietnam.
We went to the Art Museum again, and it was open this time. The three of us were there during its last 3 hours of being open that day, so Tyler and I would explore some more later.
Wednesday, May 12
Steve went home in the morning. Tyler and I didn't do much because now we both had colds. In a way I'm glad I didn't get to meet Tammi's family; otherwise I would've spread my cold to them too!
Thursday, May 13
We went to Independence Square. Again we saw elementary school field trips. At Old City Hall, the Supreme Court used to meet until construction of Washington DC was complete. The courtroom looked similar to the Assembly Room of Independence Hall, with 18th-century chairs, tables, and candelabras. Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were discussed and signed in the Assembly Room. In both buildings the stairways were cordoned off. I took a pic of Independence Hall from the Liberty Bell Pavilion, a glass building under which the Liberty Bell, cracked and no longer ringing, rests.
Once we were through with the Independence sites, we visited the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum. It contained mostly artwork, so it was practically an extension of the Art Museum across town. The art was beautiful and colorful. Speaking of the Art Museum, we did go back there to see what we'd missed the other day, including a display of medieval armor.
That night, we came back to our hotel to find that the power in the building had gone out. We and many other guests waited in the breakfast room for over an hour while police and firefighters investigated the cause of the outage. Then the management announced that power might not be restored till morning, so all guests were evacuated to a nearby Doubletree Inn.
Friday, May 14
After waking up, we walked to the Holiday Inn, checked out, and had our luggage stored near the front desk for the next few hours. We visited the Franklin Institute, which included a planetarium. Then we went back to the Holiday Inn, retrieved our luggage, and headed for the same train station from which we had come on Sunday. We intended to go to the airport, but
inadvertently boarded a train that took us to north Philly. Once we realized our error, we waited at the north Philly station for the next train to come. I was amazed to read on the station wall about train service going as far as Pittsburgh. (Not that we had any time to go there and back or that it had much to offer to tourists.) All around the station, I noticed
dilapidated buildings in the distance. Good thing it was daylight, for this section of Philly was where the gangs lurked. Eventually we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. That night we boarded our plane and bade goodbye to the Birthplace of America.
