Therefore, the location in which to celebrate the 4th is obviously an important decision. This year, Jacinda and I decided to take a sisters trip and I had her pick the location. Her selection was Philadelphia, a great choice since in many ways it is the birthplace of the country. I love all of Philly's history and when I discovered we could be a part of the SWA float in the Independence Day Parade, I was really thrilled at her pick.
THE PARADE
The PHL Station really outdid themselves on this float. A mini-replica of Spirit One, with patriotically dressed TJ LUVs onboard. Some of the kids and a few Employees rode in the seats of the plane, while the rest of us marched beside it and handed out peanuts and red, white, and blue SWA stickers.
THE CITY
We were able to see most of the city's historical sites, including Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the outdoor portions of Franklin's Court, and watched some great videos at the Visitor's Center. Our favorite place was Elfreth's Alley, a block of 18th century houses, most of which are still inhabited today. They had free cellphone tours to which you could call and hear about the history of the street and its residents.
Unfortunately, the B. Free Franklin Post Office in Franklin Court was one of the few places closed for the holiday. Opened to honor Benjamin Franklin as the first US Postmaster, it not only has a lot of interesting historical items but any parcel mailed from there is hand stamped with a unique cancellation mark. I made an attempt to get the postcards mailed from here (thanks to a small gap under the back door); we'll see whether I was successful if anyone receives them!
THE FESTIVITIES
No pictures, but we did participate in some of the festivities of the weekend. Probably one of the best was the Super Scooper All-You-Can-Eat Ice Cream Festival (I know, how could it be bad?) It was actually a great idea. Benefiting a leukemia fund, everyone paid $5.00 to enter the circus size tent, which was lined with tables where volunteers were serving single scoop cups of ice cream. They had everything from the local "water ice" (we assumed it was a Philly thing, kind of snowcone-like) to Ben & Jerry's. It was very crowded, but considering the number of people everyone was relatively pleasant and polite. I'm sure the all-you-can-eat part of the deal played a part in everyone's attitude. We quickly discovered the spoon received at the door was the only one you were getting and held it tight as we went down the rows, trying every flavor and two of those we liked :)
Of course, it wouldn't be the 4th without fireworks and Philly's show didn't disappoint. After a performance by Sheryl Crow (and some local bands I didn't know), there was a 20-25 minute extravaganza over the Museum of Art. There seem to be fads in fireworks; a few years back the "crazy" bursts - the ones which had pieces spin out of control after the initial explosion. This year seems to be trending towards more multicolored. Most of this show had red, white, and blue in one firework or, one of my favorites, an initial white burst followed by a ring of another color. I did laugh a bit when I overheard someone comment about the number of "purple" fireworks (I guess the blue ones do have a purple tint).
Hope everyone else had a great 4th, too!
Unfortunately, the B. Free Franklin Post Office in Franklin Court was one of the few places closed for the holiday. Opened to honor Benjamin Franklin as the first US Postmaster, it not only has a lot of interesting historical items but any parcel mailed from there is hand stamped with a unique cancellation mark. I made an attempt to get the postcards mailed from here (thanks to a small gap under the back door); we'll see whether I was successful if anyone receives them!THE FESTIVITIES
No pictures, but we did participate in some of the festivities of the weekend. Probably one of the best was the Super Scooper All-You-Can-Eat Ice Cream Festival (I know, how could it be bad?) It was actually a great idea. Benefiting a leukemia fund, everyone paid $5.00 to enter the circus size tent, which was lined with tables where volunteers were serving single scoop cups of ice cream. They had everything from the local "water ice" (we assumed it was a Philly thing, kind of snowcone-like) to Ben & Jerry's. It was very crowded, but considering the number of people everyone was relatively pleasant and polite. I'm sure the all-you-can-eat part of the deal played a part in everyone's attitude. We quickly discovered the spoon received at the door was the only one you were getting and held it tight as we went down the rows, trying every flavor and two of those we liked :)
Of course, it wouldn't be the 4th without fireworks and Philly's show didn't disappoint. After a performance by Sheryl Crow (and some local bands I didn't know), there was a 20-25 minute extravaganza over the Museum of Art. There seem to be fads in fireworks; a few years back the "crazy" bursts - the ones which had pieces spin out of control after the initial explosion. This year seems to be trending towards more multicolored. Most of this show had red, white, and blue in one firework or, one of my favorites, an initial white burst followed by a ring of another color. I did laugh a bit when I overheard someone comment about the number of "purple" fireworks (I guess the blue ones do have a purple tint).
Hope everyone else had a great 4th, too!
2 comments:
EXCELLENT post, Jenise! I really enjoyed reading about your trip. Cell phone tours? How creative is that?!
What a fantastic trip!! Beautiful pictures and that's awesome you got to be in the parade! :)
Love, love, love Elfreth's Alley and we have our print of it hanging in our bathroom.
We did get our postcard and it was hand stamped- it worked!! Thanks!
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