See Part 1

Days 4-7 were spent in Philadelphia, PA.  We stayed at a beautiful house in the Mount Airy/Germantown area north of downtown.  It was a quite neighborhood full of some great restaurants.  B&Bs or the like are the way to go in big cities.

Day 4: We drove from Hershey to Philadelphia.  First stop: the zoo.  Did you know the Philadelphia Zoo is the oldest in the country?  Built in 1847, you can definitely see the old designs mixed in with newer ones.  Of course we all loved the zoos.  Who doesn't?

Pictures: Entrance to Zoo, pig-nosed turtle in the Reptile House (I hate snakes, but even I have to admit that house was pretty neat), very cool sculpture

Day 5: National Constitution Center, Old Philadelphia, Hard Rock Cafe (lunch).  It was our big history day.  While the boys just didn't love this day, I always enjoy history.  My favorite was seeing an original printing of the Constitution. Very Cool!

Pictures: Alex and Nick chilling with Ben Franklin in the Signer's Hall, Me with Alexander Hamilton in the Signer's Hall (he was really short),  Independence Hall (where Constitutional Congress was held), George Washington's family pew in Christ Church, Elfreth's Alley (longest continually habited street in U.S.)

Day 6: Eastern State Penitentiary and Franklin Institute.  I loved the prison (very creepy and kept in semi-ruins) built by the Quakers. Al Capone was even kept there for awhile.  And the boys and J really loved the Institute.

Pictures: Cell block 1, Alex in front of an original door to cell in block 1, outside of Franklin Institute, real meteorite that you can touch, Ben of course, the boys learning about physics in Sir Isaac's Loft (I think their favorite part)

Day 7: We crossed the Ben Franklin Bridge to go to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden.  From there, we drove towards Pittsburg.

Pictures: Philadelphia sky line from New Jersey, giant aquarium with multiple species of sharks, Nick in an aquarium, I braved the shark tunnel to get this awesome pic of Alex next to a huge shark

Part III coming tomorrow...