And the hunt for breakfast continues.

We were scheduled to gather in the lobby at 8:00.
So we were not pleased to discover that the restaurant where we ate yesterday morning (Remember the ‘no bacon, no sausage, no ham’ place?) doesn’t open till 8:00.
We settled for pastries from the coffee vendor in the lobby. sigh.

We loaded the car and were on our way.

A note about Atlantic City.
Our impression of the city was that it was blighted and run down. Except for the resort hotels along the boardwalk we saw little commerce, vacant weed-filled lots, housed in great need of upkeep.
So imagine our surprise when the road out of town took us thru the real downtown – with thriving commerce, major brands (Gap, Victoria’s Secret, Tommy Hilfiger, Banana republic and such) each with their own major storefront, a completely different vibe.
Not sure what that all means but there it is. I guess we were just at the other end of the boardwalk.

After a not too long drive we arrived in Philadelphia, parking at the National Historical Park visitor’s center.

We started by checking out the store.

Then walked over to Independence hall.

We started by viewing the Supreme Court chambers at one end of the building.
Then we followed the path around to the security checkpoint for entrance to ‘the room where it happened.’
Only to discover that due to a misreading of the information we actually did need tickets (which were, of course, sold out) to join a tour.
Fortunately we have Brian along. He’s a master at negotiation. so we were able to sneak into the tour leaving in 20 minutes.

We started in the court chambers (for the Pennsylvania court) and learned much of what we had learned in the prior court but we survived.

Then we crossed the hall to the legislative chamber.

Outside again we took one more photo

and walked back to see the Liberty Bell.

Then it was time for lunch.
Cousin Luke had recommended that we eat at the Reading Terminal Market – a converted train station and home to a large public market with fresh produce, fish, meat, and an amazing number of eateries.
We split up, grabbed food and met at a table that Jen managed to secure.

Walking back to the car we stopped occasionally.

Then it was back to the car and on to DC

Arriving in Washington we checked into our hotel.
Brian drove out to the airport to turn the car in.
I checked out the pool situation
Asher hunkered down with a screen

Jen and Cheryl went to pick up food
– which we ate on the hotel’s terrace
– in the rain.

Then it was time to read, blog, get ready for tomorrow.
Tomorrow is ‘monument day’ – starting with the Lincoln memorial and seeing how far we can get before we collapse from the heat (mid-90’s with humidity that drives the effective temp into triple digits).

Till then…
R