A quick visit to Philadelphia

Our flight out of Philadelphia was at 3pm, so we had 2.5 hours to explore Philadelphia.

The whole crew piled into the cars and we drove up to Philly.

In front of Independence Hall.

Which is of course famous for being in that movie by Nicholas Cage.

Just beside Independence Hall is a separate area where the Liberty Bell is located.  The line was super long, so we decided to go see Independence Hall first.  You could see it through the window here though.

While the rest of the family waited in line, Theresa, the twins and I went to the back side (actually the front) to look around.

And a nice 360 view.

 Isaac loves hanging out with Pop-pop.

Well after waiting in line, we were finally to the front....of the security check.

As soon as we got through, there was another super long line to go see the actual hall.  What a dirty trick!  It was at least 45 minutes to get to the front.  Instead, we decided to check out the rest of the area. 

Like seeing an original copy of Constitution.

And the inkstand that was used.

Our only group photo from our whole visit.  Here we are at Congress Hall.  The first meeting place for the Congress of the United States when Philadelphia was the capital of the United States.

And just upstairs is Congress Hall Senate Chamber.

By the time we got out, the line had died down over at the Liberty Bell.  Hooray!

With only 2 hours to spare, we took off for the airport.  We somehow made our way over a bridge into New Jersey, then grabbed some gas, returned the rental car, got through security, and got to the gate with 30 minutes to spare.  Just enough time to grab lunch and jump on the plane.

I had a nice window seat.  I don't know if I just haven't been paying attention or what, but the skies seemed especially crowded.  

 

The clouds were looking pretty cool.  

This one I watched for a long ways and it ended up crossing right under us.

Lots of snow in Colorado.  We had a brief stop in Denver.

And even lucked out with an exit row on the last flight to Los Angeles.  We had a great trip, even though it was too short.  It was great seeing everyone!