Our family headed up to the Philadelphia area for a weekend Lacrosse tournament just outside the city in Fort Washington. On our first full day in town we headed down to Independence National Historical Park (a AAA GEM attraction). A record heat wave was about to hit with temperatures in the 100s, so we got an early start. Independence Hall tickets are available for free on the morning of your visit. You can get them at the Independence Visitor Center at 6th and Market Street starting at 8:30 a.m.

Parking is just under the Visitor Center and is a deal- $12 for the whole day- if you arrive before 9 a.m. The first tour starts at 9 a.m., but you may request tickets for any available time on the day of the visit. You have the greatest choice of times if you arrive between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. During the busy season, tickets are often gone by 1 p.m.

Our specific time slot was 9:45 a.m., and with tickets in hand we headed over to Independence Hall for our tour. A park ranger greeted the group and proceeded into the hall where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed. The ranger’s talk set the scene and helped us envision all that occurred in that time period. Our kids, ages 16 and 14, thoroughly enjoyed the tour as did the grandparents and parents.

Within walking distance are two AAA GEM attractions, the Liberty Bell Center and Ben Franklin’s grave site at Christ Church. The United States Mint is also located right across the street. Back at the Independence Visitor Center we hopped on the trolley (or you could use the double-decker bus) for the Philadelphia Trolley Works tour of the city. There are 20 stops with hop on/hop off points of interest.

We were already hungry for lunch, so the tour director recommended the Reading Terminal at Market Street for a vast selection of food stands. Each one of us made our own selections and we grabbed a table in the middle of the market. A great little blues band serenaded the lunch crowd as we ate.

The weather was really heating up as we continued on with the bus tour. We boarded for the next leg of the trip and hoped there were not too many stops, as the breeze from the bus moving made the heat tolerable. We hit all major points of interest in the city and noted that we would return to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to run up the stair entrance as Sylvester Stallone did in Rocky. Due to the heat, we called it an early day around 2:30 p.m. with the intention of returning on Sunday after the tournament.

After moving from Fort Washington into the Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing on Sunday we headed to Jim’s Steaks on South Street to have the much acclaimed “Philly Cheese Steak” sandwich. The traditional “Cheez With” comes with steak, onions and Cheez Wiz on a hoagie roll.  Some of us had variations of Provolone cheese, onions, peppers, etc., but the traditional recipe turned out to be the best. We took in some more of the city sites highlighted from our original bus tour and ended the day enjoying the great views of the city and the Delaware River from the hotel.

Monday morning some of us had flights to return home; some of us went back to Reading Terminal at Market Street for breakfast. In the afternoon, my son and husband caught a Phillies baseball game. By Monday the weather had returned to 80s and we were heading back to the south with the temperatures in the 90s! Just can’t beat this summer heat.