Philadelphia- Saturday, July 4, 2026

    This is it.  July 4, 2026.  Independence Day.  America 250.  The Semiquincentennial day.  And we're in Philadelphia.

     There has been a lot of lamenting online and in print about how Donald Trump has put a damper on the festivities.   Large portions of the country don't even feel like celebrating this year.  More than a few memes have said so on Facebook.  "It’s a damn shame the worst president of our lifetime, the most corrupt & most unpatriotic, is in office while this country celebrates such a milestone birthday!" said one shared by Matt.  Another referred to his pathetically attended "Great American State Fair" when it said, "He really has taken away what could have been a generational cultural moment.... and that sucks."  It is ironic that we are celebrating independence while we live in a regime that is arguably more tyrannical than the one the Founders fought for independence from.  A few days ago, Air Force Major Jason Watson was arrested on the steps of the Capitol, in uniform, while carrying a sign that said, "Impeach.  Convict.  Remove."   It is not only tragic that he was arrested for speaking out, but it is also tragic that we have a situation that made him feel that he had to do so.  "A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."  No kings, indeed.

     For us, though, the real problem was the heat.  This morning, it looked like the Philadelphia leg of this trip might be turning into this year's version of our failed Erie Canal cruise, but we planned things out in order to make the best of it. 

     In order to see the inside of Independence Hall, the ranger that Scott talked to yesterday suggested that a good time to arrive in the morning might be 7:30, though that was only a guess because they really hadn't seen anything like this before.  Scott was awake around 6:30, showered quickly, grabbed breakfast at the hotel and was down to Independence Hall at about 7:30, as planned.  The line had already formed and was already sizable (though not at all what it would be only a few hours later).  One gregarious guy from Chicago got into line right behind Scott and began playing the soundtrack to 1776.   ("It's ninety degrees! Have mercy, John, please.  It's hot as hell in Philadelphia!")  That same guy then began polling people in line to see how many states he could meet people from.  Before we went in, he ended up with 42 states represented and several foreign countries.  It was generally pretty shaded while Scott was waiting, and the people in line shifted it every once in a while as the sun got higher in order to keep it in the shade.

     Shortly after 8:45, all of the park rangers assembled on the steps for what looked like a photograph, a song and a cheer, though Scott couldn't hear what they said specifically.   Not long after that, the security check opened, and the line started to move forward, and waited again in groups inside the secured area.  Scott thinks he was in the third or fourth group to actually get in the building.  The tours that they were running were about 15 minutes, starting in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Room, which is interesting in its way, but not what we were here for.  It gave us time to get into the air conditioning and get oriented to the building and its history as the seat of the colonial government of Pennsylvania.  After that introduction, we went across the hall to the Assembly's room, where the 2nd Continental Congress (and the 1787 Constitutional Convention) met.  This was what everyone had come for.  The ranger that was giving us the tour had a Spanish accent and a great sense of humor.  He covered the basics of what happened there in ways that engaged the several children who were there.  Scott had only been in this room once before, on Easter in 2007.  He had come all this way for a chance to be in this room on July 4th, and had managed to do it.  He took a bunch of pictures and some video to help savor the moment.  

     After he exited the building, he made his way to the Independence Visitor Center.  He bought a shirt that he had seen yesterday.  It says "History Nerd," so it seems like it was made for him.  He re-filled his empty water bottle and walked the half of a mile or so back to the hotel. 

     When he arrived back at the hotel it was between 10:30 and 11:00.  Abby and Julie were both ready to go out to get lunch together, once Scott had a chance to sit down (the first he had since leaving around 7:00) and cool down.   Finding a place for lunch was a bit of a trick again.  Scott had spotted a Pizza Hut about half-way to Independence Hall, and thought that would be a great place for lunch.  When we got there, we discovered it was take-out only and had no place to sit.  That wouldn't do.   We found a Dunkin' Donuts that we would have gotten something at, but they had removed all the tables there so there was no place to sit.  Scott suggested we continue on to the Independence Visitors Center because, even though it was crowded, it was air-conditioned and there was a cafe selling food there.  Once we arrived there, we discovered that there were only three tables total for all of the massive crowds.  Miraculously, we ended up at one of them, though we shared it with another couple.  The choices for food were limited.  Abby ended up eating a Liberty Bell shaped pretzel, Scott had two hot dogs and Julie had a turkey wrap.  A nice family from the Philadelphia area sat with us when the first couple left.  They gave us a number of good tips about the fireworks tonight.

     While we were eating lunch, we got word via Anna that my mom had broken her toe.  Apparently, she and my dad were trying to move furniture together when she got hurt.  When we got in touch with her, she and Dad were going to see my brother who was going to take them to get some medical attention, but that was the real trick this weekend.  As of the last time we spoke this evening, she was still in the emergency room waiting to be seen.  [Update: After 8 hours, they hadn't seen anyone and left without being treated.]  It must really have been a trial for her to wait through.  We have had her in our thoughts all day.

     After lunch, Abby wanted to get her face-painted, and since we had more than an hour and a half to kill, she did.  After that, she went to see some of the kid-friendly exhibits in the National Park portion of the Visitors Center.   At one end of the long building was an enormous American flag made out of 5,000 frosted cupcakes.  At 1:30, they began handing out the cupcakes for free, though we had to move outside into the sun again to wait in line for some.  Julie got a red one and Abby got a white one.

    Just before, 2:00 the three of us moved outside to do something Scott had been planning to do for quite a while.  Back in 1976, he and his brother had two small Liberty Bells that they rang at the Fourth of July parade in Boston, New York.  50 years later, Scott still has one of the bells, along with the box it came in and the small certificate to say that he rang it at the Bicentennial.  Scott wanted very much to ring that bell again at 2:00 today.  We stepped into a shady spot, within site of Independence Hall, but far enough away so that we weren't bothered by the stupid crowds around the Fox News trucks that were messing up much of the view.  Julie had given Abby a smaller Liberty Bell to bring to ring today, but it got left back home.  Scott bought her a new one yesterday, and with our two bells we waited until the bell in Independence Hall struck 2:00.  When it chimed, we began ringing.  Scott will have to make two new documents when we get back home to certify that these two bells rang today at the Semiquincentennial now.  As we left, we went by the original Liberty Bell.  We didn't have enough of a desire to wait in the hot lines to get to see it inside, but we were able to see it a little through the window.

     By this point, we were ready to head back to the hotel.  As we left, it seemed like the religious proselytizers had taken over every corner around Independence Hall with their megaphones and loud speakers.   We made our way in the heat and found a place that was a combination of Auntie Anne's Pretzels, Subway, and DeLuca's Pizza.  Not only was this a place that had tables for us to sit at in air conditioning, but it was almost empty.  It didn't take any arm-twisting for us to decide to get some snacks and drinks there.  Where was this place when we were looking for lunch?

     After cooling off here, we continued on to the hotel, but we passed the "Fashion District."  Scott had passed its entrance several times in the last two days, but it hadn't occurred to him that this was the name of a shopping mall.  He was a little confused when Abby asked if we could go into "the mall," but since it was more air-conditioning, we decided to head in.  Inside and up two escalators is an AMC theater, and we decided to spend the second half of the afternoon seeing a movie.  We saw Toy Story 5 in 3-D and ate through two tubs of popcorn in the air-conditioning.  We were wondering who would be the first to fall asleep, but none of us did.  It was nice to be able to do something that Abby enjoyed too, since this hasn't been a great two days for her.  (Scott said that going to the movies was "Dublining" our trip, though.) 

     After the movie, we had a challenge getting down to the lowest floor of the mall because one escalator was not working.  When the elevator doors opened, though, a Starbucks was directly in front of us, so of course Julie stopped there.  While we were waiting for her, Abby discovered that she had a blister on her foot from the Crocs she had worn all day.  We tried to put a bandage on it, but the security guards were yelling at us that the mall was closed, NOW, and we had to help Abby limp out with one shoe. 

     It was after 6:00 by that point and we wanted dinner.  Julie had found an interesting place around the corner called Bar-Ly's, but when we got there, it was packed with people and the TVs were blaring the World Cup game.   We were not going to be able to get in and wouldn't be able to hear anything if we could.  Going back to the Auntie Anne's/Subway/DeLuca's seemed too far.  We found a place that was selling take-out but had no place to sit and no air-conditioning.  Scott took Abby back to the hotel and Julie came after them with the food. 

     At the beginning of the planning, we had thought about going to see the city's big fireworks display near the Art Museum.  When we chose this hotel, Scott noticed that the distance to there should be walkable, though in the opposite direction of everything else.  The heat made us doubt whether we wanted to walk anywhere again.  The family that shared a table with us at lunch gave us the most valuable piece of information that we hadn't considered-- The fireworks wouldn't start until about midnight, after Christina Aguilera, Will Smith and others performed at the concert. That's way too late for Abby, and honestly, pretty late for Julie and Scott two.  Add to that the severe thunderstorm warning that has been issued, and we decided we wouldn't go to the fireworks this year.  Maybe we're Dublining it, but we're ready to go home. [Update: As of this writing, the concert has been evacuated because of approaching storms and is "on pause."  It's good we're not there.]

[Post Script:  At 11:36 last  night, the mayor of Philadelphia sent a tweet to resume the concert that had been paused last night due to severe weather warnings.  The fireworks would follow.   Those aren't 4th of July fireworks.  Those are 5th of July fireworks.  We're glad we didn't try to go.  Also, if anyone cares, France beat Paraguay 1-0 to advance to the semi-finals in the World Cup.  Masked fascists marched in Washington DC carrying Confederate flags.  And Donald Trump wants his face on Mount Rushmore.

     We have to get home Sunday  because we're watching Wyatt on Monday.  We were ready to go home anyway.  It's been fun, but it's been a grueling week because of the heat.] 

Philadelphia- Friday, July 3, 2026

      In truth, Julie has been dreading the Philadelphia leg of our trip, and Scott understands.  She was not looking forward to driving in an unfamiliar, crowded, expensive city.  Scott agreed that it could end up being quite a gauntlet.  The record heat wave the country is experiencing this week is certainly sucking whatever fun there might have been out of everything.

     We left Delaware this morning and decided to go straight to Philadelphia.  We stopped at the Pennsylvania Welcome Center because Abby likes to do that now.  We then headed into Philly, with our GPS set for the Museum of the American Revolution.  It's located in the historic section of town, so we weren't able to find any parking when we got there.   Scott suggested that we go to our hotel because there was supposed to be parking there.

     We originally chose this hotel because it's located in "City Center," which made it look like everything we wanted to do would be walking distance for us.  That would have worked fine, but the heat is draining and Abby does not handle it well.  The hotel is in Chinatown, which is interesting too.   Even though we are paying Disney-level prices, the hotel is pretty low-end.  Abby was devastated to learn that there is no pool.  The room is narrow.  The cartoons Abby is used to watching aren't available, and the TV stopped working part way through the afternoon.   

     There is a parking lot next to the hotel for us to use, but it cost us $70 for the two nights we will be here.  We figured that once we parked the car we would walk everywhere else, but again, the heat is stopping us from doing that.  It's basically 100° out there.

     We needed lunch, and after heading out, we found a place in the Reading Terminal Market called the Down Home Diner.  Scott got a Philly cheesesteak sandwich just because.  Every place is crowded with people.  For some reason, some one thought it would be a good idea to schedule a FIFA World Cup game here tomorrow, of all days. 

     After lunch, we had some decisions to make.  In spite of the money and time we spent getting here, walking with Abby anywhere didn't seem like a wise thing to do.   Julie decided that she would stay at the hotel room with Abby and sent Scott to go to the Museum of the American Revolution.   Scott felt bad about leaving them behind because there wasn't much for them to do in the hotel, but it seemed like a logical solution.

     Scott put a bottle of water in his pocket and headed towards the museum on foot.  He chose a path that would take him past Independence Hall, and he got a picture there.  He also found out about how long the wait was to get in (at that point, an hour and a half or more) but that's likely to be longer tomorrow on the 4th. 

     Although he enjoyed them both, Scott judged the Museum of the American Revolution here in Philadelphia to be slightly better than the American Revolution Museum in Yorktown.  He started in a special exhibit on the first floor called, "The Declaration's Journey."  It first looked at the way the news of the Declaration of Independence spread throughout the country and the rest of the world.  In addition to original broadsides, it showed the first newspaper printing of the document, and the first translation (German) of it.  The exhibit then looked at the ways its promises were unfulfilled.  A central display in the exhibit showed a chair owned by Thomas Jefferson (a gift to him from George Wythe) and the bench that Martin Luther King, Jr., sat on when he wrote the "Letter from Birmingham Jail."   Finally, the exhibit looked at the ways that the Declaration has influenced and inspired other documents from peoples all around the world.  There was a short film covering these themes that Scott skipped at first, but watched just before he left. 

     A central staircase takes a person to the main galleries on the second floor.  Like the museum in Yorktown, the exhibits are set up to tell the story of the war in chronological order.  There were four doors into the galleries, and Scott chose the one marked "Concord," since he figured that was the start of the war.  He didn't notice until later that another door was marked "Exhibit Entrance."  When he went in that way he saw that he had missed the causes of the war on his first time through.

     One enjoyable feature of this museum was that there were many life-like wax figures put in rather active poses for tableaus of different events.  For example, one of the first was a fistfight among the Continental soldiers that was being broken up by George Washington himself.  (Scott has heard about this story before).  Another showed a soldier tearing down the equestrian statue of King George in New York City.  Still another showed two British dragoons charging through the Southern countryside.  They were all quite dramatic and action filled.

     Another nice feature was that there were quite a few audio/video presentations to watch.  One of the best ones was set above wax figures of Oneida leaders and explored how they were torn when they were trying to decide to support the patriots or follow the British like the Mohawk had.  Scott recognized so much here.   

     One minor theme that Scott enjoyed was the exploration of symbols that the Patriots used.  There were many examples throughout that caught Scott's eye.  For example, Ben Franklin had suggested an emblem of an eagle attacking a crane, and an example was shown on one of the muskets on display.  There were buttons from 1777 that were probably the first place that the letters "USA" were used to abbreviate the new country's name.  

     Among the artifacts that Scott noticed were:

• the Speaker's Chair that was probably used by Peyton Randolph at the 1st Continental Congress 
• a timber from the Old North Bridge at Concord
• a shutter from a window in Concord that was both shot through and shot at
• Washington's sword from around the time that he took command of the Continental Army
• a piece of the lead statue of King George that had been pulled down in New York and one of the musket balls that was supposed to have been made from it
•  a letter written by George Washington at Valley Forge
• digging tools used at the siege of Yorktown 
• dozens of others, including weapons of all kinds

     The largest single artifact, and the reason for this museum's existence, is the tent used by George Washington.  To see it, you have to attend a special presentation in a theater built for it, where there's no photography of any kind allowed. Scott happened to leave the main exhibition halls just as the presentation in the theater was about to begin, so he went right in.  There's a 10 minute movie about the tent and then the screen is brought up to reveal the tent itself.  This museum and its collections were basically built around this tent.  Scott remembered seeing Washington's tent in the Smithsonian Museum of American History.  Apparently that one is no longer on display, but was his dining marquee.  This tent is the one he used for sleeping.  "George Washington slept here," indeed.

     Scott got a guide book and a couple of pins at the gift shop and drank another bottle of water before beginning the walk back to the hotel.  The GPS took him to the opposite side of Independence Hall, so he stopped at the Visitors Center there, which not only has the NPS portion but Philadelphia's as well.  He stopped at the gift shop there and bought a pin for himself and a small Liberty Bell for Abby.  (More about that tomorrow, we hope.)  

     When he got back to the hotel, Julie and Abby were doing OK, in spite of not having a pool, Wi-Fi, or a working TV.  They had left the hotel for a bit to go to some of the nearby stores in Chinatown.  They got some ice cream.  In a Hello Kitty themed shop, they bought Abby a hand-held fan that may help some if we try to get her outside tomorrow.  After Scott arrived, Julie went down to a nearby Panera's to get some dinner to bring back for the rest of us.  Scott got the Wi-Fi password, and the front desk clerk came up to the room with an alternate remote to use on the TV.

     That was about it for today.  We're determined to get something out of our trip here.  But as the sang in the musical 1776, "It's hot as hell in Philadelphia!"