Waterfall Chasers: Philadelphia

We always try and take a family trip somewhere in the States over the summer, so I was determined to follow tradition this year, even if I would be the only adult. (Shout out to Rich here, who is still the sole income provider for this household. Even if he isn't coming along, he had no problems financing the trip for us.)

Where I screwed up was in rashly signing my son and myself up for a 5K (he wanted to do one) on July 1st, which meant we ended up starting our trip on 4th July week... and in blistering heat. I did base our itinerary around a theme of waterfalls (this trip was inspired by the kids wanting to see Niagara) but the first stop was a city: Philadelphia.

We did the five hour drive straight from the 5K . It went well—we had one stop for lunch and a five minute power nap—parallel parking at our AirBnB was nowhere near as successful.

Actually, our first stop was at the Smith Memorial Playhouse. This let us all run around and stretch our legs in the outside playground, though I'd probably recommend this place for 7 and under—particularly inside the house which was very much geared towards toddlers and preschoolers. The playground had more options for older children: our favourite was the wooden slide.

The following day, I informed the children in no uncertain terms that we were not moving the car because I didn't want to have to park it again. Instead, we navigated public transport (successfully! Thank you to the trolley driver who saw my cluelessness and gave me a transfer ticket for the subway) to the historic district. We got there at 8:30 and promptly sat in the forming line for the Liberty Bell, which opened at 9am.

The advantage of doing this was getting a picture of us with the Bell, and absolutely nobody else in shot—if you want to go this route, you would probably be fine queuing from 8:45, but once you're through security, skip the information and exhibits, and go straight to the Bell. Even ten minutes after opening, the bell is surrounded.

My son, who's a history buff, was pretty pumped to see it, my daughter was considerably less enthralled. I had planned to spend the morning wandering around the historical district, but it was going to be a scorching day, and already the children were begging for refreshments.

On a cooler day, the President's House might have held their interest for longer.

So we changed our plans via the Independence Visitor Center where we bought a Phlash Bus pass each. We did stroll to see Benjamin Franklin's grave, and we attempted to go to the African American Museum, only to find that it was closed Monday to Wednesday. Although there had been plenty of emphasis on slavery and freeing slaves in the historical district's signage, it's more than a little depressing to discover that in a city that was so key in the fight for abolition, the museum devoted to African American History is only open half the week.

Outside the African American Museum: Whispering Bells, dedicated to the Crispus Attucks, killed for protesting against the crown, and generally considered as the first casualty of the American Revolution.

Hot and discouraged, we turned to our Phlash leaflet, and resolved to spend the rest of the day travelling from air conditioned museum to air conditioned museum in an air conditioned bus. As it turned out, our first stop was the Swann Memorial Fountain in Logan Circle, and if there is a better spot in Philadelphia for dealing with the heat, I'd be surprised. My daughter was instantly enraptured, and she and I spent over half an hour climbing over fountain tiers and statues amid the spraying water.

Finally my son dragged us away to the Franklin Institute. He wanted to go for the Gaming Exhibit that was there for the summer, but once inside we discovered that A: museum entry was fairly pricey, B: the Franklin Institute is a fantastic hands on science museum, perfect for older kids, and C: it was about twenty degrees cooler than outside.

My favourite exhibit

Long story short, we spent four hours there. Barring a five minute break outside to let my daughter warm up. (She had soaked her dress in the fountain and started shivering.)

We finally left to fulfil a promise to my daughter that she could return to the fountain—this time my son got into it as well, stripping his shirt off to climb to the top of one of the spouting statues. Another hour went by before we caught the Phlash to the art museum, which we had heard was free today and was fantastic for children... the only problem was that it closed twenty minutes before we got there. Oops.

So we walked the mile back to our B&B via the park, with a stop for ice cream and dinner (in that order) at the Cosmic Cafe by Boathouse Row.

One for the Hamilton fans, the most Lafayette statue of Lafayette that ever Lafayetted.

We'll probably go back to Philadelphia again, as it's really easy to get to, and try to catch some of the stuff we missed. However, I don't have regrets for how we spent it. On a scorching hot day, the Franklin Institute and Swann Fountain gave us a blast.