Day One - Mini Vacation

I'm on vacation....so I'm not gonna talk about food.  ha ha ha   I am going to say that after all the walking today I can't even imagine doing a half marathon tomorrow.  ha ha ha  So it is duly noted that if I attempt a half ever again to not plan on site seeing the day before I run.   (see it's all working out well!)

All I'm going to say before I swing into pictures and a quick synopsis of day one is that I was once again reminded of how stupid fear really is. I wasn' worried about anything about the weekend except for ONE thing. I was worried about parking.  I don't even know really what my fears were about....finding a lot that had room, a lot that was close.....etc etc etc  Stupid. The parking was EASY...and I am parked literally less than 150 feet from the hotel doors.  Can't beat that (Well I could...I paid $68 to park my car for the duration of my stay....48 hours...it could have been free!  ha ha ha...but I knew the cost and expected it!)

Early morning drive and a breakfast on the go.....yeah, I ate fast food, but notice the drink.....WATER...no caffeine!!!!!

So I got here about quarter till 10. I parked my car and after a phone call to notify family of my safe arrival, I was off.

I was walking toward the US Mint and saw the Federal Reserve with a sign out saying 'free display'  Well of course I went in.    It was a neat little display and I would have been more interested in learning how money is moved and whatnot if I had not just spent the last 8.5 years working in a bank.....so yeah, I knew most of what they had.  However, it was neat to realize that the money from our bank comes to and from the building that I was standing in.

Next up was the US Mint. I was most excited about this visit.  No pictures allowed...but it was the best museum/tour of the day!!!!!

As I was exiting the Mint, I saw a grave yard across the way.  I knew Ben Franklin was buried very near hear, so I figured that must be it!  I treked across the street.  Sure enough, it was where Ben Franklin was buried!  Some might think $2 to visit a graveyard is crazy, but I was there....why not!  (and if I wanted to I could have seen Ben Franklin's grave from outside the gates!)

Back up the street I went to the Independence Visitor Center.  I picked up my ticket for Independence Hall and made the walk over there. I had a few minutes to wait before my tour.....selfie time!!!

The tour guide was pretty good and it was neat to stand in rooms where such important history to our nation took place.

From there I headed over to the Liberty Bell. :-)

At this point I noticed the time and I decided that I still had time to to hit up Betsy Ross's house.  I headed that way and decided to pick up a late lunch on my way........Turkey Panini...and notice the drink?  Pink Lemonade.  Not the greatest sugar/calorie wise...but something a little fun and STILL caffeine free!!!  And for the record I didn't eat the chips (or the slaw)

With my belly full, I headed the half block to the Betsy Ross house.  If you ever go...definitely pay the extra $2 for the audio tour....it explains so much more about the history and I could hear the cheapskates asking questions that would have been answered had the ante upped the extra $2!!!

I decided that at this point I would head back toward the hotel and geocache my way back.  There were not that many geocaches in downtown, but I wanted to grab the few that I could.   I picked up one outside the African American Museum....it was pretty easy, just took a little deciphering to get the coordinates from an outside display.

Two quick virtuals were next up.....One where I learned about the origin of the Girl Scout Cookie (Who knew it originated in Philadelphia)   And saw a great view of the City Hall

I also learned about a Quaker woman who was hung.....martyrdom

I cut down a little courtyard and saw this piece in the courtyard

I then a few feet later picked up another geocache  I think the police man was more excited.  I arrived at the place and started to look and the police man came running over and said "I know what you are looking for, I've never seen anyone find it though!"  I started looking in seconds later found a little nano container and showed it to the police man. Friendly police guy chit chatted while I signed the log and then I said goodbye.

It was starting to get dark, so I headed to The Terminal Market....

where I picked up some food for my dinner....and then exhausted and roughly 10 miles on my feet for the day, I headed the block to my hotel.  I checked in...ate my food.....

I'm not a night life gal, so I stayed in to relax and plan my attack for the next day.  I had another day in the city and I want to make the most of it!!!!