East Cast Trip - Pennsylvania

D.C. Sights | D.C. Memorials | Virginia | Maryland | Pennsylvania | Family
Western Pennsylvania is where my mother and her family grew up. My Uncle Larry and Aunt Stella and Aunt Bernardette and Uncle Leonard still live nearby the old farmhouse. Uncle Larry gave us a very informative tour about the area and my mom's family's history. The whole focus of the area is on coal which was a bit foreign to Jamie and I. Most of the coal mines have since closed leaving the area a little depressed. We also visited my cousins in Pittsburgh, but we forgot to bring Rachel's Seahawk hat. It was unfortunate as the mighty Steelers were sucking this year.

After a few days on the west side of the state we next headed east across Pennsylvania on our way to Philadelphia. We started on their turnpike, but didn't enjoy speeding along on a toll road so we got off and took the scenic route on the Lincoln Highway or Route 30. We first stopped at the temporary memorial for Flight 93 that crashed during September 11. A single flag in the distance noted where the plane went down. Once the permanent memorial is completed visitors will be able to approach the site. The current site had many touching personal dedications to the crew and passengers.

We continued east along Route 30 through some small, but beautiful old towns. We even found a covered bridge to drive through. We stopped in the town of Hershey for the night. Though the smell of chocolate was in the air we didn't tour the factory or try any chocolate, I was unfortunately terribly sick that day.

The next day we drove through Lancaster County to see the Amish. Other than spotting some horse drawn buggies and eating at an Amish cafe, we didn't see much of the people due to the weather. Not only was it raining very hard, but there was a tornado watch and flash flood warnings going on. Jamie was very worried, but I thought it was cool. Unfortunately I didn't see any tornados.

After braving the harsh rains we finally made it to Philadelphia. We were there to see three things: the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and cheese steaks. The Liberty Bell was, well, a bell. Though it's symbolic, it has little historical relevance, but it has to be seen when in Philadelphia. Independence Hall was much more impressive. The Declaration of Independence was signed there making it the most historically significant building in the country. We saw the original document in Washington D.C. earlier on our trip.

After the encounter with history we gave Rachel a break and took her to the Please Touch museum. There were all kinds of fun things for her to get her hands on and interact with including a grocery store, a farm and a Where the Wild Things Are area. After Rachel had her fun we headed to our final goal, Philly cheese steaks. We went to the two biggest rivals, Pat's and Geno's to see who really was the best. Pat's gave me their standard cheese steak, but Gino's asked me for the type of cheese, including wiz. Wiz seemed too strange to me so I ordered the sandwich with provolone. Only later did I find out that cheese wiz is the key ingredient to a Philly cheese steak. Geno's provolone cheese steak, just didn't compare to Pat's wizzy sandwich. As a result, we still don't know who makes the best cheese steak, but Pat's was very tasty.