from the desk of tara hope…

this weekend we had an impromptu trip to philly! my dad asked us if we wanted to go to the phillies game on saturday so of course matt jumped at the chance to see a playoff game! we went in on friday for dinner at fogo de chao (aka meat-eaters heaven) and a little exploring on our own! i had been to Philly on my senior trip, but i appreciated it much more as an adult 🙂

one thing i loved about Philly is not only the history of course, but how accessible it is. it seems like around every corner is some major piece of american history, just sitting there being amazing. some examples:

walking to dinner we walked right past the liberty bell, all lit up! i love how you can see such a symbol of our freedom at any time during the day or night…

walking home from dinner we literally ran into city hall, but we didn’t know it was city hall, and just stood there wondering what this beautiful building was! i felt like i had stepped into europe for a moment!

almost back at our hotel we stumbled upon elfreth’s alley, the oldest residential street in america! matt had been there, but didnt realize it was so close to our hotel. what a happy surprise!

we went to franklin fountain for dessert, which is this AWESOME soda fountain ice cream shop. its so old fashioned they dont even have plastic straws…they were made of cardboard! and the samples arent given to you on little cheap plastic spoons… oh no, they use real silverware for their samples! so cute!

saturday we walked around a little before dad and matt lee’s flight got in:

betsy ross’ house…i thought it was hilarious that apparently they dont know for sure that she made the first american flag, and they arent sure this was her house, so the guide books all said something like “this was possibly where betsy ross may have made the first american flag”. i sort of feel like that could be anywhere in the country 🙂

this is like my dream come true! a pink bakery complete with matching pink vespa!

we walked by franklin fountain during the day…love the yellow trim!

the leaves are really starting to change, and they just added to all the beautiful old buildings…

i loved, loved, loved all the old buildings in the city, especially the ones with old advertisements on them and the ones that had been turned into loft apartments!

once dad and matt lee got there we did some more exploring and picture-taking (note: apparently all the photos with me and my dad are on his camera(s) because we took a ton of pictures together, and i dont have any of them! but he really was on the trip haha! ill post some pictures when he sends them to me later)

the famous rocky statue, right beside the steps he trains on in the movie…

dad wanted to take us to the reading terminal market because he knew how much we would love it! and he was totally right! it was so big and crazy, and i took so many shots that im going to give it it’s own post!

that night we went to the phillies game which was really really fun except for a couple of snags… the biggest one being that the phillies lost 😦

it was a perfect night for baseball! the moon was huge and beautiful!

phillies rally towels…

we had two different sets of seats, one right behind home plate, and one with a great view of the whole stadium…

it really was a great game, even though we lost. i had fun sharing my dad and husbys all time favorite sport and my dad all time favorite team. it was fun!