The Marriner Museums and Monuments Tour 2009 :: Philadelphia :: National Constitution Center :: Elbridge Gerry
Posted on July 8, 2009
(Note: Because my husband is a history geek and because of the possible local connection, this picture gets a post of its own.)
Have you ever looked at a map of your Congressional district and noticed how oddly shaped it is? If you follow politics at all, you probably know that the boundaries are intentionally drawn in irregular, convoluted configurations to benefit the election prospects of the party in power at the time of redistricting. Pretty sneaky, huh? Well, here is the man we have to thank for that practice. His name is Elbridge Gerry and he is the founding father of gerrymandering.
Among Gerry’s other notable claims to fame, he was a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, but refused to sign the Constitution because the initial document didn’t contain a Bill of Rights. He also served as James Madison’s Vice President. Central New Yorkers may be interested to know that the town of Elbridge was allegedly named after him.
This life-sized statue is located in Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center.
The Marriner Museums and Monuments Tour 2009 :: Philadelphia :: Ride the Ducks
Posted on July 7, 2009
If you want to see the sights in Philadelphia, you could do a lot worse than to take the Duck Tour. This tour takes it name from the modified World War II amphibious vehicles (DUKWs or Ducks) that take you around the city. If you’ve ever dreamed of riding a wheeled vehicle into the Delaware River and living to tell about it (and really, who hasn’t?) the Duck Tour can’t be beat.
(Photographer’s note: this post consists mostly of the people, buildings, and other things that caught my attention while riding around the city on this tour.)
The first thing they do when everyone boards the duck is to pass out these really loud “quacker” noisemakers. The amount of time it takes the novelty of the quackers to wear off when you’re traveling with boys aged six and ten is measured in milliseconds.
The tour goes down South Street, which is a quirky section of town to say the least. It’s great for people watching. The buildings are interesting as well.
The zipper design on this building is very cool. So are the ants. The zipper and the ants together, however, are a little disturbing.
Not everything you see from the Duck is right out of the Chamber of Commerce tourism guide.
Philadelphia is a city packed with outdoor art and murals. Here’s one that fools the eye a little bit from a distance.
Right after we splashed into the river, we crossed paths with this other DUKW swimming along under the Ben Franklin Bridge.
On the opposite side of the river is Camden, NJ, best known as the home of Campbell’s Soup (Camden — It’s Mm Mm Good!) Pictured here is the battleship U.S.S. New Jersey, a floating museum permanently docked in Camden.
The boys after the tour. We confiscated and hid the quackers immediately after this photo was taken.
The Marriner Museums and Monuments Tour 2009 :: Philadelphia :: The Liberty Bell
Posted on July 6, 2009
This is the first in a series of photo essays about our family trip to Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Since my husband Vance is the writer of the family, I am letting him take care of most of the descriptions. A little family collaboration. 
Even with all the family trips we have made to Philadelphia, none of us had ever seen the Liberty Bell. Rectifying that situation was one of our first orders of business last week upon arriving in Philly.
The Bell is housed in a long, narrow building. To get to it, visitors must first snake through a series of preliminary displays that provide technical specifications and historical context for the artifact. Those displays run the gamut from silly (a Liberty Bell themed living room lamp from the Bicentennial) to poignant. An example of the latter was a display about the Liberty Bell’s use as a rallying symbol for the Abolitionist Movement. In fact, it was the Abolitionists who first started calling it the “Liberty Bell” — a fact that Vance did not know and has since filed away in his trivia bank. That part of the exhibit was of particular interest to us as Central New Yorkers as it featured a photo of Frederick Douglass at an Anti-Slavery rally in Cazenovia.
The main attraction is in a chamber at the end of the building. During our visit, that room was mobbed with people who had come with the same intent as us — to get pictures and pose in front of of the famous bell. Watching over the comings and goings of the tourists was a National Park Service ranger who split his time between answering the odd question and saying, “Don’t touch the Bell!” to people who either hadn’t noticed or had deliberately ignored the umpteen signs throughout the building asking everyone to not touch the Bell.
It’s a little anti-climactic, perhaps even demystifying, to see such an iconic item up close and in person. The Bell is big, but not so big as to inspire awe. Strictly as a piece of metalwork, it’s quite plain. It’s actually kind of curious that a broken steeple bell would have gone on to symbolize the American Revolution, the City of Philadelphia and the very idea of freedom itself. But it did and it does, and we’re glad that we finally got to visit this national treasure.
A Day at the Franklin Institute
Posted on March 1, 2009
Last weekend we took a trip to the Philadelphia area to visit my mother and sister. We spent Saturday at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. We had a lot of fun, and would highly recommend this museum to anyone. Here are some of the pics from the day.
Grant and Griffin in front of the giant Ben Franklin statue.
Detail of the rotunda that ol' Ben sits under.
Griffin and Mike try to get the water wheel turning. Griffin loved getting lifted off the ground.
Griffin tries to guide a ball through a maze.
Mom takes a ride on the Sky Bike.
Then we headed to the machines and engineering area, which Grant loved, of course.
Grant loves anything mechanical.
At the controls of a big crane-like thing.
This is a giant heart. It looks innocent enough, but it is responsible for my first-ever bout of claustrophobia. I really, honestly almost freaked out in this thing. It seems so simple – walk in, up some stairs, around and around just like you are blood pumping through the chambers of the heart. EXCEPT. The stairways are really narrow. And the ceilings are kinda low, so you have to hunch over if you’re over 5’5″. And it’s kinda warm in there. And they have this INFERNAL HEARTBEAT NOISE thumping loudly all around you. And – and this is the part that nearly put me over the edge – the path that you follow is much longer inside than you would think from looking at the outside. Really. There is a lot of twisting and turning going on in there. So while the other factors are starting to get to you, you are secure in the knowledge that this torment is almost over. And then you take another turn and go up some more stairs. And then you are sure that it is almost over. And then you make another turn and you start to wonder if it will ever end, and thoughts of being trapped in this hot, cramped, thumping fiberglass contraption for the rest of what is left of your life start going through your mind, and then…. it’s finally over. Really, it wasn’t pleasant.
After Griffin got himself lost for a few minutes (he snuck back inside the damn heart), we moved on to the transportation section of the museum. Grant and Griffin (and Vance) got to check out the inside of this plane.
And hooray for my new ultra-wide-angle lens! I'm totally loving this thing.
And there was a big train! Choo-choo!
