Provolone or cheese whiz????

There's a big ongoing debate in Philadelphia about which is the best cheese for a Philly cheese steak. What a battle – strong opinions on both sides! Although we thought provolone would be our “cheese of choice” we decided to order one of each and do our own taste test! Although we liked them both ( of course Gary likes anything he eats.....) much to our surprise we both liked the cheese steak with cheese whiz the best! A good lesson that it pays to keep an open mind!

Whew! – we just finished our tour of  the remaining 3 BIG cities we had planned for our trip - Philadelphia, New York City and Washington D.C. Our plan was to stay way outside the cities in big ole Rose and use public transportation to visit the historic sites that we wanted to see – our plan worked out just the way we hoped it would! Rose was quite content to stay in the country and and we were quite happy to scurry back to Rose every afternoon after a great day of seeing the sites in the cities- well worth the visits and the risk of an allergic reaction to cities!

Some of the highlights :

New York City

• Seeing the Statue of Liberty - what an incredible symbol of freedom!

It was a gourgeous day!

• Learning about Ellis Island and touring the building where 12 million immigrants first stepped foot in America with great anticipation of a better life

• The “rebirth of ground zero with the building of the new Freedom Tower and the south tower

• The very heartfelt tributes to the victims and first responders of the 9/11 attacks that were in St Paul's church near ground zero. This is the church that provided the volunteers with a place to sleep.

Rememberances placed on a alter in the church by loved ones

Patches from first responders who came from all over the world to help after 9/11

• Time Square

Occasionally we make it to midnight on New Year's eve to see the ball drop but not often!

Philadelphia

• A tour of Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed

• Seeing the Liberty Bell - another great symbol of freedom

• Seeing the Valley Forge winter encampment for George Washington and the Continental Army

George Washington's headquarters in Valley Forge

Soldiers built cabins to live in during the winter encampment at Valley Forge

Washington D.C.

• Air and Space Museum – loved the jet fighter simulator! Gary flew the jet and I shot down 9 enemy jets

This is an F4 like the one Gary flew in the Marine Corp

• National Marine Corp Museum –excellent exhibits that gave a great history of the US from the American Revolution to present day

Fredericksburg, Virginia

• Visiting Monticello , Thomas Jefferson’s home, father of the Declaration of Independence

• Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville Civil war battlefields – biggest battles of the civil war lasting 18 months

Chatham was a plantation visited by 5 presidents - Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Jefferson. It was also used as a confederate hospital

• Visiting Montpelier, James Madison’s plantation – father of our constitution

James and Dolly hosted lots of parties on the lawn at their plantation - so many that they went broke and had to sell the plantation....

Next and last stops on our 6 week Northeast trip – Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, Newport News and the Outer Banks!