East Coast Trip Part Six: Philly

Wowzers, it's almost been a month since my last post. I have no excuses, I'm just a slacker. Well I do have one excuse...I got an iPhone and since then I've found I can do most of my internet activity on my phone. Blogging is about the only thing I can't do since the pictures from our trip are on the actual computer. But you know what they say about excuses...they're like buttholes -- everybody has one and everybody thinks everybody else's stinks. Or is that what they say about opinions? Meh, whatev.

So, the day after Six Flags Phil and I hopped in the Prius and headed South. First stop: Philly. We didn't have much on the agenda for Philly as we were just kind of passing through on our way to D.C. We continued our "John Adams Spiritual Journey" by going to Independence Hall where the Continental Congress met (and I think the Declaration of Independence was signed there too right?). It was neat to see the meeting rooms all set up, but a bummer that very little was original. About the only original thing was the chair that George Washington sat in.





Obviously we had to check out the Liberty Bell. I've heard "it's so much smaller than what you imagine" so many times, that it actually was bigger than I imagined!




Before heading out of town we tried our hand (or mouths) at settling one of Philly's great disputes...which cheesesteak is better, Pat's or Geno's? As you can see by the pictures below, Geno's was the clear winner. We both preferred Geno's, I think because the bread was more buttery and the meat was greasier. Also, I made the mistake of getting provolone at Pat's instead of "cheese whiz". Cheese whiz on the east coast is like runny cheddar, it's not that crap that comes out of a can. It's actually quite tasty. I probably need to redo the test and get cheese whiz at Pat's for a fair comparison. Then again, the Pat's vs. Geno's thing is kind of a tourist trap anyway...apparently there are WAY better cheesesteak places in Philly. BUT, if you do go to Pat's and/or Geno's, just follow the ordering directions on the sign. If you just say "Whiz Wit" or "Whiz wit-out", they WILL know that you are ordering a cheese steak and not one of their several other items on the menu.





Next up, Washington DC! I was going to combine D.C. and Baltimore with the Philly post but there is just too many cool things to share about D.C., so it'll have to be its own post.