PA: How to appreciate Philly's art and history...

Tuesday started out similar to Monday, Matt had a bit of time in the morning and I wanted breakfast in Reading Terminal. So after a great bagel and a bit of wandering, we headed back out to take in more city sights. 

When we see an crashed plane outside the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, we can't help but stop to peer. It was a cold war plane titled "Grumman Greenhouse." The location may have been chosen because the location was narrowly missed by the plane. Not only was the artwork interesting because of the overall "impact" but the artist, Jordan Griska, had also turned the cockpit into a greenhouse with lights coming from solar power panels attached to the wings. Was beautiful to see something that could cause so much damage at one point now be art.

It wasn't the only art that we happened upon. We came to the Your Move park on JFK Boulevard and Broad Street. It was an Allison and Wonderland feeling as you were small among the dominoes, bingo markers, sorry pieces, and checkers. I love the whimsy of it in the middle of Philadelphia. The evidence of art and humanity in Philadelphia really won me over.

The best part of Tuesday was that Judy was able to make it down. We went back to the hotel to meet her and Liam. Matt spent some of the morning with us but her and I and Liam had the afternoon. After gyros at the market, we started with some historical sites including the Liberty Bell and basement of the original White House. Liam was more impressed with the honking buses and trucks than we was with Independence Hall and Independence Square. He did get a kick out of the horses but was happy when we let him out of the stroller to run around a park.

The best park for him and a hoot for us was Dillworth Park. That was where we'd been on Monday for the event, but they had it going full boar when we got there. He had so much fun with the many little geysers, well until he got unseated and had to be rescued by Grandma. Was great to watch his curiosity grab hold of him when they seemed to disappear only to come back and catch him in the face seconds later with a peel of giggles.

After drying off, Matt went back to work and Judy and I went for ice cream! We did a bit of shopping and watched Liam slowly drift off into a nap. This allowed Judy and I to wander around downtown Philly, take in a few more sights and eventually stop at the Love Park/JFK Plaza with another geyser and the famous LOVE sculpture. Was cute that that's what Liam woke up to....what a sight! Was great to spend more time with Judy too as not only did we cover a lot of ground (sore fee to prove it) but we covered a lot of subjects.

Shortly after Liam woke up, Matt was able to join us before they had to take off. We showed Judy the "Your Move" park and Liam got a kick out of another horsey. He also was a fan of the Sorry pieces, like I was. However the main steal of his attention was the grates that lead to underground....I guess I would have been impressed with them too at his age.

We got them cleared up, cleaned up, and unfortunately back on the road. The time spent with family was one of the reasons that Matt decided this conference was one that we wanted to attend. So glad it worked out.

That night, we went aboard the USS New Jersey, which is the most decorated battleship in the Navy. She saw WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Lebanese Civil War. The event was sponsored by Mead & Hunt and Jon had invited us. The ship was massive...888 feet, like 3 football fields practically! There were appetizers and tours but also a cannon shooting. Matt and I had a tour of the command center and he even took a seat in the main chair, manager through and through, I guess. I'm just glad that he didn't smash his head into anything as he was definitely too tall to be a sailor!

I think my favorite was seeing the Philly skyline from the New Jersey, Camden Shipyard station.

We had another little surprise while we were there as we had an impromptu concert from Fall Out Boy who was doing their pyrotechnics and sound check just a little bit from us, onland. We heard, "Light 'em Up" and "Saturday" they sounded great. Would have loved to take that concert in.

When the sun started setting, so did I....I suppose after a couple days of going straight, it felt good to crash a little early, before 11:00 that is!

Kim and ALR sitting at event tables.
MJR comes out of gun turret.
Grinning like a schoolboy.
Kim: Oh my gosh, look at that smile,
ALR: Yeah, I know, I knew he'd love this.