Sunday, October 18, 2009 Timberland Campground, Clarksboro, NJ

It rained all night last night! I was awake at various times hearing the rain hitting the roof of the trailer. The wind blew pretty strong most of the night too. The weather gal said this is a true “Nor-easter” storm. The temps have reached record lows they haven’t seen since the 1930’s. Lucky us! Last year when we went to Maine, we were hit by a hurricane that uncharacteristically followed the coast that far north. Now, we have record lows and a Nor-easter! The rain did let up this morning and just stayed overcast, damp, cold and windy all day.

We headed into Philadelphia this morning (about 15 minutes away) to take a tour of the city and let them point out all the historic places. We were there a little before 9:30, so we were able to get a pretty good parking spot on the street. On street parking cost 25 cents per 8 minutes which is actually cheaper than the parking lot fees. We bought a card that was good for 3 hours, then went to see the Liberty Bell prior

to taking the trolley tour.

The guide on the trolley pointed out many places such as the Betsy Ross house, Christ Church, Independence Hall and many museums. When the tour was over we took the guided tour of Independence Hall

which had served as our nation’s capitol prior to moving to Washington DC. Then we added time to our parking card so we could walk 9 blocks to the Reading Railroad Terminal which is now a city market place for a lunch of Philly Cheese Steaks (of course). That place was busy! They have hundreds of small shops inside selling practically anything and everything - grocery items, sea food (raw), prepared sea food, spices, candy stores, bakery shops, Italian foods, Japanese foods, Philly Cheese Steaks, etc. and etc. The people were in there practically shoulder to shoulder lined up at all the different counters.

We are now “home” for the evening, trying to warm up after being out in the damp and chilly air most of the day. Tomorrow we will be in the traffic headed to the New York City area.