Philadelphia
 

We are visiting Philadelphia next summer. We will be traveling with our 14 year old boy. He mentioned wanting to see the US Mint and Liberty Bell. He also loves sports. Any ideas for us? Not certain how many days we will be in Philadelphia as we will be driving from Kansas City, MO to Boston, MA. We will have 15 days for the entire trip.

He might be interested in visiting the Battleship New Jersey which is docked right across the river in Camden. ((b))

Downtown Philadelphia is called Center City and is very walkable. Most of the historic attractions are grouped close together and can be seen in 1 day if you hustle.

The Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the Mint are all within a couple of blocks of each other. You can actually see Independence Hall from the Liberty Bell complex. Tours of each are frequent during the summer, but get very crowded.

South Street is also a short walk away and holds many attractions that are fascinating to 14 year olds- music stores, cheesesteaks, and other 14 year olds. It's the "cool" street for teens but is mild enough for a family audience.

As far as sports, you can always see a Phillies game in the summer. The stadium is easily reached by the Broad Street Subway from Center City.

Unless your son is a huge history buff, he probably will not be interested in the Betsy Ross House and Franklin Court (the former site of Benjamin Franklin's House).

If you only have 2 weeks, a day or 2 in Philadelphia will give you enough of a taste to decide if you want to come back later. It's a very nice city with very friendly people, and the food is first-rate.

As you get closer, feel free to ask questions in the PA section.To me, Philly is much more relaxing when viewed during day trips.A few days in an area like Lancaster provides easy train access to Philly, a short drive to Gettysburg and great minor league baseball in Lancsater, Reading & Harrisburg.

While you're in the historic area, your son and you would probably enjoy visiting the Constitution Center. Lots of interactive displays there.
There are many tours of Phila. offered. You can to to www.gophila.com to get some good information.

Don't forget Betsy Ross' house and go to the top of city hall above William Penn's hat for a great view of the city.
While in town I also enjoy a trip to the Hard Rock and a visit to the Italian Market and Pat's Steaks on 8th and Passyunk Ave.

Don't miss City Hall Tower, it's free...but call ahead and reserve tickets as they only give out a few. Shopping, The Gallery on Market Street is America's largest inner city mall. Don't forget that Pa does not charge tax on shoes or clothing. If you start out at Independent Hall, Liberty Bell, Franklin Mint..it's only a short walk up Market Street past the Gallery and Hard Rock Cafe to the City Hall Tower....it's a VERY long walk out to the Rocky Steps (Museum of Art). Reading Terminal Market has a few Amish standholders and some great Taste of Pa food (Philly Cheese Steaks). Across the river is the Cambridge Aquarium. Museuems...Franklin Institute is excellent, it's a Science museum...there's many more but most 14 y.o. don't enjoy those. Have fun. BTW I do Philly as a daytrip with my exchange students, but we don't do any museums in that day.

A few suggestions for a teen sports fan:

1) Get Phillies tickets. The new stadium is great.

2) Before the game go to south Philly and have a cheesesteak at Pat's or Geno's (better yet, split one at each and decide which you like better)

3) Go to the Art Museum... run the Rocky steps. Then stop in the museum. They have a great section on armor and medievil weapons that kids seem to love.

4) Go to the Franklin Institute. Just a great museum for families.

5) Take the water taxi across the river to see the battleship NJ and the NJ state aquarium.

6) The Philadelphia Zoo is excellent.

7) Even as a adult, I like the Mint. It's a short self-guided tour and is right near the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall (both are definite stops).

Enjoy your trip!