5th and Final Day of our Pennsylvania Summer Vacation

We spent the final day of our Pennsylvania trip in Philadelphia. Ken took a tour of the Eastern State Penitentiary, one of America's most historic former prisons. Notorious criminals such as Al Capone and bank robber Willie Sutton were prisoners there.

The Penitentiary is the brick structure in the background of this photo:

While Ken was touring the Penitentiary, Gabriella and I got to visit with Aunt Danie!:

We took a walk...

...and played in the Penitentiary "Play Pen!" It was so weird being in a playground in the back of a former prison! The great bonus was that Gabriella was able to use up a lot of energy in preparation for our long ride home.:

Before hitting the road, we enjoyed Philly Cheesesteaks at Pat's Steaks which claims to have invented the cheesesteak in 1933. Pat's Steaks is on the opposite corner of rival Geno's Steaks. Danie and I had previously tried Geno's Steaks and decided to try Pat's Steaks this time. There is a very specific way to order a cheesesteak. You have to order a "cheese wit" or "cheese wit-out" for a Cheez Whiz cheesesteak sandwich, with or without onions. I didn't use the proper lingo and the guy was getting angry with me. I got him primed for the next customer who also did not order properly and that customer received an earful! I was sure glad it wasn't me!

Saying goodbye to Aunt Danie:

Gabriella did great on the ride home despite the fact that the ride took an extra hour or so because of traffic. We left just before 1:00 PM and arrived home just after 7:30 PM and took one short stop along the way. Gabriella slept for the first three hours of the trip! We stopped in Connecticut when she woke up for a diaper change, bathroom break, and something to eat. We listened to music and then she spent the remainder of the trip watching DVDs. It was the first time she watched a DVD in the car and was thrilled when I brought it out.

There was a cute memory from the trip that happened yesterday that I forgot to write about in yesterday's blog post . While we were standing outside of the hotel yesterday morning during the "missing child" incident, we were talking to a lady with a daughter who was probably about six years old. When I address Gabriella I usually call her "baby," love," "muffin," or "muffalata" (made up name!). While we were talking to these people, I addressed Gabriella by one of these names and the little girl got a kick out of it. She said, "Mom, did you used to call me that when I was a baby too?" I thought it was cute.

Gabriella was excited to see the dogs when we arrived home and the dogs were very happy to see us.

We had a nice trip but it is great to be home.