Heather and Doug Nunley: Day 3 of the long weekend

So today we headed to Philly. We were suppose to get up at 6:30 but my alarm did not go off (I had it set for m-f and forgot it was Saturday) so we got a later start than what we wanted. I packed up some snacks (left over John's and cupcakes) so we would have something to eat just in case. It took us about two hours to get there and the drive was quite nice. Could have done without the three tolls totaling $13 (and that does not include the three more on the way for a total of $26) but nothing we could do about it. We even passed multiple Waffle House and Cracker Barrels without stopping! Our first stop was to Independence Hall. The lines were fairly long for a cool winter day in January. The guy in front of us in line was from Alabama and lived in Panama City for a long time before moving to VA. What a small world, isn't it. We then went to the tomb of the unknown soldier and walked around trying to find a place for lunch. We decided to get back in the car and drive over to Tony Luke's. It is a famous cheesesteak place and they were packed. Parking was a nightmare! There were about 10 tables and 75+ people in line. The place was long and not very wide (think mobile home) with only enough room inside for the kitchen. All the seating and ordering line was once outside but they added a little closed in area to shield people from the cold/heat. As soon as we ordered I went and grabbed a table. The sandwiches were good and the onion rings were amazing! The cheesesteak I got was kinda bland. Next time I go I will have to amp up the volume (y'all know how I like that spice!). Maybe some onions and peppers is more my style. On our way back to the historic stuff we split one of our cupcakes from DC Cupcakes. The cookies and cream cheesecake was heaven in my mouth! Omg! Soo soo good! We finished up the day seeing the liberty bell, Benjamin Franklin's grave, and the "Rocky Steps". While seeing the steps we saw wedding parties taking their pictures from the top. With the city in the background, the location was perfect at sunset. I bet many brides pick that spot and I can see why.
I was really surprised how nice and clean the city was. I really went in thinking trashy, homeless ppl and gangs everywhere, and sketchy. But it was no where near that. I saw a few homeless people but they were nice and no more than you see in DC. It was much nicer than Baltimore, in my opinion, and had lots to do. Didn't get to the shopping side of the city but I think we did plenty of that yesterday. :)
For dinner we met up with Ryan and Sarah at Buffalo Wild Wings. Thank god for the beer bc if it was not for that I would have cried. It was just crazy! The mall area was so busy there was no parking. Doug dropped me off and I went in to get our name on the list. The guy told me 30 minutes or so. While we waited we sat at the bar and had a few beers. After 45 minutes I went and checked on the table. If it was going to be much longer we were going to grab a table around the bar area and just eat there. Well the guy told me there were 8 parties ahead of us. My response, "Well that estimated 30 minutes was no where close, now was it?" And I said it very politely... :) Maybe if I wasn't so tired with a belly full of beer that last statement would have been true... We grabbed a table and waited and waited for a server. After talking to two other waiters our guy finally came over and started an argument with us! Instead of asking if we had a tab at the bar he just assumed and kept walking past us. He never apologized or let it go, he just kept arguing that he had no business waiting on us. I snapped only slightly at him and suggested that since he was now clear on our status he should take our order. He did ok the rest of the night but he had to work his way up from a $0 tip.
With all our walking around I feel like I would have lost weight if it was not for all the junk and cupcakes we ate. Oh well! Maybe I will do better tomorrow... Maybe...

Coming into the city