I finally managed to get the kids conscious and dressed, and we hit the road to Philadelphia. The first stop was the Mutter Museum, which was fascinating – the exhibit was not just human diseases and oddities, but a lot of history, some of the advances of early medicine, and the evolution of medical equipment. Since this is a Philadelphia institution, Benjamin Franklin’s contributions figured heavily. We had just gone around the center of the top level when we met a film crew from WHYY doing a piece on the museum. We’ll be on TV in about a month. Heh. As we went through the two lower level sections, it became clear that it’s hard to be grossed out by something so fascinating. Not only were the collected examples, grouped by various similarities, amazing in the way they were preserved or represented (how the specimens were created was a story in itself) but it was amazing what had been collected in the first place. Hidden under the staircase was a chest of shallow drawers filled with items that had been breathed in or swallowed by people – makes you wonder. Skeletons of human fetuses at various stages of development were somehow delicately removed and preserved to show the growth pattern and progress. Most exhibits included information about the disease, condition, and sometimes even the identity of the donors. It’s not a huge museum, but we spent over two hours there.
After lunch, we headed to Penn’s Landing. I remember when it was first unveiled – it’s suffered a bit over the years, no question. However, we did get a good look at a restored sailing ship, walked from there to the end, and then toured the Becuna (submarine) and Olympia, one of the first steel ships. These two were here at the opening, and when I went, they were packed with tourists and had plenty of guides on board. Today, we were the only ones going through them, and we had to read the displays to find out anything. Even so, it was good. We enjoyed taking our time and peeking around a little longer and closer than we’d have been able to if there were a crowd.
It was about rush hour by the time we hit the road, but even that wasn’t bad. It was humid all day, but not too hot, and it never rained. We made our own timetable, enjoyed the trip and each others’ company. Not a thing to complain about, and lots of fun – not too many days like that. Oh, and pizza for dinner. Woohoo!
