O'Guinnicus.com

We took our first trip to way-east Pennsylvania yesterday when we visited Valley Forge. The visitors' center was truly amazing (they used the Mrs. Eaves font family, the same I use on the index pages of the site and on jamesonoguinn.com, extensively... I love that font), and the tour guide that we had was probably the most knowledgeable person that I've ever met on all matters Revolutionary. And he had a cool hat.

It was really cool to see such a well-kept site. There were no battles fought at Valley Forge, but it was refreshing to see a National Park and historic site that dealt with the hardships of encampment and the downtime experienced before a battle.

The park also contained the George Washington Chapel, a beautiful Methodist church with extremely intricate carvings. It was odd that I was moved to see the homage paid to Illinois' own Count Casimir Pulaski and the beautiful sites provided by the states whose militias were encamped there. The memorials and chapels were all incredible monuments to the sacrifices made by such simple men in such extraordinary circumstances.

Today we made our first of three trips to Philidelphia. We spent the morning at Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles. It was cool, our tour guide was great, but I wasn't nearly as excited as Nick was. It was like he had finally made his pilgrimage to Mecca or something. I guess it wouldn't be Mecca since we're not Muslims, but whatever.

Afterward we looked around for a place to get some Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. Megan the tour guide had told us about a place on Second and South streets, but as it turned out, we could only find one of the streets and got pissed off too soon to find the other. Instead we ate at a little pizza place that left a lot to be desired. Tomorrow we'll take Scott's advice and head to South Philly for the real deal. Luckily he'll be there to show us where it is.

We later headed over to Carpenters' Hall, where Congress first met. Next we headed to Franklin Court to see where Ben Franklin's house used to be. In its place stands a steel frame of a house and viewing ports where you can see parts of the foundation. Also in the court were a poorly-maintained National Park Service museum, Ben Franklin's post office, a room he had rented, and his grandson's newspaper.

Franklin's legacy is overwhelming in Philadelphia. It's amazing that when walking around the city, you see more space dedicated to Franklin than Washington or Adams. I guess that's what happens when you're a major city's favorite son.

But in short, I've decided that I love this city. I love it so much, in fact, that I've decided that I'm going to start looking into Temple University's Law School. I started my search by Facebook stalking my Eagles tour guide today. I would really like to live in the city and practice law here. The area is just amazing. You walk around and can just feel the history around you; you feel like a part of something bigger than yourself. It's really something to behold.

Anyway, enough of the Philadelphia tourism plug.