My friend is a Girl Scout troop leader and usually invites me to do the cool things with her troop. Last weekend, she invited me to go with them to Philadelphia and New Jersey for the weekend. She said the girls didn't want any of their mothers to come so they told her to bring me (because I'm cool like that- haha)
Anyway, it was a long long drive. We went to Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell, Constitution Hall, and the Mutter Museum. On the way to see the bell, everyone decided they wanted to take a horse and carriage ride and have a mini tour of the area. I didn't realize how historic that area was. Really neat stories! And we decided to skip Consitution Hall, but I forgot why.
Then we stood in line to see the bell. They practically strip search you before they let you in. I had a Sprite with me and the guard made me drink some to make sure it wasn't acid. Anyway, it wasn't too much of a big deal, I was just surprised for some reason. So we saw the bell, then off to the Mutter Museum.
The Mutter Museum is a medical museum. (I stole this part from wikipedia:) It contains a collection of medical oddities, anatomical and pathological specimens, wax models, and antique medical equipment. The museum is located at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The original purpose of the collection, donated by doctor Thomas Dent Mütter in 1858, was medical research and education.
The museum is best known for its large collection of skulls and anatomical specimens including a wax model of a woman with a human horn growing out of her forehead, the tallest skeleton on display in North America, a nine-foot-long human colon that contained over 40 pounds of fecal matter, and the petrified body of the mysterious Soap Lady, whose corpse was turned into a soapy substance called adipocere. Many wax models from the early 19th century are on display as are numerous preserved organs and body parts. The museum also hosts a collection of teratological specimens (preserved human fetal specimens), a malignant tumor removed from President Grover Cleveland's hard palate, the conjoined liver from the famous Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker, and a growth removed from President Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth.
Yeah... like the sign says, "Disturbingly Informative". I was the one who suggested we go there because I had heard about it on TV. No pictures were allowed in the museum.
Then we headed to the USS New Jersey.(Ok, I stole this part too)
The Battleship New Jersey, our nation's most decorated battleship, is an 887-foot long, 45,000-ton living window on the most important half-century in U.S. history.
Students of all ages will walk up the gangway and experience the Big J's size-nearly three football fields long. And they can:
Take a look inside the ship's legendary 16-inch gun turrets.
Visit the Bridge, Communications, Captain's and Admiral's Cabins, and Officer's Wardroom.
Learn about the role the "Black Dragon" played in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf.
Climb up and down the companionways.
Examine the lockers that had to hold all of a sailor's personal belongings.
Check out the enlisted men's bunks.
We slept there that night in the men's bunk area with what seemed like a million other girl scouts. I guess what I'm really trying to say is we didn't get much sleep at all because of this one troop. The mothers were the ones who wouldn't shut it, and Connie went over there and politely told them to shut their traps, but it didn't work. Ugh. I think we finally fell asleep around 1230 or 1am and they called revelry at 7am. Anyway, we went on a tour of the different areas of the ship, which was very interesting. They have a post office, barber shop, dentist, even a jail on the ship. The next morning we were able to listen to Bonnie Selb, who was a code breaker in WWII and helped us win the war. That was really interesting. She was a cute old lady.
Bonnie Selb:
I was very tired when we got home, but I am very grateful for being invited to go on the trip!
