To be honest, I didn’t love any of the doormats To be honest, I didn’t love any of the doormats at Hobby Lobby, but it was hard to resist the 75% off price tag. You can’t beat it for five bucks, and it turned out to be just the bit of extra sunshine I needed. Sometimes you don’t know what you need and it finds you anyway. 💛
Having Leo is like the newborn stage all over agai Having Leo is like the newborn stage all over again. He falls asleep on top of me and then I feel bad waking him up if I have to get up. 😂
My oldest is working today at a food truck festiva My oldest is working today at a food truck festival that a friend runs so we popped in for a quick visit to support both of them, and of course we can’t leave without the amazing Crab Poutine Fries from @angry_archies! The @justjerseyfest is on Main Street in Chester until 7 pm - stop by and strap a feed bag on! Bring a blanket and listen to the live music while you’re there - it’s perfect festival weather. ☀️
Happy Friday, friends, cheers to the weekend! See Happy Friday, friends, cheers to the weekend! See also: I was influenced by an IG ad and I’m ok with that. ✨
This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday come This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday comes as we wrap up family summer birthdays so she is included too. 🥰 She loves lululemon, fountain Coke, and long hugs. She is a fiercely loyal friend, is the best debater I know, and sleeps later than I ever did when I was a teenager. 😂 She is quiet and loud all at once and is forever the biggest cheerleader her brother and I could ever have. My rainbow baby is growing up before my eyes and I love it and hate it all at once. Love you to the moon and back kiddo. 💛
“Everything good, everything magical happens bet “Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August." Jenny Han
The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a ho The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a hot minute but when it starts showing off at sunset, how could I move it anywhere else? ✨
Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Ba Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” just run through your head or are you young? 😂 I despise Parkway traffic in the summer but love that our kids get to have a Jersey shore summer just like we did when we were their age. 💛
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Visit: Eastern State Penitentiary (Philadelphia, PA}

June 24, 2019 · Narrative

Looking for a little day trip adventure and something a little different? Let’s visit the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia!

Eastern State Penitentiary

I have a running list on my phone to refer to any time we have a free afternoon, weekend, fill in the blank. I add to it as I find things. Some of the items on the list are free and local. Some are a bit of a drive. Just a hodge podge so that when we are looking for something to do, I have a list to refer to easily, instead of wasting time trying to find something to do. The Eastern State Penitentiary has been on the list for a few years, and we were finally able to cross it off. My kids and I like to do off-the-beaten path stuff, mixed in with straight up touristy stuff, and this certainly fit the bill.

I put the address in my Waze app and away we went. It was about an hour and a half drive for us, and very easy to find. There is an adjacent parking lot, with plenty of space. The admission to the Penitentiary is inexpensive, and you can save a few bucks if you purchase your tickets ahead of time online, like we did.

The prison was operational from 1829 through 1971, and it now operates as a charitable non-profit organization and is a National US Historic Landmark. It seriously oozes history around every corner. It was once the largest and most expensive prison in the United States and even housed many “celebrity” criminals, including Al Capone (his cell block is pictured below). This particular prison was said to be the model for 300+ prisons that were erected after it. Unlike many other prisons, each of the cells here had its own faucet and flush toilet, which was controlled remotely by the guards. The prison design changed a bit while it was being built because it became very overcrowded very quickly. The original design called for seven one-story cell blocks, but halfway through, it was already past capacity, and second floors started being added. In the early 1920s, there was even an actual dog sentenced to prison for allegedly the Pennsylvania Governor’s wife’s cat!

Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State Penitentiary

My kids kept yelling at me because I kept stopping to take pictures. Even in its decay, the place was a photographers’ dream … in fact, it was probably more entrancing to me because it was in such decay. You know, beauty in the everyday and all that. Nick even submitted one of the photos he took that day for a class assignment – something I didn’t realize until the project came home. I loved seeing that – it was kind of like a quiet thumbs up from him that I do take them to interesting places.

Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State Penitentiary

The Penitentiary is open year ’round to the public, and you can do a tour with a guide or a self-guided tour with headphones (the latter is what we opted for). You can tour many of the cell blocks, including a few that were earmarked for solitary confinement, and the prison courtyard. During the year, there are also various events and exhibits as well, including a Haunted Halloween event (check their Events page for more details on what’s coming up). Over 220,000 people visit the Penitentiary every year!

Eastern State Penitentiary

Eastern State Penitentiary
2027 Fairmount Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19130
215-236-3300

Hungry for more to do in Philadelphia?
Visit the famous Rocky Steps.
If you like oysters, the Oyster House is a must visit.
The Magic Gardens was a fun, quirky little stop and I can’t wait to take my kids there.
The Philadelphia Zoo is one of our favorite zoos, so much beauty around every corner.
And, of course, the Liberty Bell.
And if you make a weekend out of it, you can find a few more Philly places to visit on my dedicated Pennsylvania board right here, and other tri-state area stops here.

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Posted In: Narrative · Tagged: Al Capone, day trip, Eastern State Penitentiary, kid-friendly, Philadelphia, things to do

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To be honest, I didn’t love any of the doormats To be honest, I didn’t love any of the doormats at Hobby Lobby, but it was hard to resist the 75% off price tag. You can’t beat it for five bucks, and it turned out to be just the bit of extra sunshine I needed. Sometimes you don’t know what you need and it finds you anyway. 💛
Having Leo is like the newborn stage all over agai Having Leo is like the newborn stage all over again. He falls asleep on top of me and then I feel bad waking him up if I have to get up. 😂
My oldest is working today at a food truck festiva My oldest is working today at a food truck festival that a friend runs so we popped in for a quick visit to support both of them, and of course we can’t leave without the amazing Crab Poutine Fries from @angry_archies! The @justjerseyfest is on Main Street in Chester until 7 pm - stop by and strap a feed bag on! Bring a blanket and listen to the live music while you’re there - it’s perfect festival weather. ☀️
Happy Friday, friends, cheers to the weekend! See Happy Friday, friends, cheers to the weekend! See also: I was influenced by an IG ad and I’m ok with that. ✨

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To be honest, I didn’t love any of the doormats To be honest, I didn’t love any of the doormats at Hobby Lobby, but it was hard to resist the 75% off price tag. You can’t beat it for five bucks, and it turned out to be just the bit of extra sunshine I needed. Sometimes you don’t know what you need and it finds you anyway. 💛
Having Leo is like the newborn stage all over agai Having Leo is like the newborn stage all over again. He falls asleep on top of me and then I feel bad waking him up if I have to get up. 😂
My oldest is working today at a food truck festiva My oldest is working today at a food truck festival that a friend runs so we popped in for a quick visit to support both of them, and of course we can’t leave without the amazing Crab Poutine Fries from @angry_archies! The @justjerseyfest is on Main Street in Chester until 7 pm - stop by and strap a feed bag on! Bring a blanket and listen to the live music while you’re there - it’s perfect festival weather. ☀️
Happy Friday, friends, cheers to the weekend! See Happy Friday, friends, cheers to the weekend! See also: I was influenced by an IG ad and I’m ok with that. ✨
This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday come This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday comes as we wrap up family summer birthdays so she is included too. 🥰 She loves lululemon, fountain Coke, and long hugs. She is a fiercely loyal friend, is the best debater I know, and sleeps later than I ever did when I was a teenager. 😂 She is quiet and loud all at once and is forever the biggest cheerleader her brother and I could ever have. My rainbow baby is growing up before my eyes and I love it and hate it all at once. Love you to the moon and back kiddo. 💛
“Everything good, everything magical happens bet “Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August." Jenny Han
The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a ho The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a hot minute but when it starts showing off at sunset, how could I move it anywhere else? ✨
Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Ba Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” just run through your head or are you young? 😂 I despise Parkway traffic in the summer but love that our kids get to have a Jersey shore summer just like we did when we were their age. 💛

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