Farewell USA.

Following what seemed like months of very hot weather we have now moved into wet and windy conditions. Our last night in Niagara Falls saw severe electrical and thunder storms. On departing the next morning for Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, we encountered light rain, a pleasant change for the first couple of hours, then the skies cleared as we moved south resulting in a very pleasant day for the long drive ahead. Around 6pm arrived in the outer area of Philadelphia and eventually located a motel for the night. More rain overnight, then another pleasant day for sightseeing in the historic area. This is where the American Independance document was signed in 1778. It is also the home of the "Liberty Bell" which is installed in a central building, within the Independance Centre. The very comprehensive Visitors Centre houses a number of static displays, tracing the history of battle for independance and the history and significance of the Liberty Bell. We saw a most interesting m!
ovie in the theatrette which reanacted the uniting of the states and the breakaway from Britian. As we are returning our Avis rental car to the Philadelphia International airport prior to departure for Ireland, we thought it wise to allow plenty of time to (a) find the airport and (b) locate the rental return area, still leaving enough time for check-in procedures which can take up to 3 hours. How fortunate that we allowed this extra time - the heavens opened up as we drove to the airport, so severe that traffic came to a standstill. Not knowing the route we decided to pull over with hazard lights flashing and wait out the torrential downpour. Upon arrival at the huge Avis check-in facility, the skies opened again just as we were about to unload our luggage. Another sit and wait, then we were transferred to the US Airlines International terminal in a bus. Luggage check-in went without a hitch, but we then had a 2 hour wait till boarding. The horrific storm that hit this ar!
ea have apparently been widespread, consequently air traffic has been
thrown into chaos. Our 2 hour wait has now been extended to a 4 hour wait. As I write this we are anticipating our boarding call in 10-15 minutes, the depature rescheduled to 11:30pm. Oh well we should get a good nights sleep. See you soon.

Kevin & Gail.
www.alaska-2006.blogspot.com

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