Scenes From the Road- Philadelphia

The View accompanied the Predators on their recent road trip to Philadelphia. Here are some scenes from the trip:

Being a bit of a history geek, Philadelphia was a treat to tour around. This is Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Notice the scaffolding around the tower. There was major repair work occurring on the structure, but you could still go inside.

The Liberty Bell

We had a very gracious hostess and tour guide, Jen Conway, who is an intern for the Flyers. She is on twitter @nhlhistorygirl. Jen is left front. Beside her is Shelby Blake. The back row- full of handsome guys- includes: The View; Bob Kohl, Emmy Award winning Producer of the Predators television broadcasts; Mark Blake, my hockey friend that has traveled to numerous arenas with me; and David Raynack of the Predators broadcast production crew.

One of the 26 remaining copies of the Declaration of Independence. The original signed copy is on display in Washington, but this is one of the copies produced for distribution to the colonies.

This is one of the copies of the Constitution that was delivered to the colonies.

The first House Chamber of the United States.

The first Senate chamber of the United States. This is the room where George Washington was sworn in as President for his second term.

The grave of Benjamin Franklin.

The home of Betsy Ross.

Historic Christ Church, built in 1735. Christ Church served as the de facto National Cathedral early in the history of our nation. Many of our nation's leaders attended Christ Church.

The interior of Christ Church. The pews are numbered, and George Washington and his family sat in pew number 58, on the left near the column.

Numerous historical figures are buried inside the church. This is the grave of John Penn, whom as the marker indicates was "one of the late proprietaries of Pennsylvania."

The massive pipe organ in Christ Church.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art. These are the famous "Rocky" steps that Sylvester Stallone's character ran up while training for his fight in the first Rocky movie.

The famous Rocky statue and the View. The statue is the one on the left.

The Philadelphia skyline from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

On the other side of the parking lot from the Wells Fargo Center is the skeleton of the old Philadelphia Spectrum, the home of the Flyers during their Broad Street Bullies days. Demolition has been stopped on the Spectrum, leaving this shell. The building cannot be imploded because of the proximity of the subway tunnels. It is difficult to see, but the original scoreboard still hangs from its supports in the middle of the arena.

The championship banners and retired numbers in the Wells Fargo Center.

The Wells Fargo Center.

This is a picture of the Flyers 1975 Stanley Cup Championship team that is displayed on the concourse of the Arena. Our very own Terry Crisp is on the second row, second from the right, wearing the "A".

Flyer legend Bobby Clarke was honored in a pre-game ceremony with his retired number banner being hung from the rafters.

Bobby Clarke with his grandson, who skated the banner out to him at center ice.

The trip to Philadelphia was a great one, except for the outcome of the game. There were a surprising number of Predators fans that were there- I counted at least 30 jerseys at the pre-skate. It was a pleasure to meet some of the fathers and have a chance to visit with them. The players certainly enjoy having their fathers accompany them, and the Predators do a great job of making it a memorable experience.