Where can you travel with your family and learn about our great nation? I went to college at the University of Pennsylvania and for four years Philadelphia was my home. I made the best friends and want to share my favorite things about this incredible city, the City of Brotherly Love.

Where can you learn about an amazing woman who helped create the United States? At the Betsy Ross House, see the upholstery shop where Betsy Ross sewed the Stars and Stripes to make the very first flag for the USA. George Washington asked for her help and she said YES!

Want to know what makes America GREAT? The constitution. Learn more at the National Constitution Center which opened July 4, 2003. This is the world’s only museum dedicated to one of our nation's greatest documents, the U.S. Constitution. Walk through the exhibits to learn about citizenship and why the U.S. Constitution is as important today as it was over 200 years ago.

In Signers' Hall, you can literally walk among the 42 life size bronze statues of our Founding Fathers. There are the 39 signers and the 3 dissenters. Who do you want to stand next to? Feel like you were there at the moment when they signed on September 17, 1787 and created a government ruled by “We the People.

Make sure to experience Freedom Rising which Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor called “the best 17-minute civics lesson in the country."

At the Museum of the American Revolution, see the headquarters tent of George Washington – our very first president! It served as his command center throughout most of the Revolutionary War and is one of the most iconic surviving artifacts of the Revolution. The Museum is located just two blocks from Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, in the heart of historic Philadelphia which is the most historic mile in the entire United States.

Visit my University campus and be among the first at the Penn Museum’s newly restored Mexico & Central American Gallery and Africa Galleries with new interpretive displays and see the famed Sphinx of Ramses II as you enter. Explore the past in the engaging rooms of this archaeology and anthropology museum.

Eric Carle Exhibit, Photo by Kristi Jan Hoover

Children always love the Please Touch Museum! Right now they have a special exhibit from the prolific children’s author-illustrator of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Very Lonely Firefly, Very Quiet Cricket. Your littlest readers can immerse themselves in Very Eric Carle: A Very Hungry, Quiet, Lonely, Clumsy, Busy Exhibit.

Benjamin Franklin was a founding father of our country and my University (1749)! He was an inventor and great thinker. He even created the public library system! At The Franklin Institute, you can learn to handle unexpected situations at The Worst-Case Scenario: Survival Experience. Did you love the Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook? It has sold 10 million copies! Through interactive scenarios, you'll discover how to survive an avalanche and safely leap from a moving train and even learn more about real worst-case survival success stories.

The view from Assembly Rooftop Lounge at The Logan Philadelphia, Curio Collection by Hilton

Where to Stay in Philadelphia?

I loved staying at The Logan Philadelphia located on Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, at Logan Square. I always enjoy Hilton Honors perks like breakfast and wi-fi and at this property the view from Assembly Rooftop Lounge was spectacular.

I discovered the colorful Kimpton Hotel Monaco on HotelTonight. It is so bright and full of life I felt like I was staying in a painting. It is literally steps from the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and the National Constitution Center. You are sleeping in the most historic square mile in the country!