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🇺🇸 State · United States
Pennsylvania: the steps of victory
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Pennsylvania is the cradle of the American nation. In Philadelphia, Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell bear witness to the debates that produced the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, within a walkable historic district. To the west, Pittsburgh, the former steel capital, has reinvented itself as a cultural city, with its Andy Warhol Museum and the Duquesne Incline funicular climbing to the top of Mount Washington. Between them rolls a hilly countryside: the Amish farms of Lancaster County, the chocolate works of Hershey, and the Laurel Highlands, where Frank Lloyd Wright set his Fallingwater above a waterfall. The Gettysburg battlefields, Allegheny forests, and hearty cuisine round out a journey between founding history and peaceful nature.
Rocky (1976) immortalized the 72 steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which Stallone climbs with fists raised in the iconic scene.
The Philadelphia Zoo, opened in 1874, was the first true zoo in the United States and created the nation's first children's zoo in 1938.
After the Rocky Steps, head down to the Italian Market on 9th Street, one of the oldest continuously running outdoor markets in the U.S.
Spring and autumn are the most pleasant: mild temperatures and spectacular foliage in October across the Laurel Highlands and the Allegheny. Summers are hot, winters cold and snowy, especially in the west. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are best explored on foot and by transit, but a car is needed for Lancaster County, Gettysburg, and Fallingwater (book house tours well ahead). As for connectivity, 4G/5G coverage is strong in cities and along highways, but the mountainous and forested west, along with the Amish countryside, has poorly served pockets.