The Best (and worst) of the East Coast

By Benjamin Minch, Staff Writer

Upon a recent return from exploring the entirety of the East Coast, I realized just how much google doesn’t tell you about all of the sites. Reading endless reviews trying to see if a museum or sight is worth it can be a hassle and people establish firm biases, some without even having seen the actual thing. In this article I will cover all the sights and museums I have seen (there is a lot of them) in Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington D.C, in order that one may get an honest opinion from some adventurous kid who has been to all three places.

Philadelphia: City of very good cheesesteaks and history

Franklin Institute

The Franklin Institute is a marvelous science museum with probably the most interactive exhibits out of any museum I have visited. There is also a very nice statue of Ben in the lobby. The one problem with this place is the price: nearly $30 for a ticket. I did not know this when I happened to wander in here and since the ticket booth is near the back, I ended up going through the entire museum without paying.

Score: 8/10

Philadelphia Art Museum (Steps)

If you are fond of the movie “Rocky”, then these stairs and the Rocky statue are for you. There are a bunch of tourists that vlog themselves climbing the historic stairs that Rocky climbed in the movie, but it honestly didn’t make me feel like much of a champion.

Score: 3/10

Independence Hall

This is where the United States began and Independence Hall is the greatest place to see everything relating to George Washington and others. You can sit in the official room where the declaration of independence was signed and it is really cool… and free which is even better. The only catch is that you have to get tickets early in the morning to guarantee a spot.

Score: 8/10

The famous Love sculpture

I am actually surprised that there are long lines that line up to take pictures in front of this sculpture at every hour of the day. It is as though these people never leave. It is honestly not worth it unless you care about a trendy picture in front of a kinda generic looking sculpture.

Score: 4/10

The Federal Mint

This is an awesome place where you get to see how coins are made as they are still in production at this facility. It is free admission and a self-guided tour that was pretty interesting because I had just taken economics the semester before. The minting process itself is very cool, but some things are too far away from the observation deck to see.

Score: 6/10

New York City: Lot and lots of people

Empire State Building

The building is more visible at night than at day.

Although the Empire State Building is often hyped up as a must-see place in NYC, it isn’t all as it seems. This building has turned into a huge tourist trap over the years and this is seen with the absurd price of $40 to go up an elevator 80 floors. There is a problem when this elevator ride costs two times more than a 45 minute boat ride to the statue of liberty and Ellis Island. There are plenty more tall buildings you can take pictures off of.

Score: 2/10

Statue of Liberty

Sometimes you get unlucky and can barely see it.

The boat ride and the actual statue of liberty is really cool and definitely worth the $18 trip. This is a sight that you must see in person and the accompanying trip to Ellis island where you can find your ancestors who came to America is very exciting. The weather however, does affect this experience as it was super foggy when I went.

Score: 7/10

American Natural History Museum

One of the many dinosaurs at this excellent museum.This museum is quite amazing and even has some better exhibits than the Smithsonian Natural History museum. The biodiversity and ocean life exhibits are stunning and I have never seen so many animals in one place. This museum also has pay-what-you-wish admission which is great because it ensures you pay what you can to enter this marvelous museum.

Score: 9/10

Central Park

The fountains are huge and very aesthetically pleasing due to their perfect symmetry. It is powerful to observe these memorials thinking that buildings used to be there.

Score: 7/10

Washington D.C: A lot of walking and free stuff

Monuments

The national mall area of D.C. is fantastic if you are willing to walk a really long distance. Everything seems closer than it really is because the buildings are so huge, but the monuments can be up to 2 miles apart. The Lincoln memorial and the Washington monument are the best monuments in my opinion, but all of them are worth seeing and taking pictures of.

Score: 8/10

Museum of Natural History

This may be slightly biased because of the fact that I love this kind of stuff, but this museum was the best on the trip. It was super interactive and they even had an exhibit where they let you look at thousands of fossil and animal specimens under a microscope. The animal exhibits and the live coral reef are very cool as well, making this free museum entirely worth spending many hours in.
Score: 10/10

Air and Space Museum

Another free museum that has some very interesting pieces inside such as the apollo 13 and 11, as well as a mock of the Hubble telescope and many world war 2 planes. The coolest exhibit was the one that contained the original Wright brother aircraft, followed by a telescope and remote sensing exhibit. The museum is filled with interactive material and it taught me a lot about how planes fly and the history of aircraft.

Score: 7/10

American History Museum

A great place to appreciate American History, whether it be history of food, wars or inventions. The inventions exhibit was my personal favorite because they had working, usable original macintoshes as well as models of Thomas Edison’s light bulbs. The rest of the museum was very dry (except for the batmobile if you are a batman fan) and many of the exhibits were uninteractive. It is worth the free price tag, but there are better ways to spend your time.

Score: 6/10