Day 179 of Firsts: Ride the Ducks in Philadelphia

Everybody's 12 years old in an apple orchard.  ~Rachael Ray, Rachael Ray Show

 

Sometimes I love being a  tourist in my own city.  Don't laugh, but I always wanted to Ride the Ducks.

I knew I'd have a tough time convincing my friends or husband to join me on this First, so I ventured out on my own and caught the 9:30 am tour at 6th and Market in Philadelphia.

Let me just say that those quacker noise makers they give you are completely obnoxious; wonderfully so. 

Our tour guide, Ken, encouraged us to quack at people as often as possible.  You'll get the gist of it from the video. 



Ken actually did tell me some things I didn't know.

1) Ben Franklin was the one who named all the streets in Philly after trees.

2) Race street used to be Sassafras Street but the name changed because the "young men liked to race their horses on the street."

3) The "Duck" vehicle we were in was actually built in 1945 by General Motors for the military to transport soldiers in and out of the water. 

Hmmm.   Definitely would recommend this tour for families with kids or people like me who just act like kids.

 UPDATE

July 8th, 2010

Yesterday a terrible accident happened when a barge rammed into  a Ride the Ducks tour boat on the Delaware River.  35 people were rescued after being thrown into the water. Two are still missing. I'm on vacation this week but my co-worker Harry Hairston at NBC10 is investigating the accident, the history of Ride the Ducks, the city owned barge, maintenance  and safety records.  

Anyone who has ever been on the tour as I was just over a week ago can just imagine the horror of this.  There are many questions that have to be answered.  If you have information you want to share please feel free to reach out to me. 

Ride the Ducks has suspended all of their tour operations throughout the country until further notice.