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Source: The Philadelphia InquirerOct.mini storage 17--Independence Hall and Valley Forge National Park reopened Thursday as furloughed federal workers returned to work following a 16-day partial shutdown of the U.S. government.Besides national park workers, thousand of other federal employees who live in the Philadelphia area and were furloughed during the partial government shutdown were checking to see if they would return to work Thursday or Friday.Valley Forge signaled the end of the shutdown with an electric sign saying "Welcome Back!!!!"At Independence Hall National Park, the landmark building and the Liberty Bell were to resume public tours around noon after workers made safety inspections.The Independence Mall Visitors Center opened earlier.The two national parks had been closed for more than two weeks as Congress wrangled over the budget and raising the federal debt limit.At Valley Forge, National Park workers Jeff Henry and Fred DellAngelo spent early Thursday morning removing about 40 barriers and collecting 200 traffic cones to open up the park to visitors.They were met with "a lot of people beeping, waving, and thumbs up," said Henry. "They are glad we are back."The park opened its trails and roads at 7 a.m., he said."I'm glad to be back," said Henry. "It was a little nerve-racking having a tenuous position."The two will have their work cut out for them. There are two weeks of clear迷你倉ng leaves, cutting grass and minor repairs that need to be done to catch up."Nothing major," said DellAngelo.Some repairs will be in an administrative office where squirrels came in through the roof and "made a mess," he said. The intruders probably would not have come into a building if workers had been there.The closure of the park, a popular jogging site, prompted some protests during the shutdown.In one of the protests, several dozen runners jogged more than five miles on the roads around the park on Sunday morning in what was dubbed a "Patriot's Run."The runners were inspired after John Bell, a Chadds Ford marathoner, received a $100 ticket last week for jogging in the park during the closure."We actually felt bad having to keep people out of the park," said DellAngelo. "It wasn't our decision."About 70 full-time staff work at the park.The first group into the park consisted of 25 students and nine adults from the Lyman Gilmore Middle School in Gross Valley, Calif., who are on a tour of historic sites on the East Coast."We are incredibly happy to be able to come back to our own parks," said Scott Mills, an 8th grade teacher.The group previously visited Washington and Gettysburg, where they went around barriers to get close to the sites.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Philadelphia Inquirer Visit The Philadelphia Inquirer at .philly.com Distributed by MCT Information Services文件倉