Some of the Joys and Sights While Traveling Through Pennsylvania

 It has been six years since my first grandson, Mateo was born. Wow, doesn’t time fly? His birthday was rapidly approaching and Ann Marie and I were going across the state for the party.

    This would provide us with the opportunity to do some exploring. We had a long drive and so, we may as well enjoy the sights and scenery as we went. The planning started a couple weeks beforehand. I looked for accommodations, places to eat and interesting places to stop along the way.

    We left Pittsburgh on Thursday morning. I loaded the car as the sun rose above the trees. We headed east on rt.22. The sky was hazy and the sun soon disappeared from sight. This may have been because of the wildfires in Canada. Still, the weather was nice and we enjoyed the breeze coming through our open windows.

    After our normal stop for coffee and a snack, we turned south on rt.53 for a visit at the Cassandra Railroad Overlook. When the highway was rerouted in 1936, this bridge was bypassed and a foot bridge was placed here for railfans. Railfans from around the country come to watch trains from this bridge. To the SW there is a long straight away of about 2.5 miles, all uphill. On the other side of the bridge, the rails curve to the left and continue on to the tunnels in Gallitzen and then down to the famous Horseshoe Curve above the city of Altoona.

    We watched a couple long freight trains laboring up the hill, seemingly at a crawl. Shortly after, we watched the Amtrak train out of Pittsburgh fly up the hill, probably doing around 60-70 MPH, of course it was pulling only seven cars behind it.

    Our next stop was at Canoe Creek State Park where we took a short hike to view the huge limestone kilns sitting in the woods. These kilns were built in the early 1900’s to provide Pittsburgh steel mills with lime; a very important ingredient in the steel making process. They were shut down around 1915.  

    Since we were in an iron/steel state of mind, our next stop was at the Huntingdon Iron Furnace. This is a beautiful furnace; it has been cleaned up and re-pointed by its owner.  Originally built in 1796 a short distance from the present site, it was rebuilt as a larger furnace in 1805. The furnace stayed in blast until the 1880’s. The area around it is a National Historic District with a variety of original structures still standing and being used.

    We stopped for lunch at Diner 22, about 9 miles west of Huntingdon. This was originally built as a Mail Car for the East Broad Top Railroad in 1919. It was moved to its present location in 1946. The outside doesn’t look like a railcar but it sure does inside. Like most diners we have visited, we were served a good meal by a nice friendly waitress. While we were there, I had a serving of scrapple, a true Pennsylvanian delicacy! We always make an effort to stop at these places when passing by.

    We checked into our motel in Huntingdon, the county seat of Huntingdon County and then went out to explore the area. We visited the library and walked through the town and then went to visit Raystown Lake, the largest lake that is entirely in Pennsylvania, the lake is about 32 miles long! We also did a couple geocaches while we were in the area, of course…  

    We drove up to an overlook to watch the sun set but the overcast skies hid most of it from us.

   The next morning, Friday, we continued our drive east. Whenever the opportunity presented itself we would drive through the towns and avoid the by-passes. Nearing Harrisburg, we ran into a major accident and had to turn around. Unlike the other drivers who were late for work or appointments, or possibly afraid to head out on their own, we headed north rather than follow the posted detour.  We were treated to a nice easy ride through neat, tidy farms and little communities. We enjoyed the views as the road climbed hills and twisted through the valleys.

    When we encountered the Susquehanna River we took rt.15 through Duncannon, an Appalachian Trail town and down through Marysville.  Here we watched a couple trains cross the Rockville Railroad Bridge. According to “some sources” this is the longest stone masonry arch railroad bridge in the world.

    We then stopped at Cupboard Maker Books, situated across the street from the Norfolk and Southern Enola Railroad Yards. This book store is a great place to browse, you never know what you might find here! The front is painted with the spines of various books, just to let you know what’s inside. Filled with new and used books, it also has a variety of cats which are happy to be petted while you visit. We ended up spending about an hour here…just enjoying scanning the shelves and seeing what we could find.

    Our accommodations for the next two nights were in Quakertown. A nice small town with a major highway slipping past a few mile away, the town is nice compared to the shopping centers and car dealerships that line the busy highway. We found a nice Mexican Diner for our breakfast the next morning before we went partying with the family.

    Saturday was spent with the family and friends celebrating Mateo’s birthday. I watched a couple hot air balloons taking off in the morning when I went out searching for coffee. Once again, you never know what you might run into as you’re driving through the countryside! The birthday party was loud and fun, there’s nothing like a party filled with children. Both of us slept well that night!

    After Mass on Sunday morning, we returned for a short visit with the family before leaving. This time, we headed north towards Scranton where we visited the Scranton Iron Furnaces. This group of four furnaces was built between the years of 1848 and 1857. The company produced iron here until 1902 when they dismantled the plant and moved it to Lackawanna, NY, where better ore could be found.

    We stopped for a quick look at the steam engines at the Steamtown National Historic Site. Being veracious readers, Ann Marie and I couldn’t help but like this Reading locomotive!

    We took another break on our journey in Ricketts Glen State Park where we took a short hike down to visit one of the numerous waterfalls in the park. It wasn’t quite as exciting as when we were here last, there wasn’t as much water flowing.

    Eventually we ended up in Towanda. Here we stopped at the Red Rose Diner for some dinner before checking into our motel. There are only three of these diners built by this company still standing. These diners weren’t built as rail cars; they were built to be diners. It is in beautiful shape! Our waitress, Becky was a font of information about Towanda history. We had a pleasant talk with her while our dinners were being made. The town has a quite nice collection of well kept homes along the main street.

    On Monday morning, we stopped at a local coffee house to fuel up and headed back towards the east on rt. 6. We followed the moon as it slowly dropped down to the horizon. This is a very pleasant road to drive on; we hardly encountered any traffic, we passed through lots of small communities, past farms, little businesses and lots of ponds and lakes reflecting the blue sky and the buildings beyond them. None of the haze that was present at the beginning of the trip was evident, just blue skies with puffy white clouds, perfect!

    We arrived back in Pittsburgh around 3:30. We enjoyed the trip tremendously, but we were both happy to be back at our homes. Driving through the smaller towns on the back roads, often introduce you to people who are happy to talk with a stranger. They are more than happy to tell you about their towns and histories. I feel as if we get more smiles as compared to when you stop at high flow businesses where you are “just another face”. The small diners and coffee shops are usually employed by friendly people that are happy that you stopped in, and these are the people I tend to remember.

    We had a wonderful time visiting with the family. We met a lot of nice Pennsylvanians, the weather couldn’t have been better and we found another 19 geocaches on our way. The best part of the trip was that I had such a nice companion along with me; believe me, that sure makes a difference!

    I believe I’ve said this before, no matter how fun the trip is, it is great coming back to your old familiar bed! Like so many quests and adventures go, returning home is often the best part!