Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

This past weekend, we were supposed to go to New Jersey with my family and head into New York for the day.  We were planning to spend Friday in Harrisburg at the state capitol before going to New Jersey.  However, the wind and rain changed our plans.  What do you do when it is 50 degree and rainy Saturday?  We decided to go reschedule our capitol tour for Saturday. There were two very obvious things that we noticed on our tour. 1. Pennsylvania was really prosperous back in 1906 with oil, coal, steel, and manufacturing.  The marble, granite, mahogany, paintings, and other furnishings were obviously the best.  (Compare that to today when our next budget has a gap of $3 BILLION.  Yikes.) 2.  Religion played a huge part in the influence of government in 1906.  Religious quotes, scripture, and paintings are all through the capital building.  There is no doubt that religion formed the basis of government and thought. The view in the rot...

Way back on Christmas vacation, we took a day to visit Pittsburgh and the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.  This was one of the Christmas presents we gave to the kids.  We had heard rave reviews of the museum, so we wanted to check it out.  It was well worth the long drive!  "Experience" presents are awesome. The kids were really excited and fascinated to go through a tunnel, enter the city, and go over bridges.  And, we did end crossing all three rivers while we were there. There were a lot of fun things to do.  Unfortunately, there were A LOT of other people at the museum on this day, too.  The kids had heard about the gravity room on the internet.  So, we had to go there first.  It was a narrow room that had flooring that was tilted a little.  It really did throw off your balance!  That was a favorite. Next, we went to the garage room. This room ended up being a favorite, too-- in the afternoon as most people were leav...

While the Platts were visiting us, Colleen, Scott, and I took a day trip to Gettysburg .  First we went  to the visitors center to get our National Park Passport stamps, see the "Battle of Gettysburg" Cyclorama, watch the film, "We are Met on a Great Battlefield", and walk through the Gettysburg Museum of the American Civil War. The last time I went to Gettysburg, I did not get to see Soldiers' National Cemetery because 1. It was raining, 2. Natalee was 15 months old and sleeping in the car, and 3. they were closing the gates for the evening. Soldiers' National Cemetery Then, we started the self-guided auto tour. The McPherson Barn, where the Confederates converged upon Gettysburg. The Eternal Light Peace Memorial Hmmm.... there seems to be an extra soldier at the Virginia Memorial. Colleen and Scott in one of the 3 observation towers I "made" them go up. Colleen, Scott and I on the rocks at Little Round Top You can s...

Today, we went to the Johnstown Flood Memorial to take advantage of the national park free entry day.  (It was a free entry day for all National Parks) We learned some interesting things at the memorial today.  I remember learning about the flood in school during Pennsylvania History, but that was so long ago.  It would be nice to go back sometime when there is not any snow on the ground so that we can explore some of the trails around (bike to the Staple Bend Tunnel) and enjoy a picnic.  Additionally, it would be nice to see the Sportsman's Clubhouse. Looking toward what remains of the dam. This building was built by the Pennsylvania Canal for the person that maintained the dam.  Later, this property and Lake Conemaugh were sold to a group of wealthy Pittsburghers-- including Andrew Carnegie and Andrew Mellon.  The flood occurred 10 years after these guys took over the dam. Panorama of the former Lake Conemaugh lake bed.  I was standin...

By looking at the last few posts, it appears like all we do is ride sleds!  Not quite true, but we have been out there a lot.  When we went outside this morning, the upper part of our hill did not have any snow on it anymore :(  However, we still managed to sled ride down the lower part.  At one point, all three of us were on the same saucer sled at the same time.  That was kind of funny!  Then, Natalee decided she would pull Brady DOWN the hill.  This was quite funny to observe because I thought the sled might run her over.  But, she did well by running really quickly and allowing the saucer to go by her toward the bottom of the hill.  Both kids enjoyed the rides immensely. We'll see what tomorrow brings.  Supposedly some more snow is on its way.  We need some more snow to cover the top of our sled run!

Today, Jesse took the day off of work (his "birthday day" off.... a little belated) and we took a little family outing to Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark near Altoona. This was our back up since we could not go camping. ** This new museum and gift shop opened in 1992 thanks to John Murtha and Bud Shuster -- two of the biggest porkers in Central PA history. Thank you, gentlemen! It was hard to take a picture of the curve because we were in the middle of the horseshoe shape. Here, you can see the ridges on either side of the "horseshoe": When they built this portion of the Pennsylvania Railroad, it was considered the 8th wonder of the modern world. Looking toward one ridge: And, then to the other ridge: Unfortunately, only one really long train and one train engine passed us. We were up there for 1 1/2 hours. We had a picnic lunch on a picnic table under one of the trees. One of the workers said that normally trains pass every 15-20 minutes. Traf...

Doesn't this look good? Salads are one of the great things about summer. Fresh local veggies-- butter lettuce, spinach, radishes, hard-boiled eggs, sweet peas, broccoli, cauliflower. I forgot to put on the tomato. I did use non-local carrots and I supported Sandpoint, Idaho, for the dressing. Great lunch with a piece of homemade bread from the Amish lady in Rockville. Fresh strawberries for dessert. The benefits of living in an agrarian environment. Eat local-- it tastes GREAT and is good for YOU.