"Today is a Good Day to Drive!" .....Van-Go

We have a membership to the Gladyes Porter Zoo in Brownsville, TX which lets us also go to other zoos around the country including the Pittsburgh Zoo. While we have been in Pittsburgh we have gone several times. Today the Snow Lepard was pasing along the window and stopped to examine Kathy sitting close to that window. He was very curious, but also tring to act as though he was not. Several White-tail deer are kept in a pen you can walk through. They were hurt and can not return to the wild and are somewhat tame and adjusted to humans. This guy was on the walk where you are permitted to pet them. He licked all the salt off Will's hand then moved on. We tried Dots. They are tiny balls of ice cream. The flavor just explodes in your mouth! Check the Photo Gallery for more zoo pictures.

It was a grey rainy day so we decided to go to the Carnegie Science Center for the day. It was great we saw the Omimax movie, Roar, about the lions of Africa. Then we went aboard the submarine and explored all through it. Will saw the clocks like the ones he use to have to set for each watch and showed Kathy how he did them. We spent time walking around the train exhibit, trying our hand at magic and then went over to the new building where they have all the sports exhibits. It was a fun day. We ended the day playing a little trivia at Buffalo Wildwings.

It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony at Green Gables in Jennerstown, PA. The ceremony not only united Sueann and Don, but their families as well. They had their children surround them during the ceremony and family and friends sat spell bound in this fairytale moment. See more pictures in the Photo Gallery

Kathy's sister, Sueann, is being married tomorrow here at Green Gables in Jennerstown, PA. Today she and Don have both of their families with them preparing. Tomorrow we will be joining them for an outide service, lunch, a trip to a winery then back to their house, Sueann's old house, for some quiet time. The happy couple will be departing for their honeymoon in Rome, Chechenia and Italy on Sunday. We are excited to visit with Forrest& Crystal, Jen& Troy, Jill, Nate, Stella and baby Silas, and all the guests.

Each day we have several hummingbirds, at least three, that come to the feeder on the front porch at Jayne's. Today, just after Jayne and Kathy washed the roadtrek, the male came along for a little nurishment.

Kathy and her sisters baked a dozen different kinds of cookies including Italian wedding cookies for their sister, Sueann's happy day coming next weekend.

Kathy met her friend Sandy for a birthday lunch. They met at Jimmy G's in Sharpsburgh and were joined by some other fellow retirees. Kathy was pleasently pleased to see Brian and his wife Marge, Kelly, a fellow traveler, Ray, looking forward to a trip to HongKong, Dee, and Nancy. Kathy had taught with each of them. Everyone spoke of enjoying the retirement years, discussed the best plans once medicare kicks in, and passed around photos. Sandy gave Kathy their traditional gift: chocolate syrup. Back at Jaynes we had a surprize visit from Jack and Barb; we had not seen them since after Flo's funeral. They are both looking good and we had a nice chat.

We arrived in Greensburg and made our way to the train station. It is a beautiful building with a clock tower. Greg, a staff member helped us figure out where to park. There is meter parking out front and we put in $5 worth of quarters to last the day. Greg was going to call the metermaid to wave any penalties if the train comes in late. We walked up the stps to the train platform and immediately a freight train wizzed by. We were on the wrong platform and had to walk back down the steps and up the otherside. It was not long and our train arrived on time. We boarded and were assigned seats. When we got back there someone was sleeping in that seat so we sat across the asile. The conductor came and woke her and filled tha seat with someone else. Then he gave us our tickets based on our on line reservation. We headed east bound to Altoona. Right outside Greensburg the train stopped on a siding to check safty switches. A frieght train passed going westbound. Our first stop was in Latrobe,

We were just about five minutes from Forest River where Maria and Cliff keep their boat so we called them and said to get on over after work because we were taking their boat out! We told them we caught a big river salmon for dinner too! It was a good evening. Cliff puttered us over to a shady spot and we made dinner: salmon and broccoli. After we cleaned up that mess, an easy task of tossing paper plates into a trashbag, Cliff took us up river to the #5 lock. We had just walked along there! The water was shallow and he had to really watch to stay in the channel going up the little side river. We went up just a mile or so and turned around. Getting back into the main river was tricky. Cliff kept up far to the right hoping to stay in the unmarked channel. Kathy watched as the depth finder went from 7-feet down to flashing. We were grounded on a sandbar. Cliff's fast thinking had shut down the propeller. He and Will got out long telescoping sticks and tried to push us off the bar. We

Aboard the Great Escape

August 15, 2006 We climbed aboard the Kiski Junction Railroad for a one hour scenic ride on this real working shortline in Schenley, Armstrong County in southwest Pennyslvania. We traveled along the Kiski and Allegheny Rivers right over the former Pennyslvania main Line Canal. We arrived at the former town of Bagdad, now home to Allegheny Ludlum Specialty Silicon Steel Plant, the freight customer of the train. We pulled up to the plant and collected two rail cars full of recyclable steel and hauled them back to be picked up by another trail. There was a narrator on board that told of local history and lore. The views of the rivers were spectacular and we saw first hand how railroad work today. Volunteer Bob was our personal guide; he was the man in the back car with us. He reported on track conditions to the engineer in front via walkie talkie. It was a great experience!!

August 14 audio test

Kathy celebrated her "speed limit" birthday today. She made pancakes for breakfast. Then she felt like cleaning so washed down the kitchen cupboards and scrubbed the kitchen floor. Will ran the sweeper. We watched glimpses of Good Morning America and the morning passed. We loaded up the van and met Maria and Cliff at the Forest River dock where they keep their boat. We motored out to Moose Island and set the anchor. A great blue heron flew overhead. A Kingfisher flew across the water and threw the trees. Ice cold bloody mary's with Russian Putikin vodka was used for a birthday toast. Cliff used his new suction cups and worked his way around the boat wiping it clean; he had just powerwashed it the day before so it was pretty clean. Maria floated. We heard the story of another time when she was floating and the current took her! Cliff had to throw her a rope. Will and Kathy sat enjoying the rocking of the boat, the view of the river and the music. Cliff likes his music. Som

Being a sister means a lot to Kathy; she has three sisters and she adores them all. She is so proud of each one and how they have grown and gone through life's challenges. Kathy began five years ago celebrating her birth into this great group of girls. This year she planned an overnight. She booked a suite at the Ligionier Country Inn. We picked up Maria on Friday after work. She works in the Conway building in Cranberry, PA for a broker. It is her job to make sure claims are in order before filing them. Maria had had a slow day a work and was ready for the weekend to begin. Maria had Kathy open a birhday present so that Will could see too. It was a wooden walking stick with a built-in whistle and the whistle was really loud. We then drove about two blocks to where Carmine works for Erikson, once Marconi and before that Fore Systems. She is Team Leader of her division and is responsible along with other things for making sure purchase orders are correct before processing. She was a

August 10, 2006 We were a Laurel Highland Trailhead and decided to spend some time. It was quiet for the most part. Birds chirped, bees buzzed and you could hear trains off in the distance. We sipped our morning coffee then walked a few spur trails we found around the parking area; they were all dead ends in the forest. Will read and Kathy got her new HP laptop computer out and sat under the trees journaling and working on pictures. The day is cool and the air is clean and fresh. We had our usual breakfast, half a hard-boiled egg, and a quarter cup of oatmeal with fruit; today’s was raisins. We admired the many mushrooms growing about the area. The colors range from white, green, red, yellow and orange. We wonder how anyone could pick them to eat and know they were good instead of poison.

August 8, 2006 Our day started with the sound of trains. Will made us some coffee and we walked up the hundred+ steps to the overlook platform at Horseshoe Bend. It was a quiet morning with birds singing. We heard a tree up in the forested hills above the track yell and give out a creaking crack the echoed through the land. Then we heard the tree fall crushing branches and underbrush on its way. Smack. It hit the ground. As the morning passed we saw several trains. We stopped at the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site near Altoona,Pa. It dates back to the mid 1800s when the Erie Canal was celebrated among merchants in New York. Pennsylvanians were disouraged as they watched trade moved from their city of Philadelphia north. So Pennyslvania legislators authorized the Main Line canal system between Philadelphia and Pittsbugh. They worked from both sides and eventually came to the Allegheny Mountains. To overcome the obstical they build a system of levies and rails to bing t

August 7, 2006 We awoke to the sound of a train rolling down the tracks. In the light of day we watched as the train crossed the bridge far above the road where we sat. We crossed the street and walked to the visitor center, still closed, and found there were steps going to the view platform we had seen in the dark of last night. We climbed over one hundred steps to the top. We were rewarded with a spectacular view of Horseshoe Bend and the reservoir below. A speaker blares out the dispatcher and engineers talking, announcing trains coming and going and the condition of tracks. While at the top we watched two trains, one east bound and one west bound. The platform overlook has an exhibit of the first diesel engine used by the Pennsy, as they call the Pennsylvania Railroad. Seems that the company was reluctant to make the change to diesel. They supported the coal industry by using their steam engines despite the world moving on to the more efficient fuel. We listened: “I’ll try to stay

August 6, 2006 Loyalhanna Dam was outside Saltsburgs on route 981. We really like checking out dams. It is amazing how they hold back all that water and provide electric. This dam forms Loyalhanna Lake and Recreation area. It looked pretty old. The Gallitzin Tunnels are in Gallinburg. We stopped to wait for the train. We waited until the moon rose, till the sky grew dark and the streetlights came on. A freight train came clickety clack down the track. Drove down to Horseshoe Bend and spent the night hoping to hear trains. We were not disappointed. While watching our movie we jumped up eight times to watch the spotlight of the engine light up the trees as it chugged along pulling its cars filled with coal or freight. The song of breaks squealing echoes as the train makes it around Horseshoe Bend. The visitor center is across the street from us. We thought that we saw steps going up to the tracks, but our mega flashlight showed it to be a passenger incline. We climbed into bed, our own b

We drove a short distance to the Laurel Highlands Tailhead and parked. We enjoyed breakfast then decided to hike a way up the trail. We hiked about four hours, two hours up and up some more and two hours back down. We saw a few chipmunks and heard a few birds. Two other hikers were going out with heavy backpacks; they were obviously going further than we were. Will carried the backpack with our water, crackers and raisins. Kathy had the camera. The trailhead is actually the end of the trail that begins in Ohio Pyle, seventy miles to the east. our hike took us past mile markers 70,69 and 68 and back again. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the trailhead, playing scrabble, reading, journaling and puzzleing. We had dinner, shrimp, mac n'cheese, and veggies. Then we decided to just stay. A few people came and went, none walked the trail. Birds chirped and bugs flew round. The trees are tall and mostly thin with young trees filling the understory. Maples seem the most prevalen

Horseshoe Bend is a world famous site. Trains go around the hoseshoe shaped bend in order make it up and over the Allegheny Mountains. Standing on the upper platform you can see the train go all the way around! We look forward to riding a train from Pittsburgh to Altoona and thus traveling this stretch of track. We learned it will be best to sit on the right side of the train for the trip out so you can see your own train, if it is long enough, going around the bend. After hours of watching trains we explored the little museum. They do have an little incline they call a funicular tha takes visitor to the top of he platform if they choose not to walk up. From there we went to Gallinztown and watched trains come thru the tunnel. We enjoyed our dinner there at the little park.

Jayne had made arrangements with Nicole that we would all drive together to the memorial service for Aunt Flo, but she didn't come a the appointed time so we called. She could not get a sitter for the kids and was unable to join us. We arrived at the church in the South Hills a few minutes before the service. We greeted Trish and family, Barb and family, and Aunt Ruth and family. Friends of Barb were also there. Reverend Jack from the Country Meadow Assisted Living Home gave the service. It was very nice. He started by saying when he first met Florence he said that most everyone called him Reverend Jack. She said, " I won't ask what your wife calls you." He was not sure how to take it, but saw the twinkle in her eye. From that point they became good friends. Will gave stories: the sponage cake that Flo sent him when he was in the service made wwith real sponages and real chocolate frosting, Kathy calling in the geese so she could feed them, sitting on the bed during W

It was a pretty day. We had a leasurely breakfast enjoying the large ferns growing in the understory of the trees. We packed up and headed out through the mountains. The mountain laurel are finished blooming, but the roddidenderants are in full bloom. Will said it is the first he has seen them bloom. The blossoms are big filled with lots of flowers forming little circles of pinkish color against the green all around. We stopped at Carmine's. After some sister talk while Will enjoyed Robert's computer we had dinner with Carmine and Stevie and his girlfriend, Audrey. Stevie showed us his new car and we looked at Robert's new car. Robert passed his written test and is now driving with his permit in hopes to get his license so he cad drive to and from work saving Carmine from having to ge up at midnight to pick him up each day. Before we left we took a walk with Carmine and her black lab, Brizbane, doing four times around the block making about half a mile. Keep it up Carmine a

Most people worry about jet lag when they travel. We are more aware of elevation lag. We came down from Skyline Drive and Kathy was a step behind on everythng for a while trying to let her mind fall back in place with her movements. We drove through Cacapon, WV and noted that it is the kind of town we might like to explore further. Just getting started with driving we didn't want to stop. The roads are prefect- narrow, windy and follow the roll of the countryside of the mountains. Today is a good day to drive! Along the south shore of the Patomic River we stopped for breakfast. We watched fish flop, water striders skim the surface of the water and people get into the shallow water to float on their rafts with the current. We journaled and puzzled. There are several covered bridges in Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. We stopped to admire the Hyndman Covered Bridge in PA. It was erected in the 1800s and still used today. From there we turned up a road that led to another roa

It was a beautiful cool morning with bright sun shining to brighten up the day after yesterdays rain. We decided to take a 5 mile hike down to a waterfall. We drove to the parking area.Two spotted fawns leaped away as though caught where they were told not to go and play. The map was posted at the trailhead and we examined it carefully. It didn't match the entrance area as there was a fire road in the wrong location, but we got the general idea of where the waterfall was located. We started down Limberjack trail, a wheelchair accessable trail, and took the side spur onto White Oak Canyon trail. It was a wide trail, mostly downhill and very rocky. The fireroad crossd the trail. We soon came to a stream that we followed the rest of the hike. The first bridge had some pretty fast moving water going under it; we figured from last night's rain the stream was fast and the waterfall would be nice. We continued and past several cascades that were very pretty. The sound of the water blo

Last night Nate's brother, Dallas, and his family arrived. Kelly andd Jill jumped right into conversation. Quin, two, and Rider, five, went into play mode. The popular toy was a blow-up bounce room that Uncle Forrest had sent Stella. For a while the kids jumped and played inside,but soon it was more fun jumping on the colapst toy. Jill had prepared veggies and chicken for the Grill that Nate cookd up. All of the children,including Silas, sat at the kitchen table while the grown-ups sat in the diningroom. Jill decided to feed Silas and put him to bed for the night. Nate kept getting up to check on the children. After dinner Dallas took Rider fishing and later Nate took Kelly and the girls to see how the fishing was going. When everyone got back Kelly got her laptop and showed pictures to Jill, and we went to the van where we watched a West Wing and went to bed. The next day started off with a bang as Nate tried his slingshot on some squirrils. He found a rabbit to show Stella inste