Soon we will be roaming the countryside again so an update is in order. Our Pennsylvania visit was punctuated with a brief sojourn into eastern Ohio before the gathering of family members for the Luther reunion. Great visits with long-time friends and cousins will be fondly remembered. Needed maintenance on the truck was performed and a new foam mattress for Brian was purchased.
After a few quiet days with Brian's mother, we journeyed to visit two national historic sites in southwestern Pennsylvania - Fort Necessity (where the French and Indian War began with a young George Washington in command) and Friendship Hill (home of Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury for Presidents Jefferson and Madison and instrumental in the Louisiana Purchase and funding of the Lewis and Clark expedition). We enjoyed camping at two Ohio state parks, a visit to a huge coal mining machine, and historic sites in Canton.
Fort Necessity National Battlefield
Mount Washington Tavern near Fort Necessity
Friendship Hill, home of Albert Gallatin
Brian is dwarfed by the bucket from the world's largest walking dragline used to mine coal
known as "Big Muskie"
This photo shows how big the dragline was compared to the bucket.
seen while geocaching
President McKinley Memorial in Canton, Ohio - 108 steps to the top - good exercise!
tomb of President and Mrs. McKinley
the memorial from another angle
seen while geocaching in Ohio
The Pennsylvania All Counties Challenge Cache - we have found caches in all of the Pennsylvania counties.
Back to Johnstown, PA:
Kim and Jared drove up from Houston for the family reunion. We never visit Johnstown without taking a ride on the Incline Plane (steepest in the world). We had never ridden it at night and we made sure Jared experienced the biggest attraction in town. We were the only people around on a Saturday night.
riding the Incline Plane - you can see downtown Johnstown behind us
downtown Johnstown from the Incline
the rails are outlined with lights
We made a daytrip to Punxsutawney to see Gobblers Knob and the home of Punxsutawney Phil.
We found some of the fiberglass statues around town:
Wizard Phil
Scottish Phil
Fireman Phil
the town's namesake
seen while geocaching - "Groundhog on Steroids"
Kim and Brian with his mother, Shirley
Texas delegation - the Kissells and Jared Shaw
Ted Luther descendants - the largest group of the 75 relatives who attended.
We will attend again in July 2019 with Brian serving as reunion president.
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