“[Kentuck Knob]…is of a spectacular beauty that never palls whatever the season and whatever the gap between visits, whether one month or ten minutes.” — Lord Peter Palumbo Kentuck Knob began in 1953 when the Hagans, owners of a major dairy company in Western Pennsylvania, purchased 80 acres of mountain land east of their native […]
Laurel Highlands
5 Fabulous Forts to Bring Your Kids to this Summer!
Everyone’s probably heard of famous Fort McHenry in Baltimore — well worth a visit! This is the fort that was being shelled by the British during the War of 1812, immortalized in Francis Scott Key’s Star-Spangled Banner. But there are five other fabulous forts worth exploring: three in Maryland, and one each in Delaware and […]
Exploring the Ghost Town Rail Trail: Dilltown to Eliza Furnace
Last summer, we stayed the weekend in Pittsburgh, but on our way back home to Maryland, decided to stop for a couple of hours and start what I hope will be an ongoing exploration of a new (for us) rail trail: The Ghost Town Rail Trail. This rail trail stretches 36 miles between Black Lick […]
Great Allegheny Gap: The Bridge-to-Bridge Ride
A friend and I took advantage of great spring biking weather and rode a short segment of the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP). This was my first ride of the season, so I kept it short, just 10 miles all told. This was my first foray to the GAP, so I wasn’t sure what to expect of […]
Day Trip on a Budget: Fort Necessity
This is my first day trip on a budget post, and I’m going back to one of the first posts of this blog: Fort Necessity, which is part of the national park system, for the material. I’ll be drawing on a lot of my day trips to national and state parks, because quite honestly, they’re […]
A Necessary Stop: Fort Necessity
We trusted 22-year-olds a lot more back in the 1700s than we do now. It’s not because life is more complicated now, because that’s arguable. Back then we (and by we I mean not us but our British colonial overlords) told a young man to take a bunch of men and forge a road where […]
Falling for Water Falls: Ohiopyle State Park (PA)
The waters of the Youghiogheny River are the center of the Ohiopyle State Park, in the Laurel Highlands area of Pennsylvania. The Ohiopyle Falls are gorgeous, and I knew from a previous visit that I wanted my sons to see Cucumber Falls, which feed into the Yough itself. I decided to drag the kids and […]
Fallingwater
My boys are generally not enthusiastic when I announce that we’re heading out for another house tour. And if I recall correctly, it wasn’t until I was in my 20s that I began enjoying touring old homes. I’ve often wondered what it is about us — or maybe about me — that figures, if our […]
Flight 93 National Memorial
Flight 93 National Memorial is the nation’s permanent memorial to the 40 passengers and crew of Flight 93. It’s their final resting place and their remains are still present. The crash site is bordered by the Memorial Plaza. We headed out early Thursday morning, taking I70 West out of Baltimore to the Memorial, nestled in […]