You're Invited to Travel With Us To See The USA

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Scenes From Southeast Pennsylvania

The area of Pennsylvania that Monte's family lives in is very picturesque. Rolling hills, miles of farm lands, the Amish people out and about in their buggies and on scooters. Here are just a few pictures that we snapped along the way.

Conowingo Dam

The Conowingo Dam and Hydroelectric Plant spans the Susquehanna River in Maryland, 5 miles south of Pennsylvania and 10 miles north of where the river empties in to the Chesapeake Bay. The dam is one of the larges non-federal hydroelectric dams in the U.S. The dam is named for the town of Conowingo which had to be relocated as the original Conowingo is now under the waters of the reservoir created by the dam.

When completed in 1928 it was the second largest hydroelectric project by power output in the U.S., second only to Niagara Falls.

The dam also has 53 flood control gates operated by three overhead cranes which can be seen in the pictures. There has been a great deal of rain in the area as of late and I was hoping that at least a few of the gates would be open as I have been told it is pretty spectacular to see but alas – it was not to be.

This area is known for fishing, wildlife viewing in general and birding specifically especially during the winter months when over 100 of each bald eagles and great blue herons have been observed in the area. We saw one immature bald eagle and one great blue heron – both on the wing so no pictures - I'm not quick enough.

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, PA is one of those places that we drive by frequently but never seem to have the time to go in and explore. This trip to PA we decided to make the the time.

The Museum houses “one of the most significant collections of historic railroad artifacts in the world” (I have no idea if that is true or not). The Museum displays over 100 locomotives and cars from the mid-19^th and 20^th centuries. It has over 100,000 sq ft of indoor exhibits and an outdoor yard where locomotives and cars await restoration.

Honestly, this was not among my favorite museums. I guess that if you were a serious train buff you would love it. I did not like that you could not tour through the locomotives and cars – only a couple were open to walk through. And, truth be told, in this day of interactivity in museums this one is sadly lacking. I guess I just did not find it very entertaining.

The highlight of the Museum for me was walking in to the Museum Store and the first thing I saw, prominently displayed, was Rival Rails, written by Walter Borneman, the best friend and mountain climbing partner of my cousin Omar Richardson. A few years ago we spent Independence Day with a group of family and friends in Colorado and Walter was there and besides Walter being there in person we also got to see him on TV as it just so happened that CSPAN Book TV was showing an interview that Walter had done about his book on President Polk.

Monday, May 7, 2012

America's First Zoo

The weather since we have been in Pennsylvania has, in general, been something less than a sunny and warm springtime. Mostly the days have been cloudy tending to overcast and rather chilly. Today the sun came out (for a few hours), the day warmed up to over 70 degrees and we headed out to the Philadelphia Zoo with Monte's brother Gary and his wife Linda. Linda said she had been wanting to go to the zoo for some time and we always enjoy zoos.

Looks cloudy and icky but the sun came out and it was
perfect weather wise.

Linda and Gary Gill

The Philadelphia Zoo is 42 acres and home to more than 1,300 animals, many of them rare and endangered. The Zoo is an American first. The charter establishing the Zoological Society of Philadelphia was approved on March 21,1859. However, due to a minor inconvenience called the Civil War, it was another 15 years before the Zoo was ready to open. The Zoo opened its gates on July 1, 1874. In its first year of operation the Zoo had 813 animals and received over 228,000 visitors. Today over 1.1 million visitors come each year to see the more than 1,300 animals.

Flamingos

Gorilla Scat

Keep reading and you will get to a link for a video

of one of the gorillas

Lioness

Peacock. The Peahen was just out of this picture and we

almost got to see PeaLove but she ran away from him.

A very rare bird!!

Click this link to see:

Silverback Gorilla Waking Upright

I just happened to have the camera on video mode when this

guy stood up and started to run.

Zoos get a bad rap at times and many animal rights groups are very anti-zoo. However, without zoos there are many many species of animals that would have become extinct – and for we citizens of the U.S.A. - that list starts with the largest land animal in North America – that icon of the American West, the American Bison. Without a breeding program at the Bronx Zoo in the early 1900's there would be no buffalo in the wild to gawk at and ooh and aah over when you visit Yellowstone NP or Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. The black footed ferret, the trumpeter swan and the California Condor are other examples of animals that have been brought back from the brink of extinction with the help of zoos.

The timing for our visit was great as just after we left the Zoo the clouds rolled in, the rain started and the temperature plummeted. We totally enjoyed our day at the Zoo.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

National Museum of the Marine Corps

The National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia is an American history museum with the history told through the stories of individual Marines. We have seen this museum numerous times on our travels up and down I-95 but had never stopped. This time we were stopping in Stafford, Virginia to return our traveling companion Teri to her daughters and grand babies and were camping only 6 miles from the museum so it was a very opportune time to learn more about the USMC (Uncle Sam's Misguided Children).

Curstis Worth Fentress, the architect who designed the Museum has said that his primary inspiration for the design of the Museum came from the famous image of the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima.

The history of the Corps began with the founding of the Continental Marines in November, 1775. Their mission was to provide shipboard security and to conduct ship-to-ship fighting. Marines have served in nearly every conflict in US history and the mission of the Corps has evolved through the years. From strictly shipboard fighting to land engagements to amphibious landings and air warfare. From the Halls of Montezuma (the Mexican-American War) to the Shores of Tripoli (the Barbary Wars), the US Civil War, the Boxer Rebellion, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq, Afganistan, and numerous other conficts, the Marines have seen it all and done it all.