PENNSYLVANIA’S LAUREL HIGHLANDS – SOMERSET, PA

Leaving Gettysburg, we turned to the west, retracing our route back to the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania, the area where the Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio state lines meet.  We had zoomed through the Highlands a few weeks ago as we made our way quickly from Cincinnati to the Washington, DC area, and wanted to return to spend more time exploring the sights of southeastern PA.

It rained, hard, for most of our travel day – with a break long enough to check in and set up in our site at Hickory Hollow Campground (click here to read our campground review).  We paid for five nights, then sat inside, making lists. 

My list?  All the places I would like to visit while we are here:  the Johnstown Flood Museum, the Flight 93 Memorial site in Shanksville; the Great Allegheny Passage (a rails-to-trails bike/hike path); Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob homes; nearby Laurel Ridge State Park to see the blooming Mountain Laurel (the state flower); and a search for one of the stones placed by Mason and Dixon when they first surveyed the Mason/Dixon line in 1767.

Odel’s list?  All the minor repairs he wanted to complete before moving on:  fix or toss our expensive water pressure regulator, corroded beyond belief; craft a handle that would allow him to remove the transmission dipstick (the convenient T-handle detached and disappeared somewhere along the way); drain the air tanks; restring one of the day/night shades before it broke completely; clean the carpets.

An item from Laurie’s List: enjoy the blooming Mountain Laurel (and attendant butterfly).	An item from Odel’s list: repair rusted, corroded water pressure regulator

It didn’t take long to decide that our combined lists could be more easily accommodated in a week rather than five days.  We liked the park, our good friends Jackie and Buddy were arriving in two days, and the Passport America weekday rate here, for FHU and cable TV, is a major bargain at just $15/night.  We quickly added two more days to our stay, and sent off an email to have our snail mail forwarded here ASAP. 

We got to work on Odel’s list immediately.  I received emailed instructions on how to fix the pressure regulator, and my determined husband had it working in no time - then worked out a solution for the missing T-handle.  We spent Friday morning restringing the shade, and our friends pulled into the campground just as we finished lunch. 

Segue to Laurie’s list, and everything has been a blur since then.  We’ve walked on the Great Allegheny Passage, visited the Flight 93 Memorial, relived the horror of the Johnstown flood.  We’ve talked and laughed and eaten too much.  I’ve got days of stories for the blog, but no time to write ‘em (yet).  Jackie and I are off to view the Frank Lloyd Wright homes in an hour…

More to come, later!