Our home 9-16 Oct 2023
Common site and clickety clack sound during our week in Amish country
We've been in Pennsylvania for a week and it's been great! When we arrived, our friends from Easton MD, Joanie and Darrel were already here in their camper. They had arrived on Sunday and we arrived on Monday. It was really great to hang out with them having dinner and then around a nice campfire. Our friends Steve and Virginia (also from Easton) arrived mid morning on the Tuesday and again, it was great being with them and catching up. Darrel and Joanie have Amish friends near the campground who were hosting a fundraiser that day (Tuesday), so we all went there for lunch and hung around for the first part of their live auction. The fundraiser was to help with medical bills for a family of 9 who were hit by a car while sharing the road in their buggy. They all survived, but some needed several surgeries. The fundraiser raised over $100,000 for the family. It was a special day. Steve and Virginia had dinner with us and drove back that night. Darrell and Joanie headed back to Easton on Wednesday morning.
Us, Darrell, Joanie, Steve and Virginia at Amish fund raiser 10 Oct 2023
After all of our friends left, we hung out at our campsite and read our books. It was a quiet relaxing day. On Thursday, we drove 160 miles to Shanksville (Stoystown) PA to the Flight 93 Memorial. We had not seen it before, and we were happy to be there. We saw the wind chimes first and were both impressed with the complexity of the structure. It is a peaceful and somber place with benches.
Flight 93 Memorial Stoysville, PA 12 Oct 2023
Flight 93 Memorial Stoysville, PA 12 Oct 2023
Flight 93 Memorial Stoysville, PA 12 Oct 2023
The Tower of Voices is conceived as a monumental, ninety-three feet tall musical instrument holding forty wind chimes, representing the forty passengers and crew members.
The museum on the grounds of the memorial contains many remembrances of September 11 2001. We walked through the museum and listened to a couple of the phone calls made from the plane before it went down. It was very moving to imagine being on that plane knowing you're going to die within minutes. They were all heroes. If the plane had not gone down in an empty field in PA, it was headed for Washington DC.
12 Oct 2023
Inside Flight 93 Memorial Museum 12 Oct 2023
Inside Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors at the memorial, there is a 2.5 mile loop to walk and see more tributes and honors for the fallen. It was a beautiful Fall day, so we went on the walk and learned more about the ideas behind the memorial.
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
The use of hemlock design patterns throughout the memorial is a reference to the hemlock trees which absorbed the impact of the crash and subsequent explosion of Flight 93. It also references the rural landscape of this tragic event in history.
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
Outdoors Flight 93 Memorial 12 Oct 2023
The Flight 93 Memorial is very well done. It celebrates the lives of and honors those who perished.. We walked away with patriotism stirred within us and feeling very grateful and proud to be American.
It's hard to see, but this wooly bear caterpillar has a red band almost the whole length of its body. Old wives' tales say that the wider the red band around the wooly bear, the longer the winter will be. This wooly bear indicates a pretty long winter! We saw several wooly bears on the move across the path at the Flight 93 outdoor memorial.
Along our drive to Shanksville PA 12 Oct 2023
Along our drive to Shanksville PA 12 Oct 2023
Along our drive to Shanksville PA 12 Oct 2023
Along our drive to Shanksville PA 12 Oct 2023
Along our drive to Shanksville PA 12 Oct 2023
Along our drive to Shanksville PA 12 Oct 2023
Hanging tobacco which was a common site during our time in Amish Country
Common site during our time in Amish Country
Horse and buggy our on rainy Saturday (14 Oct 2023)
We attended mass (15 Oct 2023) at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in New Holland PA
From here, we embark on a tour to see Fall leaves changing. We've seen some along the way in our travels already, but we haven't caught any at their peak yet. Tomorrow we're heading to Catskill New York for 4 nights and then a series of 2 and 3 night stays for a couple of weeks.