Gribblenation

On the morning of the 4th of July, I took a quick but very enjoyable jaunt into rural areas of Washington County. Route: I-70, PA 18, PA 231, US 40, I-70. For the full set of photos - head over to flickr . I picked up PA 18 in Washington; and after Route 18 leaves US 40, I came across this semi-abandoned building. I believe this was once a train station, but there are no tracks nearby.  The grounds around this building are being used for a brick and concrete forming yard.  If anyone knows what this old building was, please leave a comment! Just down the road from the building was a Keystone Town Marker for Washington. South of Prosperity is where the goodies on PA 18 really start to show up. First, Day Covered Bridge.  Like many of the covered bridges in Washington County, the Day Bridge is a short queenpost truss, and is over a century old.  The Day Bridge has been in place since 1875. A little further down the road was the first Chew Mail Pouc...

Maggie and I both like to hike and this trip to Pennsylvania was no different.  I took Maggie to another favorite Western Pennsylvania destination of mine, McConnell's Mill State Park .  McConnell's Mill is about 40 miles north of Pittsburgh.  With numerous choices for outdoor activities (hiking, rock climbing, fishing, and whitewater rafting), McConnell's Mill is a popular day trip for many Pittsburghers and photographers. Here's our photoset from our trip over at flickr . The centerpiece of the park is a over 130 year old grist mill and covered bridge. The rolling mill still has operating parts and inside the mill are three floors worth of exhibits.  The covered bridge first crossed Slippery Rock Creek in 1874 and was recently rehabilitated in 1998. Rock Climbing isn't our specialty, and I have thrown a fishing line in over a decade; but we do enjoy outdoor hiking.  There are nine miles of trails within the park varying from a half mile easy hike t...

On the Top Ten Places I enjoy going to the most, you would find Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh. I was fortunate to have grown up a 25 minute drive from the park, and after years of going on school picnics, marching in fall fantasy parades in high school and college, you can easily take the park for granted.  It wasn't until I moved to North Carolina that I truly realized how special a place Kennywood is. On this trip to PA, my mom, dad, Maggie and I went to the park.  This was Maggie's first visit to the park, and the first time for me since 2002.    We got to the park at around 2 p.m. beginning a memorable day at the park! Here's the photo set on flickr. Kennywood, in operation since 1898, is one of the oldest amusement parks in the country.  Home to five roller coasters, which includes three classic wooden coasters, Kennywood is a roller coaster enthusiast's playground. The first coaster that I always go on when going to Kennywood is the Racer....

As indicated in the previous post, I found several new areas to observe progress on construction of the 'US 311 Bypass' from Spencer Road to US 220, that I decided to break this report into two parts, and will do the same on my web page later this week. I. Design-Build Project from Spencer Road to US 220, Due to Open in Late 2012: A. Spencer Road This is the beginning of the Design-Build contract won by Barnhill Construction last year. The first photo looks back at the end of the previous contract: The water truck is there I believe to water the cleared roadbeds to prevent too much dust from blowing around. Believe me, it happens, Weekend watering, I guess, is not in the contract. The photo below looks south from Spencer Road, showing some clearing having gone on in the distance, but not near Spencer Road... But, it appears this will not be the case for long... There were at least 8 earth moving vehicles parked just to the south of the road, ready to start digging. B. Banner W...