Day 9: Happy Fourth Of July!

We spent a wonderful relaxing day in Bethlehem! It is so pretty here. Lon's Godmother is a great hostess!

Lon opened up his birthday present. A science kit, with all the fun experiments for a kid his age! It is super cool. Even had safety glasses

The first experiment he had to try was the mentos in pop. He thought that was more fun than just about anything he had ever done before.

The gas balloon was pretty fun too

Marshmallow shooter!  This is the most fun science kit EVER
Then Lon and Uncle Peter stayed at home while Mommy and Godmother went to the biggest most well stocked most fun grocery store I think I had ever been in.  I am mailing a box home of some pretty yummy things I can not find at home. Just one box, I promise.

Lon, was waiting patiently for us to return. He wanted to show us the FOUR  pop geyesers! FOUR! He thinks he needs more mentos tubes, that way he can do more at one time.  I think one is enough.

After the pop explosions, we went to the Peep's store. Just Born is here, the factory where they make the peeps and Mike and Ikes.  Lon wanted me to model my peep hat. He loves his.
History Bit about Just Born:
Russian immigrant Sam Born came to the United States in 1910. In 1916, Born was awarded the "key to the city" of San Francisco for inventing a machine that mechanically inserted sticks into lollipops.
In 1917, Born opened a small retail store in Brooklyn, New York. He displayed in his store window an evolving line of daily made candy, marketing its freshness with a sign that declared Just Born. The original company logo showed a baby resting in a candy measuring scale. Sam Born is also credited with the invention of chocolate sprinkles, known as "jimmies," and the hard coating on ice cream bars.
In 1923, Born started his own manufacturing company in New York City. Irv and Jack Schaffer, Born's brothers in law, joined the company to help market and sell the confections. In 1932, the trio moved operations to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The company took over a 4 story, 224,396 sq. ft. building, built in 1920, from a bankrupt printing company.
Sam Born's son, Bob Born joined the company in 1946 and would later become President for more than 30 years. He was part of the two man team that mechanized the marshmallow Peeps forming process,allowing a substantial increase in production, leading Just Born to become America's largest manufacturer of seasonal marshmallow confections.

Lon wanted me to get this so we could bring it home with us. I am not sure we would have room for him in the car. He stayed at the Peeps store.
Most of the peeps store stayed at the peeps store. I did get myself a t-shirt with all sorts of colored peeps on it. and I got Lon a Mike and Ike shirt. Because we did that, I got a pound of Mike and Ikes free.

Those won't be mailed home, we are eating those now.

We went on a car tour of Bethlehem. Pretty town. Then we came back to the house. Uncle Peter found a box of young Peter's collection of Legos. Lon was in heaven!  LEGOS galore!

Lon is getting used to having a dog around. Kael is so nice to Lon.  He is a very good dog

Uncle Pete lit the fire pit to make s'mores!  Lon made his first one using a reese's peanut butter cup. He said that was especially delicious!

He was getting a little worn out by the heat and the excitement of the day. He did chase fireflys. We don't have those in Washington. They were the coolest bugs he had ever seen!
Then it was time for fireworks. We walked down to the end of the block, where we could see them clearly.  I had to carry Lon back he was so tired. He revived to play with Legos for a little while longer.
He had a good day, so did I.
Happy Fourth of July!
Now, as I type this it is thunder and lightening in the sky. That is pretty cool!

Day 8: All in Pennsylvania

We started and ended today in Pennsylvania.
Starting Mileage: 2896.7
We left the hotel sort of late, about 10am. Got some great sleep!

The new sign for the high school my parents attended!

The farm where my father and grandfather grew up. Lon wanted to know why it was not still in the family.  He thought the place was pretty cool

The old spring house. I think it has been there since about 1909

Going back down Miller's Lane. I remember seeing foxes and cardinals when I was little.  We did not see any wildlife going up and down the road this morning.

Then it was off to Kennywood ! I had heard about this wonderful amusement park my entire life and this is the first time I got the opportunity to go. I am glad I was with Lon.

In front of the map

Waiting for his first ride. Garfield's nightmare. Or as it used to be known, the Old Mill

Waiting for lunch

Getting something to drink was more important than eating! It was almost 100 degrees!  Lon's hair looks a bit greasy because it is. He washed it last night, but I put sunscreen in it this morning. No sunburns today!

ICE SCREAM!!!

With Sprinkles
Two kinds

Riding the Carousel. This was our last ride. We rode the log fume, the Log Jammer, three times. Lon LOVED it. The first time, he was fairly worried about it, then at the end of the ride we had to do it again!

Lon needs lots more practice !
The sky was turning black, the wind was picking up. I told Lon it was time to go. Once it started to rain, he was okay with leaving. All the rides were put on hold till the rain stopped. We did not want to wait around that long

It was raining hard. Very hard. With thunder and lightening and wind. I ended up pulling over for a little while till the rain subsided enough so I could drive safely.   By 6:30 it was all over, we had gone through the big storm.
We stopped for gas on the turnpike at 7:24 Our mileage was 3097.1
11.71 gallons at $3.45 per gallon

Pennsylvania Farms. There were many. They were all pretty.
We arrived in Bethlehem at 9:12pm, just a little over an hour late.  Tomorrow we are here all day!

Day 7: Aviation

We had a great day today. Even though we slept very late. Lon feels so much better!  Mark found me an AT&T store and I got my phone fixed, so we are now connected to the world again.
Starting Mileage: 2566.7

Since we were in Dayton, I thought we should see some of the first flight. Sadly, we went 30 miles out of our way for a closed museum.  The garmin does not give you anything but directions, and the brochure I looked at did not tell me that they were only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was a nice drive.

The garmin does have a small glitch. I found the National Aviation Museum on the list and hit GO! Well, it takes you downtown to the Visitor's Bureau.  No where near anything aviation related.  However, the nice lady behind the counter had a new brochure that listed addresses. I typed in the address and it got us here. Lon got his National Parks Passport stamped.  First one this trip! And the best part, the museum was free!

Even though the front of the museum has been preserved to look like the rest of the neighborhood, the back is expanded and modern.

In front of the Wright Flyer reproduction.  Lon thought it was pretty cool

Parachute Man!

He was not sure he could sit in the ejection seat. They did not have a sign saying no touch.

Across the street at the Cycle Shop. Lon was so amazed they could make a plane out of bicycle parts.

Operating the pitch on the wings with a bicycle handlebar.

Reading about what bicycle parts went into the Wright Flyer. He read every part of it. He was so impressed with how they made the flyer

Time to get on the road.

Love that art.  Don't know why it is red on the bottom.
As far as my history bits, it is the Wright Brothers.

Ohio

Stuck in traffic in Columbus. Why, I still have not figured it out. Even though Lon has a new Nintendo 3DS, he is playing with his new Wright Flyer. I LOVE my boy!  The fact that impressed him the most about the Flyer is that the propellers pushed the plane.  Not like the prop planes now.  Lon and I stopped at an Antique Mall. The Heart of Ohio. It was super fun, we saw alot of things we have. Found a ton we wanted,  but did not buy. Lon wanted trucks and I found some wonderful milk glass, but they stayed in the shop. I did get some Christmas Hankies for my Christmas quilt. Only about 24 left to find!  Lon got a box to keep some treasures in and a really cool lion architectural thing.
We stopped for gas in Bethlehem, West Virginia. 
Mileage 28150 11.32 gallons at $3.44

I have always liked this railroad bridge on the way into Pittsburgh!

The church on the way out to New Kensington. Lon thought it was cool. I do too. I do not think they have services there anymore. It is on a really busy road, no parking, and the door opens right out on to the highway. Lon took this photo

This is a great photo that Lon took. Looking out from the bridge to New Kensington.The C. L. Schmitt Bridge.
History Bit:
New Kensington was founded in 1891. In 1890, the Burrell Improvement Company considered the advantages of the level land south of its home in Lower Burrell, and deemed it a prime location for a city and named the area "Kensington" (later changed to "New Kensington" for postal purposes, because Pennsylvania already had another city with that name). In an attempt to make New Kensington comparable to Pittsburgh, the streets were named with numbers. Avenues ran parallel to the river, while streets were perpendicular. 4th and 5th were the main commercial streets.
Once the land was surveyed, a public sale was held on June 10, 1891. Thousands of people flooded the area and investors began bringing industry with them. The first large company was the Pittsburgh Reduction Company, which later became Alcoa. They acquired a 3.5-acre (14,000 m2) property that allowed the company to utilize the riverfront.
Eventually, such other companies as Adams Drilling, Goldsmith and Lowerburg, New Kensington Milling, New Kensington Brewing, Logan Lumber, Keystone Dairy, and many more were built late in the 19th century and continuing into the early 20th century. Early achievements included a railroad station, the 9th Street bridge, a passenger boat that navigated the Allegheny River, a street car line that ran to Natrona via the West Penn Railways, the Kensington Dispatch newspaper, a fire department, hotel, opera house, and a local chapter of the YMCA.
In 1941, New Kensington became the site of a modern workers' housing project—named the Aluminum City Terrace—designed by Marcel Breuer and Walter Gropius, which set new standards for federal housing design. Breuer and Gropius ascribed to the famous Bauhaus School of Design in Germany. Intended for Alcoa defense workers, it was subsequently used to rehouse displaced residents from other parts of the city. In 1948, tenants from the Terrace decided to purchase the housing project from the U.S. government to form a co-op, managed by a Board of Directors, elected by representatives from the 250 units. Relatively low-cost monthly fees continue to cover the costs of running the Terrace.
Today, New Kensington contains the neighborhoods of Parnassus, Mount Vernon, Valley Heights, Valley Camp, Pine Manor, and 40 Acres.

My Grandmother's old house. It looks so different.

My Great Grandmother's house.
After this we went down to the Eat N' Park for dinner. It was good, big portions, small prices. All this month, kids meals are 99 cents. Including their desserts.  Our entire meal came to $14.48. I had chicken parmagain, and a slice of pie!

Day 6: A Day of Frustration

Today was such a let down compared to yesterday.
Starting Mileage: 2128.9

We got on the road at 8:12am via the new Mark Twain Bridge

Illinois

We thought it might be fun to see the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL. Since we were going right by there. Parking was not so fun. But we figured it out
I love the random knitter that dressed Mrs. Lincoln in a colorful skirt

The desk at Lincoln's law office museum. It was rather small. I hope they get it put together better. It could be wonderful

Goofing off in front of the state house!

Lon getting some inside information for his history detective paper.  I was not supposed to take the photo, it was beyond the tile floor. I said I would not do it again.

This photo I could take !

Measuring up. He is almost as tall as Abe, and Abe was 9!

It was time to move on, we could have stayed there for a much longer time, but we wanted to make it almost to Pennsylvania.
We stopped for gas just outside of Springfield.
Mileage: 2252.5 11.1 gallons at $3.41 per gallon

At almost 4pm we were passing the exit signs for Brownsburg. The usual things were listed, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and a DUNKIN ! Lon and I just had to stop ! A real dunkin' !
Next time we stop, we are going to get a bunch of K-cup dunkin and mail it back!  And yes, it was really really good!

We got gas at 5:34pm in Richmond, IN
10.25 gallons, $3.49 per gallon
We are now in Ohio. That is when the frustrating part of our day really got going.  I was only slightly frustrated that I did not see any antique mall signs for places still open  after we passed through Indianapolis! But the most frustrating is I still can not make phone calls. I do not understand why my phone did not work across 5 states.  On an interstate. The weather started to turn bad. So instead of being on the east side of Columbus, we are on the west side of Dayton. They had severe thunderstorm warnings, it was getting dark, and very windy. We are in a Holiday Inn Express. Probably not the nicest Holiday Inn Express, but it is not horrible. It does not smell.  The hotel can not figure out how to *release* my phone so I can make over priced calls from the hotel. phone.  The hotel eatery was so slow. Lon was so hungry, after dinner, it got to be too much. He just wanted a cuddle and a cry. Now he is asleep. Tomorrow will be a better day, with more fun planned. We are going to add a day out this way. Tomorrow we will go to the phone store, then the Dayton Aviation Museum, then slowly make our way to New Kensington.  Sorry to everyone who was expecting us a bit earlier than we will arrive. I would love to call!