adventures in pennslyvania

one of the first stops in my summer east coast tour was the lovely state of pennsylvania. j bird promised to take me camping, and that he did. we had an amazing weekend full of roller coasters, steam-engine trains, and coal mines.

if any of you happen to find your way to the coal country, you have to hit knoebels. it's this amazing amusement park, built in 1926, tucked in the lush green of eastern penn.
much like the towns that surround it, knoebels is stuck in time. i felt like i should be wearing an outfit like this:

i didn't, but i did feel like i had taken a time machine back to a more magical era. there's no admission fee for the park; instead, they sell ticket books. yes, i said ticket books with $1, 50 and 25 cent tickets in ticket booths that have been there since the 20's.

we rode the grand carousel, which was built in 1913 by george kremer of long island, NY. he purchased the hand-carved horses from wood-carver charles carmel. carmel immigrated from russia in 1883 at the age of 18. he made a living carving carousel figures in his brooklyn wood shop until his death in 1931.

the carousel is accompanied by 3 organs. the largest of the three, which is housed inside the carousel building was built in 1888 by frati and company in berlin, germany. on the carousel, you can still try to catch the brass ring for a free ride. i caught lots of rings, none of them brass. but, on our second ride, jared caught the brass ring and did, in fact, win a free ride! it was all very exciting!



there are plenty of other reminders of times gone by, like old cars, fire trucks, steam engines, black smiths, and wooden roller coasters. in fact, all of the coasters in knoebels are wood, most of them decades old.


the phoenix was my favorite roller coaster. we rode it three times. i would have kept riding, but we used all of our tickets. and, there was something cool about that. this coaster was built in 1947, and was, in its time, the largest coaster in the world. it's original home was at playland park in san antonio, tx; in order to preserve the ride after the closing of playland, knoebels bought and relocated the coaster to pennsylvania in 1985. this was the first time a large, wooden coaster was relocated. all i have to say is that the phoenix did not disappoint. please see video for proof!



i also totally loved this ride; this is not surprising, as i've always wanted to fly, and being on this little ride almost feels like flying. the sign on the front of the ride says it's been "flying high" since 1971.
we rode the ferris wheel, as well. it was the first time in living memory that i've ridden a ferris wheel. beautiful views and a moment of relaxation in a day of thrills and laughs. we ate lots of yummy food: 2 funnel cakes, hot dogs, and an ice cream sunday big enough for an army. we left exhausted and with smiles from ear to ear.


the next day, we went to ashland, pa for some coal mining fun. we took a train into a coal mine that has been preserved since the day it was closed in 1932, due to the depression. it was pretty spectacular. please note the tiredness visible on our faces from the day before.

mushrooms...growing out of the rock. sweet.

just in case we missed it. haha.

this car was found full of coal when the mine was reopened as a tourist attraction.

then, we rode the henry clay, an old steam engine built in 1927. we learned about the history of coal mining in ashland and centralia from a very cool guy in a very cool conductor (as ryder would say) outfit.


thank you, j bird, for an unforgettable trip!