We then stopped at the "Flight 93 National Memorial". This is at the site of the downed United Airlines Flight 93 from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Because of the actions of the 40 passengers and crew aboard one of the planes, Flight 93, the attack on the U.S. Capitol was thwarted. Due the COVID-19 pandemic, the Visitor's Center was still closed. However, the grounds and trails were open. It was very emotional visit, feeling grateful for the heroics of the passengers of this doomed flight.
A new addition to the memorial was recently constructed, but not yet fully operational. The "Tower of Voices" is a 93-foot tower constructed on a nearby hill top that will contain 40 large wind chimes. Currently, the tower is built, but only contains 8 temporary chimes for testing. It was very windy during our visit, but the chimes didn't play very much. Hopefully, they'll get the chimes figured out.
After spending a couple weeks at Ohiopyle State park, it was time to move to our next destination. It was around a 4-hour drive to the Gifford Pinchot State Park, near Rossville Pennsylvania. We've been here for almost two weeks now. During these past couple of weeks, we've done the usual grocery shopping and laundry trips. We also had the chance to take a few day trips. We have a large, pretty site at Gifford Pinchot State Park with 30amp electricity. However, the sites are very close together here and people speed down the road. It gets full on the weekends. Our neighbors set their tents up 4 feet from our RV. A little too close for our comfort, but we have the weekdays almost to ourselves.
A couple of the recent day trips were "okay", but not much to talk about. We visited a Farmer's Market in an Amish/Mennonite community. it was interesting, but extremely hot and humid. Especially having to wear a face mask. Another trip was to the city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Here, most of the stores were closed. We did visit a country store and picked up some delicious home-made items. We didn't get any photos, but it was interesting to see Amish farmer's manually tending their fields with 6-horse teams.
15 years ago, we were on our way to work in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. It was our fist year on the road. It's also the last time we were in Pennsylvania. During that trip, we stayed a few days visiting the Gettysburg National Military Park. Often referred to as the "High Water Mark of the Rebellion", Gettysburg was the Civil War's bloodiest battle and was also the inspiration for President Abraham Lincoln's immortal "Gettysburg Address". We were only 90-minutes away, so how could I resist not visiting there again?
Although the Visitor's Center and Museum were still closed, we could do a self-driving tour of the battlefields. We coupled this with watching a short virtual tour at each of the 19 stops. It was interesting to see maps and listen to the significance of each of the locations to the 3-day battle. It put the whole timeline of events of the battle into perspective. The entire battlefield areas are filled with over 1300 monuments. We spent over 6 hours on this self-driving tour. Another interesting and fun filled day, ending with some ice cream for the drive home.