VISITING HARRISBURG, PA

Yesterday we took a drive into Harrisburg to take the Capitol tour.  Pennsylvania's Capitol is a priceless architectural and artistic treasure.  President Theodore Roosevelt attended the dedication of the building in 1906.  The Capitol was designed in the American Renaissance style by architect Joseph Huston who envisioned a place of art.  Built and furnished at a cost of $13 million, the building features paintings, stained glass, imported marble and furnishings by some of the best.

The dome is 272-foot, 52 million pounds inspired by Michelangelo's design for St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.  I would recommend the guided tour of the Cathedral.  It's free and the tour guide was very knowledgeable.

Front of Capitol

Back of Capitol

Rotunda - A wedding was setting up

We walked the Riverfront and visited The Cathedral of St. Patrick.  The Renaissance-Romanesque style Cathedral was built between 1904 and 1907 under the direction of Bishop Shanahan.  It was constructed of North Carolina Granite on the site of the original church.  The stained glass windows from Munich, Germany depict gospel scenes and stories.  The dome, rising 200 feet above the ground, is illuminated by windows portraying the twelve apostles.

Three churches in a row

It was a rainy day but still a nice tour of the city.  The security guard at the Cathedral told us it wasn't safe to walk the streets due to the high crime rate and drug epidemic in the area.  What a shame.

Thanks all for stopping in to say hi.  This is our last night at Hershey TT and even though it rained most of the time, we enjoyed our visit.

LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA

We left early Monday morning from Bear Cave in Buchanan, MI for our morning appointment at Solar Energy Systems in Nappanee, Indiana.  We've been smelling an electrical burning smell where our inverter is located and Denis called Winnebago for some trouble shooting.  Our house batteries don't seem to be charging properly and we suspect the inverter.

Anyways, long story short, the experienced techs at Solar Energy discovered a burnt out circuit board not the inverter.  Pretty lucky it shorted out and didn't catch fire.  The techs said they don't see this very often but it can happen.  They had the circuit board in stock and the warranty covered most of the expense.  

Burnt out circuit board

While we were waiting for the repairs to be made, I walked the area and discovered we were in Amish country, hint, the horse and buggies going up and down the street. We were next door to the Newmar factory.   I found a big building in the industrial area run by the Amish with all kinds of crafts and a wonderful restaurant for lunch.  It ended up being an unexpectedly nice day.

After a night at a Walmart, we arrived at Thousand Trails Hershey, PA.  This is a very nice, quiet park and we love seeing so much green.  The resident Canadian Geese have hatched their chicks and they are just little fluff balls, so cute.

Mom doesn't let me get close without becoming protective and aggressive

Yesterday at the park it was sunny enough to sit outside and soak in some rays, however, today it's cloudy and rainy.  Good day for laundry and a bit of house cleaning.

We've been addicted to watching the PBS series Downton Abbey every night now that we have Verizon's Unlimited streaming.  Loving it.

Thanks all for stopping in to say hi.

Dickson City Walmart

This was the season for baby chicks

The ducks & geese liked this park because of the ponds and so did we

Our neighbor at Walmart

The park grounds were beautiful - this is the family center

Decided to leave our lovely TT campsite around 4PM today in order to get 100 miles or so under our belt.  That planted us here at the Dickson City Walmart.  We're not alone, to our right is a 1986 Prevost with a couple from Quebec of all places, behind us is another coach and a camper and it's only 8PM.  This Walmart is GREAT as far as Walmart parking lots go because it's high up on a hill with a beautiful view of the valley below and it's quiet. Yesterday we met a couple our age from Florida, Linda and Mark.  We invited them over for happy hour and had a nice time getting to know each other (I forgot to take their photo to add to our RV friend's post).  But we did exchange emails and plan on keeping in touch.  We have common interests, like biking and kayaking.  It was kind of funny because he doesn't drink and she does (sound familiar?)

Lebanon, PA

Got up early this morning and drove 325 miles to Thousand Trails Hershey Preserve.  With the exception of a driving rain, a little hail, thunder and lightening along the way the drive was uneventful.  But the coach, bicycles and car are squeaky clean.  I started a new audible book today by Stephen King called 11-22-63: A Novel and I listened while Denis drove.  It's going to be another one of those books very difficult to put down.  Have any of you read the Hunger Games Trilogy?  I enjoyed them very much & we went and saw the movie (which, of course, wasn't as good as the book) but it was still entertaining.  I just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and am about half way through The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Next.  I'm having a hard time keeping up with all these trilogies and than the movies that come out after the book.  Still waiting for the final episode of Twilight.  Sorry, I got a little side tracked.  Anyways, we'll be here for three nights and will be dad's driveway in Massachusetts on Monday.