During the wee hours, it poured rain, however the radar showed that the violent weather went south and north of us. In our hay day we would have been up at 6 AM and out of the motorhome by 8 at the latest and at the first tourist stop when it openned. George would be the one cracking the whip so to speak to keeps us on task. But those days have gone by way of the dodo bird. Of course the children are grown and going on their own adventures. So with that said, I got up around 8 AM and after taking the dog for a walk, making and packing a picnic lunch, having chai and coffee, we didn't get out much before 10. This day is of historical significance for our family, as Altoona has been a planned stop on many a trip that just hasn't happened due to one reason or another until now. Today we went to the famous Altoona Horseshoe Curve which is an incredible feat of engineering in the days before heavy construction machinery. The curve is a perfect U shaped train track on the Pennsylvania Rail Road. Another plus to visiting this is we got to ride in a funicular up the mountain to where the tracks were. While we were there a large freight train came and it was awesome to see it wrapped around the whole curve. We also paid for the Altoona Train Musum which was mostly about life & death of the workers from Engineers to Mechanics while working for the rail road. It has a few full sized trains but we have been to several others that have had numerous actual trains. While in the area we also went to see the Alleghany Portage Railroad National Park. It was interesting to learn about how they created a rail system using counter weights to haul canal boats over the Alleghany mountains. Of course, even though I found it interesting, I fell asleep during the short film in the visitor center. Back at the motorhome we had another grilled rib eye steak, leftover augratin potatoes, salad and an ice cream cone.
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