Three and One-Half Months Later, Better than Never!!

Hello, Hello, Hello everyone!

I'm so bad, I can't believe it has been so long since I posted.  I guess I really didn't realize it until I had a few people remind me that I haven't blogged in ages.  Excuses ---  yes, I could name a few, but what good would it do!  So, lets just start out fresh.

Weather has been anything but good.  So much rain, so much flooding, last weekend was hot and humid, but now at mid-afternoon, it is just gorgeous.  Low humidity and temps in the low 70's and 80's, my kind of weather for sure.

For the most part, I've been working on lamps for the three shows I'll be displaying in.  Our website, courtesy of Bryan and all his hard work, is up and running.  I still need to come up with a few additional things for on there, but basically we are a go!  So please, visit it by clicking here:   hearthwoodlamps.com and check it out.  It has our Home Page, About Us, Scheduled Events, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), Secure Shop and Contact Us.  Let us know what you think!

Bernie also has been lamping each day after he works and on weekends along with everything else he has to do, like mow grass, clean the cars, fix things needing fixed, etc.  So he has been keeping himself real busy.

He always has the fourth of July week off work, as they shutdown for that week, but it's hard to plan anything since everyone is off then, so we planned on a day trip.

(You can always click where you see blue highlighted words, for a link to those places websites.)

We went to a really nice place that was only two hours away from us.   First stop,  Kinzua Dam.  It is located in Warren County PA and is one of the largest dams east of the Mississippi River.

This was a rare thing to see! Yes, it was functional as a telephone.  I could see why this would be an important thing to have at the dam as there was no cellphone reception due to the mountains on both sides of the dam.

After visiting the dam, we drove to Mt. Jewett, not too far from the dam, to the Kinzua Sky Bridge.  This was totally awesome!  They have a beautiful, fairly new Welcome and Visitor's Center with somewhat of a museum inside.

 This is the skybridge.  It is a Viaduct that was built in 1882 of iron.  It was 301 feet high and 2,053 feet across.  It was the highest and longest railroad bridge in the world.  General Thomas Kane, a decorated Civil War Veteran, and President, of the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad and Company, had rich coal deposits south of the Kinzua Gorge, but since the customers were to the north, Kane needed to cross the valley and needed a bridge.

Chief Engineer Octave Chanute contracted a PA firm, Clarke, Reeves & Company to design and fabricate the bridge.  Adolphus Bonzano designed a wrought iron bridge using his "Phoenix Column," an engineering breakthrough that enabled tall structures to resist vibration and buckling.  The bridge was pre-fab near Phila. and transported to the site.  The sandstone piers were put in place, and 125 men, working 10-hour days, completed the construction in just 94 days!  Three and one-half million pounds of iron and $275,000 later, the first steam-powered train came across the bridge delivering coal to market.  It became a tourist attraction way back then.  

By 1900, the locomotives had become heavier and larger, so they needed a stronger bridge.  Using 6.7 million pounds of steel, workers replaced the iron columns with steel towers.  This work was completed in four months.  Only one problem, they used the same anchor bolts from 1882 on the bridge.  

In 2003, a restoration began to preserve this National Civil Engineering Landmark.  What happened next?  On July 21, 2003, an F1 Tornado came through the valley and due to the old anchor bolts, 11 of the 20 towers and hundreds of trees were blown over.  The wind whipped around the Viaduct going in three different directions, causing it to crumble within 30 seconds.

This is the aftermath. There are still 3 towers to the north, (at the top of this photo) and only six remain in the south. ( This is the part we walked out on.)  At the end of the six towers is an observation deck with glass.  There I am standing on the glass, 225' above the ground and a long way down was the tree tops!  It was breath-taking.

They have a really nice museum, Visitors and Welcome Center there.  No steps to climb, a meandering path leads you to the Skywalk.  This is another observation deck!  Yes, I read the plaques.  By doing so after I stood on the glass, I found out it was only 1" thick!!  What was I thinking?????  

After we left this area we drove over to Cooks Forest in the Allegheny National Forest.  It was such a beautiful day, that I packed us a picnic lunch and we sat at a picnic table along the Clarion River.  It was so peaceful there.  We could have sat there all day long.  Bernie is reading a brochure.

Here Macy and I are enjoying our lunch!   We saw many canoes and also people floating down the lazy river on nice- looking circular rafts.  That looked like the way to go!  We made many trips down that river canoeing over the years during our many trips to Cooks Forest!

I already told Bernie we need to make another trip up there soon just for another picnic and to enjoy the scenery!    

I rated this trip as 5-stars!  Only cost was the gas to get there and the picnic I packed! 

After this little trip, and my plastic dollar store tablecloth that kept blowing off the table and it was a mile too big, I decided to quilt a picnic table size hexagon tablecloth.  It has already been designed, and the strips are being sewn together.  I want to use a thin batting so our cups, etc., won't fall over easily.  I hope to have it completed before our next picnic.  I'll show pictures next blogpost.  I think I've said enough in this one. 

So, I hope you all enjoyed this blogpost and I look to be back in the not-to-distant future with more of our goings-on!  Take care and enjoy!

Hugs,
Debbie