I wonder just how many people will not be able to take a vacations this year. Gas prices are at an all time high for this early in the year and they will inevitably go up over the summer. When the cost of the fuel to get you there is equal to or even Close to the price the rest of the trip will cost then I am certainly not going there.
This will be a good year to practice the staycation by learning what you have available near you. I will touch on a few areas that I am familiar with that are reasonably close to where I live. By reasonable close I mean you can get there and back on just a couple tanks of gas.
Home for me is the South Central Pennsylvania area in the Harrisburg, Lancaster, York and Gettysburg area. There are loads of things to see and do very close by and quite a lot to see and do within about a 4-5 hour drive.
First, easiest and certainly least expensive would be the very local. Harrisburg itself has a Number of very interesting things. The John Harris/Simon Cameron Museum. This is a mansion used first by John Harris Sr. who worked as Ambassador to the Native Americans for William Penn from whom Pennsylvania gets it’s name.
Just a very few miles north of Harrisburg you will find the Rockville Bridge which to this day remains the longest Stone Arch railroad bridge in the world.
About 20 minutes east of the city is a town with a name known by almost everyone in the world. Hershey is a very recognized word and where the first manufacturing facility for Hershey’s Chocolate was built. Of course you also have Hershey Park and adjacent to the park is Chocolate World which will take you on a ride through the acquisition of the cacao beans and the process used to create the wonderful; masterpiece known as chocolate.
If you continue on a bit further east you come to Lancaster County which is home to a large number of Amish and has a number of sites and attractions to allow you to learn of them.
From Lancaster we move Southwest and arrive in York, PA which has the distinction of having been the capital of the United States for a short period of time near the beginning of this nation.
From York we move to the west and we come across the site of perhaps the most famous battle of the Civil War. Gettysburg and the National Military Park in and around it can give you days of exploration for those who enjoy history. The battlefield has over 30 miles of roads you can drive while following the signs for a self guided tour or you can get a tape or CD that will narrate your trip. You can also go on a bus tour of the battlefield and for those who like a bit more personal attention there are licensed guides you can hire.
This is a good start to the staycation and I will post more on this shortly.
