Sunday, August 24, 2008

Day 1...Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho




We're back from our vacation. We had a great time and got a much needed time away together.

We couldn't check in til later in the afternoon on Monday so we left home early and went to one of the points of interest on our list. We took a mine tram tour of a PA coal mine, which was very interesting and educational. I'm not sure the boys cared about the educational part but they thought it was "wicked cool." The tram took us to the middle level of the mine I guess you'd call it. This meant we could look up gangways (emergency passages for the miners to climb if needed) and down into the ones to the lower level. The pictures just don't do justice to the scope of the length and incline of the gangways. The one we saw from above looking down into the deeper level of the mine was mind boggling. To point out how dangerous it could be the tour guide turned off all the lights and said, "Now find the Wishing Well (what it was called.)" In the picture you can see a grate over it but back when it was in use of course they couldn't block it off. Another thing that hit home for us all was the story of what they used for brakes on the mine carts (12 yr old boys used to stand along side the tracks and throw wood into the spokes to slow them down). We all really enjoyed the whole experience.

After the mine we checked into the campground. We had time to enjoy the pool and splash park and the boys rode bikes and pedal go-carts for a while.

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