View from the Cab: Casson family adventures

The battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania from the Civil War.

By Kent Casson

An adventurous summer continues for the Casson family.

We recently traveled out east on a last-minute road trip spanning well over a thousand miles. I wasn’t wild about driving 12 hours down to Gulf Shores so we ended up driving about 30 hours to the eastern U.S. instead. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

The kids got a few history lessons at our Pennsylvania stops during the first couple of days. The United 93 Memorial near Shanksville, PA was very powerful. This area pays tribute to the heroes of that 9-11 flight which could have headed to a target in Washington D.C. Instead, the passengers and crew overtook the terrorists and brought the plane down in a remote Pennsylvania field.

The National Park Service does a nice job of preserving the site and educating visitors on the events that took place in 2001. Our kids even got to be “junior rangers” where they took an oath and learned about history.

Our travels then took us farther east to Gettysburg to see the site of a famous Civil War battle which was a turning point for the war among the states. Gettysburg is a nice little town with plenty of historical homes and businesses and several monuments placed throughout town and in the nearby countryside, serving as historical markers from the battle. We even saw the cemetery where Abraham Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address.

We were back on the road the next morning to see the famous area of Hershey, PA – the namesake for those delicious candy bars and other chocolate treats. While we didn’t go to the Hershey amusement park, we did see the huge chocolate store and took a small tour of how the milk chocolate is made. I couldn’t leave without buying a large Symphony candy bar for the road, full of almonds and toffee. Rebecca and the kids also got some to-go treats.

Erie, PA was our main destination where we stayed in a hotel with a water park and spent some time seeing and swimming in nearby Lake Erie which is part of the Great Lakes. We had the chance to eat supper along the lake at a couple of restaurants and do some sight seeing around the town.

A day trip to Niagra Falls also filled our vacation itinerary. We saw both the American and Canadian sides of the falls and what a sight it was! Since none of us had ever been there, it was a memorable experience.

We stopped at Toledo, Ohio on the way home to stay with relatives and take in the zoo the very next day before heading home.

Now, it’s back to reality with fair season upon us and fall activities starting soon.

Lake Erie shown at sunset in Erie, Pennsylvania.