Saturday, April 23, 2016

5 Things To Do In The Susquehanna Valley in May


Knoebels Opening Week-End
April 30-May 1st.  Hand Stamps are Buy One Get One Free that week-end.
There's so much more to do at Knoebels than just ride the rides. Although they do have some great rides there!
Check out the live Eagles, located beside the Black Diamond Ride. Tour the museum, which is also located in this area.Then if you haven't already, ride the Black Diamond Ride, it's easy to miss this one, as it's tucked away in the back, but it's a combination between a mild roller coaster and a mild haunted house with a lot of history thrown in.  It's my favorite ride in the park.  Then check out the shooting gallery - it's just simple old time fun, and it's pretty cheap too.


Both the Danville Heritage Festival, and the Danville Spring Fling are on May 7th this year.  I've never been to either - but hope to attend at least one this year.

Middleburg Heritage Festival
May 7, 2016 from 9:00am-4:00pm.
Please join us for a fun filled day of arts & crafts, antiques, historical walking tour, heritage exhibits, business displays, local entertainment, food stands, vintage cars and antique tractors. Free parking. Free Admission.  Location: Middleburg Fireman's Field
https://www.facebook.com/Middleburgheritagefestival/

Danville Spring Fling
Date: May 7, 2016
Time: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
The 30th annual Spring Fling is a family-friendly festival featuring homemade crafts, delicious food, and local non-profit organizations on Mill Street in downtown Danville.

T&D's Cats Of The World
 This is a photo I took while at T&D's, near Penns Creek.   I have a decent camera lens, but it's still pretty amazing how close you can get to these animals.  They are gorgeous.  T&D's is a wildlife refuge. Most of the animals here are rescues, & they are only open about to the public 40 days out of the year.  Please note that they accept Cash or Check only.  Admission is $10.   http://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2014/09/t-ds-cats-of-world.html



Attend The 11th Annual Anthracite Heritage Festival
http://www.anthraciteheritage.com/
May 28th 2016, 10-5pm
Market St, Shamokin PA

This is another festival I have not yet attended.  But the description found here is intriguing:
http://www.festivalsinpa.com/anthracite-heritage-festival-of-the-arts/
"The arts are a plenty at the Anthracite Festival of the Arts and frankly the whole festival is alive with creativity.  Caricature booths are set up on street corners and children’s art hang like banners along the street.  Homemade chimes whistle and clank in the wind and amongst the artisan crafts are local – sometimes by children – homemade goods.  Of course, the whole town is alive with the festive excitement.  To fill in the anthracite portion of this equation, enter the Shamokin Heritage Museum and Fireman’s Museum.  Both are open during the festival.  Also open to the public is the Local Arts Studio, which exhibits paintings and photography by local artists"


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Bread Day in Turbotville for May 2016 will be May 9th
http://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2015/04/bread-day-in-turbotville.html
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Need More Ideas?

Nine Mostly Free Road Trips-  just an hour or two from our area:
http://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2016/04/9-cheap-road-trips-from-susquehanna.html

Some of our favorite Kayaking Trips
http://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/our-kayak-trips.html

Great places for Bike Rides
http://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/our-bike-trips.html

Check out one of the two new Escape Rooms in our area - 
http://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2016/04/escape-rooms-in-valley.html

Have you tried Geocaching yet?  www.geocaching.com  Geocaching can either take you to a guard rail or a lamp post, or to some of the most unique, fun, places in the area..  we usually do a mixture of both. It's a great way to discover new places to hike!

Don't forget to get your Amish made doughnuts every Friday & Saturday in Turbotville PA - 
http://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2015/04/doughnuts-amish-bakery-on-54-in.html





Escape Rooms in The Valley



I think we still hold the record for best time escaping from this room, in Williamsport Pa


I originally wrote this post in April of 2016, when there were just two escape rooms in our area.  There are at least 4 here now, and we have a LOT more experience, having escaped from many rooms!  It's not the cheapest activity, at about $25 a person to play, but it's one of our favorites!

LOCAL ESCAPE ROOMS


These two are our favorites, and the ones I recommend!  We've done several rooms at CanUXcape in Bloomsburg, and so far just one in Williamsport (but we'll definitely go back!) and  these two locations are fantastic.  Great props, well thought out puzzles, everything is clean and logical, and both locations have great staff.  If you want to do an escape room for the first time, I strongly recommend one of these locations!  

Fantasty Escape, Lewisburg Pa
Fantasty Escape is a bit different than the other escape rooms in our area.   Their rooms are convoluted.  Clues may be used 2 or 3 times, or not at all.  You may solve a puzzle, use it, then find you have to solve it a different way later to use it for something else.   Or you may solve it, and find it's just a distraction that has nothing at all to do with the game.  Several times we have escaped rooms here only to leave somewhat frustrated & perplexed by the process.   They  have the best groupon specials and sale prices.

All In Adventures, Susquehanna Mall
We have not yet done any of these.  Unlike other locations, they have a LOT of rooms available to try all at once!  


================================================= General Escape Room Info & Tips

I'll save you the trouble of googling what an Escape Room is - 
 Escape rooms are a type of physical adventure game in which people are locked in a room with other participants and have to use elements of the room to solve a series of puzzles, find clues, and escape the room within a set time limit.

Each room is different, and there is no telling what the puzzles may be.  Go in with an open mind, and look EVERY where.  Search for keys, passwords, puzzles that reveal codes...

One of the best tips, from my best friend who has visited these rooms in Tennessee, New York, and both of the ones in our area, is to set everything you find on the table.  As you use it, stick it under the table, so you know it's been used.  So if you find a puzzle, solve it, then use that puzzles answer to open a lock, put the puzzle under the table.

My tip is to watch groupon, and their facebook pages, for specials.These rooms are not cheap.  They usually run around $25 a person.  For an hour.  But it's so much fun, I didn't regret the expense at either place.  (Especially since I didn't pay full price at either place....)

I've seen groups of 2, and even ONE person, tackle escape rooms, but they did not win.  Rooms typically allow 8 people, and I don't know that I'd even attempt one with less than 4. There were 7 of us in the Bloomsburg room, and 6 in the Lewisburg room.  Six seems to be a good number. Not too crowded, but lots of people looking and working on puzzles at the same time.  The catch is, if you book a room for 6, unless you book a private room, two strangers can join you.  When you make a reservation, unless it is a private room, they can fill the room with up to 8 people.

Check out the FAQ page here, there's a lot of great info: http://www.canuxcape.com/faq/

Before I describe both of our experiences for you, I'll save you the suspense and tell you right off that we loved Can U Xscape, and we liked Fantasy Escape. The Bloomsburg set up is just a notch nicer.  Cleaner puzzles, a cleaner set up, a nicer photo area for when you come out, with nicer signs..  little touches that really just made the experience a bit better.   You can see the differences just in the two websites:



Can U Xcape, Bloomsburg Pa
 We visited Can U Xcape shortly after they opened. They are located at 95 East 10th st, Bloomsburg, PA 17815. Watch their website and facebook page, they are teaming up with a local restaurant to offer group deals and specials.

When you arrive, you walk into the area you see here, and sign waivers that are on clipboards.  The foyer here has a nice polished look and feel.  Our guide did a great job of describing the game & the rules.  Then we entered the Tornado Room.

In the Tornado Room, a tornado has occurred, so stuff is everywhere.  Through walls, upside down, tossed around...  We searched everywhere for keys, clues, etc, then opened locks with the found keys, and found combinations from the puzzles.  The puzzles here are really good.  There is a variety, some are quite unique. Some are easy, some a bit more challenging.  There was a great mix.  It's really very well done.

In this room, there's a bonus. If you find the first aid kit, AND escape, it shaves minutes off your time.  (We found the first aid kit)

We had a little trouble with the directional lock. The guide was paying attention and noticed this, he came in and made sure it was working correctly.  Our guide was really fantastic for this entire game.

Our only complaint was that the sound effects were a little loud and we often had trouble hearing each other over the background noise.  (There was no background noise in the cabin game in Lewisburg, but you could hear the office workers talking in the next room over - so a little background noise might have been a good idea there.) The noise went with the tornado theme.

At the end, we posed with the signs above.  A VERY nice touch! 

We had so much fun with this - I really loved it.  I  highly recommend this place, and we look forward to going back now that the steampunk room is open.  If you are going to choose between the two locations, I'm going to try to talk you into trying both.. but if you are definitely going to only pick one, choose Bloomsburg.

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Fantasy Escape Room, Lewisburg PA


We Escaped!  Barely!  

When this place first opened, we found a groupon deal and signed up almost immediately.  The groupon process worked great, and made this a really great deal.  We chose to do the Cabin room - 
"You are next of kin to Black Bart, who owned a gold mine and he passed away before telling you where the deed and map are to the gold mine.  You must find the map and the deed in his cabin that leads to the gold mine and register it at the Assay town office before closing time today or you will lose your rights to the claim.  The Assay town office closes at 1pm today.  You have 1 hour to find the deed, the map and register it with the Assay town office.  Can you do it? "

The Lewisburg Escape Room is located right beside the old CVS building on Main Street In Lewisburg.  You go down the steps, and there's an area with tables and a fake street lamp.  The first door was the locked Cabin Room, then the second door is the office, and I assume the hangover room is to the left of the office.  It's all a bit cluttered, and casual, and lacks the polished feel of the Bloomsburg building.. but that doesn't really effect the game.

We signed the waivers in the office, heard the short spiel with the rules and how the different locks worked, then we headed into the cabin room.

Where the Tornado room in bloomsburg was a bit loud for us (and granted, we're getting older...) the Cabin room in Lewisburg was dark.  We were not allowed to use our phone flashlights.  There was a reason for this, which I won't share because I don't want to spoil the room for you, but for those of us with older eyes, this definitely added to the challenge.


The second room (spoiler alert - there's always a second room.  In every escape room, there's a hidden room.  You'll find it eventually, there will be more clues there)  was just weird. After we solved the puzzles and had more time to think about it, it was even weirder.  I think they were trying so hard to add distractions that they got a bit carried away and lost sight of their theme. But the first room was pretty awesome.  :-)

There was a glitch with our game in Lewisburg that did not ruin the game for us, but did make it a little less fun. One of the drawers that should have been locked was not locked.  We spent a lot of time with one of the puzzles answers, trying to figure out why we needed the code, when in fact we did not need the code, because we had already opened that  drawer.  I don't know how much that really affected our game.

 The Lewisburg room also has "distractions" - games and clues that do not mean anything and are not used anywhere.  I don't care for that. It doesn't surprise me that so few people have escaped the rooms at Lewisburg, for that reason alone.  I think the distractions take some of the fun out of the game, and I, personally, much prefer the clean and simple games at Can U Xcape.  But that doesn't' mean I won't go back and try another room at Fantasy Escape, I did enjoy the room. It just means that if I have to choose between the two, I'll be headed to Bloomsburg.


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If you want to make a longer drive, our kids went to an Escape room in the Poconos that was REALLY cheap.  They had a great time.

Daily Item Article about Escape Rooms In Our Area - 
http://www.dailyitem.com/business/escape-rooms-allows-valley-residents-to-escape-into-an-alternate/article_ea772444-96e7-11e7-9549-8fcb321a40b8.html

A spreadsheet of Escape Rooms in the US, by state:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L5DlTSgNkCIIGif50fIQSIfKUA7Zv3nf6Jprjn9gnGs/edit#gid=0

There's a Can You Escape game for android on google play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.mobigrow.canyouescape&hl=en
I haven't played it yet...

Friday, April 22, 2016

Herman & Luthers

We drive right past this place every Wednesday on our way to BSF.  When they first put out the "now open" sign, we had no idea what it was.  Then we did a little research, and we thought it was just a wedding venue.  It took us weeks to realize we could actually stop here for lunch. This week when we stopped, we noticed they have added the wording on the back of the truck, that may be helpful to others driving by.  :-)

 The Historic Barn that is now Herman & Luthers.  The black doors in the middle are where you enter for The Workshop - a deli.

This was the menu this week, when we stopped.  The menu changes every week.  You can find it on their facebook page each week - 

 We had my dog Molly with us (don't we always?) so we got the boxed lunches to go.    I love the presentation. My only disappointment was that the drinks are canned, not bottles.  Bottles of hanks soda would go so much better with this.

There is seating in the barn, if you would like to eat there.

 And this is what my meal, the ham americano with potato salad, looked like unwrapped.It was GOOD.  And the sandwiches are really loaded with meat.

Meg had the smothered beef.

The food was fantastic.

Watch their facebook page, they do special dinners for Valentines Day, Mothers Day, etc. They look to be amazing, and I hope to get to one of them later this year!


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Tuesday, April 19, 2016

We spend WAY too much time digging through piles of rocks.


 Quick Links:
Lately, it feels like all of our date nights are on the rocks.  Or on the rock piles at least.

We've been spending a lot of time geocaching lately.  And it's pretty amazing how many ways there are to turn a rock into a geocache.


Dan has made a few of the real rock caches - rocks he drilled holes into to insert bison tubes into them.  He bought two drill bits  - a pricey diamond encrusted one ($20) and a regular mason bit ($3.50). The diamond one did not work well. The $3.50 one has been great.  Go figure.  A 5/8 bit works well for a half inch bison tube.


My least favorites are the "needle in a haystack" caches.  A rock, in a pile of rocks.  These are a couple of my logs from one needle in a haystack rock cache near us:


Didn't find it 04/02/2016
Day #683. Spent another evening skulking behind a convenience store sorting through trash strewn rocks. The container continues to elude us. Our children believe we've gone mad. We may have. Gave up the search at dusk, but am certain we'll be drawn back by a force we cannot withstand.
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Didn't find it 04/15/2016
Day #710. Some basic research & mathematical calculations confirmed that at our age, having us committed to a psychiatric facility would cost more than our children will benefit from their inheritance.

With that fact settled, we set out to dig through more rocks, determined today would be the day to get this off our list!

But we forgot to calculate in my attention span. About 40 rocks later, I got bored. That might actually be progress for me.

I'm now contemplating a rock flipping citgo event.

We will return....

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We probably visited this cache 6 or 7 times.  We used three different apps on two different cell phones, AND a handheld gps unit.  All put us in the same basic location every single time.

Finally another cacher, after reading my logs, sent me a hint.  We stopped by and found the cache "in minutes" just as others had posted, leading me to believe that the others had the same type of hint we received. I don't think we would have ever found it without basically being told where it was - it was too far away from where our gps units were directing us.

But not all rock geocaches are a needle in a haystack type.  Some are just rock containers.  You can buy a fake rock cache - a hide a key shaped like a rock. Or make one out of cement.  Or use a drill bit to put a bison tube in a real rock.   You can even make a fake rock out of expand a foam, with a little bit of paint to make it blend in. 

 Below are some of the different rock cache hides we have found.  Some were a lot of fun.  Some, like the one above,  I had more fun logging DNF's for than I did looking for.  

   

  

 


It's hard to explain to friends why we sort through piles of rocks, or search guard rails, or look under lamp post skirts..  it's like the dirty secret of geocaching.  We'd rather tell them about the caches that take us to cool overlooks, historic sites, or caches that are puzzles or gadgets.  But we still search through piles of rocks, guardrails, and lamp post skirts.  Why?  I really don't know.  We always think it's not about the numbers for us, but we keep going to find these, rather than ignoring this type of cache.  While we prefer the unique, the scenic, the historical.. the fact is,when we head out to cache, we usually go after every cache in the area, no matter what it is.  It's all part of the game I guess.  :-)

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Read More About Our Geocaching Adventures & Tips Here
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/geocaching.html

Saturday, April 9, 2016

The Old City Hotel - Now The Hotel Edison

For some reason, I always thought of the Hotel Edison as a sleezy bar.  I have no idea where I got that idea, but it is very far from the truth.  It's very dated, yes, but in a wonderful way. Antique furniture and displays, a small museum in the foyer, and a general feel that this is how it could have looked in 1890.  Anyone thinking about hosting a murder mystery dinner should definitely check out this location, it's so perfect!
Menus & Specials are posted here:

 
The City Hotel was built by E.T. Drumheller in 1871. On July 4, 1883, it became the first building in the world to be illuminated using incandescent electric lights.

 "The Drumheller family owned the hotel into the 20th century, but on January 14, 1914, a fire destroyed a large portion of the building. The cause of the fire was never determined. After the fire, the family restored the building and changed its design and also added a fourth floor. The building had been known as the City Hotel for nearly 50 years, but in July 1922, Edison returned to Sunbury at the occasion of the city's Sesquicentennial and the dedication of a plaque at the entrance to the Edison Hotel." - http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/HotelEdison.html


This was the $5 lunch special, one of them, the day we were there.  Just $5.  And it was good. They also have a lunch buffet that I did not see. 





Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News 
(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
3 Jul 1922, Mon • Page 12


Williamsport Sun-Gazette 
(Williamsport, Pennsylvania)
6 Jul 1883, Fri • Page 1


The Times 
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
6 Jul 1883, Fri • Page 4

There is a history of the hotel here:


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Saturday, April 2, 2016

Two Sisters (Amish) Diner, Turbotville PA - MOVED TO ERIE

Moving to Erie PA, June  2017
I called to make reservations this week, and they are booked solid for the month of May, and will be moving to Erie in June 2017.  :-(

Located 9 Yoder Lane, Turbotville PA
Call (570) 437-3976 for prices, menu, and reservations
This is by reservation only - and you must reserve for 10 or more people

For those that have never been there it's just outside of Turbotville & the food is amazing! Served family style & they serve until you're full, The price is $17 & includes salad, bread, two meats (chicken & ham) mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, dessert coffee, tea & water. You can bring wine if you like.

Looking for a true amish dining experience in our area? This is probably as close as you will find anywhere, without being invited into a private amish home.  "Diner" is a bit of a misnomer, Two sisters diner is a very small restaurant in the basement of an amish home in Turbotville PA.  



When we went a few years back, we made reservations for a large group of our extended family.  

Food is served "family style" and is very similar to what you will find on most tables for Sunday dinner around here.  So many of us are PA Dutch that the cooking is very similar.

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By Amanda Grossman-Scott

For The Daily Item

Sally and Rebecca Yoder are sisters and friends as well as business partners. They are also Amish. You won't find advertising for them on the web, as it is against their beliefs, but unlike many Amish, the Yoders want your attention. Specifically, they want you to find their out-of-the-way restaurant, Two Sisters Amish Cooking.

Located in Turbotville, the restaurant is off the beaten path. It's a far cry from the highly commercialized establishments one might find in Lancaster, an area which is known for its more visible Amish population.

"We had a call from a tour guide in Lancaster and she was looking for something ... not so commercialized to bring her groups to," said Rebecca Yoder.

Two Sisters is nothing if not authentic, right down to the kerosene lamp lighting and gas-powered stove. One main room with one long table, meals are served family-style just as the Yoder sisters have been serving meals all of their lives.

The Yoders also sell jars of goodies like red beat eggs and pickles, crafts and their very own cookbook, now in its second printing. Also available are cheeses made by the Yoders' niece. In fact, the restaurant has become something of a group effort, with the beef bought from one brother, crafts made by another brother and vegetables home-grown by the sisters themselves when possible.

After the meal, guests enjoy traditional hymns and German songs sung by other family members of the Yoder sisters.

Rebecca Yoder does most of the cooking using all of her own recipes. She learned at her mother's knee. Sally doesn't enjoy cooking as much, but she acts as more of a prep cook and hostess. She also bakes the bread. "Everybody loves Sally's bread," remarked Rebecca.

Sharing their cooking with others has been a dream of the Yoder sisters for years. Neither had children of their own, but both have helped in the raising of 15 nieces and nephews so far, and are accustomed to cooking large quantities of food. The Yoder sisters, who are two of six children in their family, have been house cleaners and contributed to their household in other ways for years, but wanted something of their own.

After their father died a few years ago, Rebecca told Sally she would like to pursue her dream of serving meals to the public.

"I said, 'Go for it!,'" laughed Sally. Two Sisters was born.

By reservation only

Two Sisters requires reservations and those reservations must be for a party of 10 or more. The Yoders book reservations weeks, sometimes months, in advance ... and not just for dinner. Brunch and lunch meals are available as well.

Bring your appetite. A typical meal begins with "chow chow," Sally's specialty that includes carrots and pickles in a tangy juice. There is fresh-baked bread and peanut butter spread. Diners choose two meat dishes from four the Yoders offer. Most often requested is meatloaf with sides of mashed potatoes, homemade noodles or stuffing and salad with warm bacon dressing or veggies and of course, dessert.

"I almost always make at least two kinds of pie," said Rebecca. She also gets requests for traditional Amish treats like shoo fly pie but the most often requested is Lemon Sponge pie.

The Yoders have hosted everything from birthday parties to rehearsal dinners to large family parties in the year they have been operating.

The sisters boast guests from all over the country and they have hosted international guests from Thailand as well as Saudi Arabia, for whom the Yoders had the experience of preparing a kosher meal.

A map pocked with push pins in the dining room lets diners leave their mark at Two Sisters. Both enjoy meeting people from other cultures and think they may have something unique to offer, too.

"I guess our culture might be considered different ... so that's why I enjoy knowing about other people's cultures," Rebecca said.

It is not often the Amish invite people in to observe their culture with as much comfort as the Yoders do. It helps that they have had positive experiences in their tenure.

"People are very respectful ... I haven't seen anyone step over the boundaries yet," said Rebecca.