From an outsiders view Central Pennsylvania may lack any single site that warrants a trip. Even from a Philadelphians standpoint there's not any major attraction that calls out for a stand alone visit. Until you begin putting together a list of attractions. Yuengling. Harley Davidson. A burgeoning microbrewery scene that has revived bucolic small towns. Winding rounds that connect those small towns. Then you realize that Central Pennsylvania is the attraction. You plan a road trip. And you head out for the Great Americana Tour of 2019.
But first...coffee.
One Village is one of my favorite local coffee roasters. Their beans are available in area grocery stores...and that's it because for some crazy reason, they don't operate a cafe/coffee shop. Meaning, that if you want to visit their operations, you are literally visiting their operations. I've considered taking a long lunch break to visit their Souderton brewing facility - as a stop on the way to Pottsville, it's a better option. Make no mistake, this is a roasting operation first and foremost. The commercial space isn't much more than a shelf of mugs and coffee beans and there's a counter with a large pot of self serve coffee.
When Cabela's opened in Hamburg in 2003 the 7,000,000 annual visitors made it a Top Ten tourist attraction in Pennsylvania. 15+ years later the store is still going strong. The one thing I've always thought odd about the store are the wild animal displays, particularly animals of the African Savanna. Hunting is cool. Hunt all you want. But why stuff the animal afterwards? Eat the meat. Then end it. If you like something so much that you want to stuff it or hang it on your wall, why kill it in the first place. It's even stranger for the African Savanna animals because having gone on safari, shooting an animal in the savanna isn't much different than shooting an animal at the zoo. The African Savanna is an open zoo - no pens. And just like at the zoo, you can approach an animal, get within five feet, the only difference is there's no guard rails between you and the animals. Removing the guard rail isn't enough of a switch to call shooting animals on the African Savanna hunting. Time to drink some beer.
One Village is one of my favorite local coffee roasters. Their beans are available in area grocery stores...and that's it because for some crazy reason, they don't operate a cafe/coffee shop. Meaning, that if you want to visit their operations, you are literally visiting their operations. I've considered taking a long lunch break to visit their Souderton brewing facility - as a stop on the way to Pottsville, it's a better option. Make no mistake, this is a roasting operation first and foremost. The commercial space isn't much more than a shelf of mugs and coffee beans and there's a counter with a large pot of self serve coffee.
When Cabela's opened in Hamburg in 2003 the 7,000,000 annual visitors made it a Top Ten tourist attraction in Pennsylvania. 15+ years later the store is still going strong. The one thing I've always thought odd about the store are the wild animal displays, particularly animals of the African Savanna. Hunting is cool. Hunt all you want. But why stuff the animal afterwards? Eat the meat. Then end it. If you like something so much that you want to stuff it or hang it on your wall, why kill it in the first place. It's even stranger for the African Savanna animals because having gone on safari, shooting an animal in the savanna isn't much different than shooting an animal at the zoo. The African Savanna is an open zoo - no pens. And just like at the zoo, you can approach an animal, get within five feet, the only difference is there's no guard rails between you and the animals. Removing the guard rail isn't enough of a switch to call shooting animals on the African Savanna hunting. Time to drink some beer.
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There's Independence Hall. The Liberty Bell. Valley Forge. Lancaster County. The Delaware River in Bucks County. And Yuengling. If you are visiting the Philadelphia area these are the "Big Six". Yuengling is America's oldest brewery and should be a pilgrimage site for any fan of craft brewing. I've been on many brewery tours and Yuengling's is the best. There's no varnished view. No tourist specific route. This is a...boom...you're in the brewery tour. I last visited the brewery in 2003 and there are three major changes: first, the caves, where the beer was kept cool, are now open and part of the tour; second, there's an enormous gift shop with all types of Yuengling paraphernalia available for sale; and third, the tasting room has moved from the brewery to the gift shop complex...but still two cups of free beer.
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We made a quick stop at Kowalonek's for smoked keilbasy. I should have completely filled my cooler. The keilbasy were amazing but unfortunately this place waaaay out of the way to any destinations I visit on a frequent basis.
We then drove west to Shamokin. Let me disprove a major misconception of central Pennsylvania. The non-Philadelphia, non-Pittsburgh area commonly referred to as the "T". This area is discussed as though it's a single block, a single region that's all relatively similar. That could not be further from the truth. There are sections of the upper and lower Susquehanna that are stunningly beautiful. There's hill after undulating hill of beautiful farmland. Pleasure drives where you constantly take the long way to the next destination. Small towns, that have been wonderfully trapped in time with a bustling main street. Then there's Coal Country. Small towns that time, business, the government, everyone and everything forgot. Places with a scarred, unforgiving landscape. It's still beautiful...in a completely different sense. In a loneliness and solitude sense. Shamokin is in Coal Country and it's a beautiful place on it's own terms. We stopped at the Lost Mine Brewing Company which makes for a great destination to walk up and down Market Street. The primary difference between a Coal Country small town and any other small town, is the Coal Country small town had an epic boom. The town reached a peak that other small towns, that lacked a natural resource, never reached. When the boom went bust, the business left, the residents left, and mostly what remains is a skeletal infrastructure. And it's eerily beautiful.
We then drove west to Shamokin. Let me disprove a major misconception of central Pennsylvania. The non-Philadelphia, non-Pittsburgh area commonly referred to as the "T". This area is discussed as though it's a single block, a single region that's all relatively similar. That could not be further from the truth. There are sections of the upper and lower Susquehanna that are stunningly beautiful. There's hill after undulating hill of beautiful farmland. Pleasure drives where you constantly take the long way to the next destination. Small towns, that have been wonderfully trapped in time with a bustling main street. Then there's Coal Country. Small towns that time, business, the government, everyone and everything forgot. Places with a scarred, unforgiving landscape. It's still beautiful...in a completely different sense. In a loneliness and solitude sense. Shamokin is in Coal Country and it's a beautiful place on it's own terms. We stopped at the Lost Mine Brewing Company which makes for a great destination to walk up and down Market Street. The primary difference between a Coal Country small town and any other small town, is the Coal Country small town had an epic boom. The town reached a peak that other small towns, that lacked a natural resource, never reached. When the boom went bust, the business left, the residents left, and mostly what remains is a skeletal infrastructure. And it's eerily beautiful.
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Fifteen minutes west of Shamokin and we were no longer in Coal Country. No ragged landscape. Nothing but farms and hills around every corner. We stopped at Selin's Grove Brewing in the center of Selinsgrove. Selinsgrove is home to Susquehanna University. The town never had Shamokin's boom and it's not suffering from any bust. A thirty minute drive. A world away.
Rusty Rail Brewing in Mifflinburg was the impetus for this central Pennsylvania trip. My dad and I both read an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer about central Pennsylvania microbreweries. The article stated that Rusty Rail was the most ambitious brewery in the area, if not the state, if not the country. Above the brewery, the proprietors had built a first class hotel. The first time I saw my dad after reading the article he said: "Did you read the microbrewery article in the Inquirer? We should go to Mifflinburg and spend a night at the Rusty Rail." No additional salesmanship needed. An awesome spot but after a long drive and many stops, I was exhausted and didn't take full advantage of the Rusty Rail's offerings. In my advancing age beer tends to make me more tired than wild and after a few sips at dinner all I could think about was heading upstairs to the bedroom suite for a long night's sleep.
We ate breakfast the next day in Mifflinburg. There's not much going on in Mifflinburg but again, because the town didn't have a massive peak boom, what is going on is simple to watch.
We ate breakfast the next day in Mifflinburg. There's not much going on in Mifflinburg but again, because the town didn't have a massive peak boom, what is going on is simple to watch.
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We stopped for coffee in Harrisburg - Little Amps Coffee Roasters (cool spot in a cool neighborhood) - and all I know is I need to make a longer trip out to Harrisburg. From Little Amps we headed south on I-83 to the Harley Davidson Factory in York.
No company may capture the Americana spirit more than Harley Davidson - their cycles are synonymous with free spirits and roaming the vast expanses of the U.S. on the individual's terms. I'm not a Harley person - my dad and I were the only people on the factory tour not wearing gear - but I totally respect the brand and it's influence on American culture. Despite the Company being headquartered in Milwaukee, a series of acquisitions, dispositions, and spin-offs has resulted in York, PA being home to the only Harley Davidson manufacturing plant in the U.S. A fact that has somehow been lost on me all these years. There should be a greater sense of pride that PA is home to this iconic brand. I'm not quite ready to place the factory tour in an extended "Big Seven" of southeastern PA tourist attractions, but I would defintely considering adding a stop here to any Lancaster County itinerary. Similar to the Yuengling tour, there's no varnish to the tour, no example (vs. the real thing) of how the motorcycles are manufactured - you are on the floor with the mechanics. Down side, no photos. Up side, you are on the FLOOR with the mechanics.
The one major takeaway from the tour: Wow! Robots! We can talk geopolitics, macroeconomics, outsourcing, and tariffs all day - an hour at Harley Davidson and my reaction to manufacturing is: Wow! Robots! From cutting the body. To spray painting the body. To inserting the engine. To moving the cycle from station to station. Wow! Robots! No free beer at the end of this tour and despite Harley's iconic marketing, I actually thing Yuengling managed to have their name placed on a wider range of merchandise than Harley Davidson.
One final stop before heading home - The Haines Shoe House. We just missed the start of a tour. We ate ice cream in the shoe.
No company may capture the Americana spirit more than Harley Davidson - their cycles are synonymous with free spirits and roaming the vast expanses of the U.S. on the individual's terms. I'm not a Harley person - my dad and I were the only people on the factory tour not wearing gear - but I totally respect the brand and it's influence on American culture. Despite the Company being headquartered in Milwaukee, a series of acquisitions, dispositions, and spin-offs has resulted in York, PA being home to the only Harley Davidson manufacturing plant in the U.S. A fact that has somehow been lost on me all these years. There should be a greater sense of pride that PA is home to this iconic brand. I'm not quite ready to place the factory tour in an extended "Big Seven" of southeastern PA tourist attractions, but I would defintely considering adding a stop here to any Lancaster County itinerary. Similar to the Yuengling tour, there's no varnish to the tour, no example (vs. the real thing) of how the motorcycles are manufactured - you are on the floor with the mechanics. Down side, no photos. Up side, you are on the FLOOR with the mechanics.
The one major takeaway from the tour: Wow! Robots! We can talk geopolitics, macroeconomics, outsourcing, and tariffs all day - an hour at Harley Davidson and my reaction to manufacturing is: Wow! Robots! From cutting the body. To spray painting the body. To inserting the engine. To moving the cycle from station to station. Wow! Robots! No free beer at the end of this tour and despite Harley's iconic marketing, I actually thing Yuengling managed to have their name placed on a wider range of merchandise than Harley Davidson.
One final stop before heading home - The Haines Shoe House. We just missed the start of a tour. We ate ice cream in the shoe.
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