10 years of Interesting Pennsylvania and Beyond! Thank you for all of the support!

Another year gone by for us here at Interesting Pennsylvania and Beyond. Life is hectic, but adventure is always fun! That is what we aim to take out time for on this page. To cover the beauty that is right around the corner, everywhere in the commonwealth. Over the years we have hit all 67 counties and are still finding new spots, or new scenes from the same spots, as we revisit them. We created this page as one of the first Pennsylvania based travel blog and were unaware of anyone else doing this at the time. We aim to bring attention to the many great things our state had to offer. Some things have been continuously improving in regards to the state capitalizing on its scenic opportunities, and in other places things have fallen sadly short. The first that comes to mind is losing beautiful Conneaut Lake Park. 

Even with tremendous efforts by many, historic Conneaut Lake Park was leveled and a beautiful gem destroyed. The other huge loss that comes to mind is the old Roadside America Miniature Railroad display in Hamburg. Another great attraction lost  There are many ways in which this state needs to step in and preserve and grow many of its scenic and tourism opportunities. I approach this topic at length within this article. Since that article was written, we lost the Blue Streak and Conneaut Lake Park as a whole. 

The most pressing threat right now is the potential loss of the historic coasters at Lakemont Park in Altoona. Both Leap the Dips, the world's oldest coaster, and the zippy Skyliner are at threat right now, with the park announcing they will not operate this year. Hopefully they can be preserved in place, or rehabilitated and run at amusement parks that are great at preserving their historic rides, such as Knoebels Amusement Resort, or even Kennywood. We try to bring attention to these kinds of places so we can help bring awareness and support to them. 

 

Me and the pups at Asbury Woods in Erie County. 

I think my favorite development in the state in the time since we started has been the addition of significant accessibility improvements to some of the trails. The Asbury Woods Boardwalk Trail in Erie County and the Cook Forest Sensory Trail immediately come to mind. They have improved trail portions of significant length to be accessible to people with different abilities. Access to nature is critically important for quality of life, and these efforts are greatly appreciated. 

One primary thing you can depend upon here at this page is that we give you our fully honest opinion at any given time. Nothing is done "for the clicks" here. We tend to keep it positive, but if something needs to be said, it gets said. We work to responsibly spotlight what the state has to offer. Some other pages have not taken this kind of effort and it has led towards unprotected sites getting completely destroyed and unable to be preserved. 

Thank you for these ten years of support!

If you want to help support us, our book on Pennsylvania Amusement Parks is available through the dropdown menu at the top of the page. Thank you so much for your support over the years!