PA County Seat Tour - 18/67 Complete

[George Brown]

This past weekend we visited one of daughters at her in-laws' vacation home in Hidden Valley, PA, just west of Somerset. We towed the RT out in the trailer on Friday and returned Monday. Friday afternoon we visited the Flight 93 Crash Site near Shanksville - Quite impressive. After that we rode east on US 30 to Bedford arriving shortly after 5 PM to find the streets near the courthouse barricaded and preparations begining for a weekend festival. A nice Civil Air Patol advisor allowed us to pass through so I could get my photos.

 

From Bedford, we headed west on PA-31 to Somerset where we photographed that courthouse. Then on west on 31 to HV. Saturday, we toured Fort Ligonier, a reconstructed British fort and museum from the French & Indian War with the family. Late in the afternoon, I took a short 30 mile ride to gas up and revisit PA-381 north of PA-31. Nice roads.

 

Early Sunday, Judy and I left on the RT to visit Ebensburg and Holidaysburg and photograph their courthouses. We ate a late breakfast at a King's near Altoona. King's is a Pittsburgh family restaurant chain. It is also Judy's most favorite family style restaurant. So anytime we are in western PA I try to find one to score points with her. She's crazy about their K-Boys which are sort of like a Big Mac. After breakfast, we decided to return to HV via the same routes got there on (US-22 and US-219). However, we cut out the Ebensburg corner by taking PA-53 south from Cresson to Summerhill then at Jerome we got off 219 and took PA-601 into Somerset. Both were nice back roads.

 

If you find yourself in that part of PA, take the time to visit the Flight 93 crash site. You won't be disappointed. My suggestion is to approch it from the west on US-30, then continue east on 30 toward Bedford. A few miles east of the Crash Site there is a long downhill stretch on US-30 with great sweepers and spectacular views.