Before we start hitting the Great Lakes, we made a few stops on the way to Buffalo that we crossed off our bucket list.
Flight 93 National Memorial Shanksville PA
This memorial honors and memorializes the 40 people who were killed when Flight 93 crashed in this field near Shanksville on September 11, 2001. This was a very solemn, quiet, peaceful and poignant museum. This is looking down the flight path toward the crash impact site.This view is looking back at the flight path.From the end of the flight path sidewalk, looking out in the distant field at the impact site.The Visitor Center had a great display of many items from Flight 93’s hijacking and crash, as well as all the other events of September 11, 2001. It was very sobering. Here are recovered items from the crash site.This is a mockup of the inside of Flight 93. The phones play actual audio of three phone messages left by people on the flight. This was very emotional, and a parental advisory was provided.One of several display panels. This was very informative and thorough.Kleenex were provided. I can see how emotional this can be.Walking out toward the crash site Memorial Plaza, this is a meditation area. Memorial ceremonies are conducted here at different times.This is a memorial Wall of Names with the name each of the 40 victims engraved on a panel.Todd Beamer was the passenger who organized and apparently executed a counter-attack against the terrorists to prevent them from flying the plane into the US Capitol in Washington DC. He is famed for telling his fellow counter-attackers “Let’s Roll.”Behind tis gate is the final approach path leading to the actual crash site impact point, which is marked by a boulder at the end of the path. No one is allowed past this gate except for family members of the 40 victims.This boulder marks the actual impact site.This is the Tower of Voices, and it is still under construction. The tower is built, and the plan is that it will contain 40 chimes (one for each victim), and they will be built and placed such that a special sound will be created when the wind blows them.
Punxsutawny PA, “Weather Capital of the World”
This is the site of the center of the weather world on every February 2 – Groundhog Day! This is where the early morning nationally-televised ceremony is held. Here is the stage. Here is the trunk where Puxsutawny Phil, the groundhog, “lives”.I had to open the doors and check!Actually, during the rest of the year, Punxsutawny Phil lives here, in Phil’s Burrow, which is located within the town library. There are Punxsy Phil statues all over town!Phil and Phyllis live here.This is either Phil or Phyllis. This is downtown Punxsutawny, Pennsylvania. Incredibly, this small town in deep (I mean deep!) rural Pennslvania welcomes over 30,000 visitors each year for the February 2 holiday celebration!
Oil well in Bradford PA
One of the earliest oil discoveries in America was in Pennsylvania (think Pennzoil and Quaker State). There is an oil museum in Bradford. This oil well is just outside of town. I used to see a lot of these in Texas and Oklahoma.
Buffalo NY
We finally made it to Buffalo!This is the grave of Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States. We will tour his home on Saturday.Replica of Michelangelo’s David, in Delaware Park. It was surprisingly imposing.President William McKinley was shot at this spot on September 6, 1901, and he died 8 days later in Buffalo. This house was designed and built by famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. This was built in the early 1900s, and is a private residence. This is his prairie style.The Dwight D. Martin House, designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1903-1905. It is open as a museum. It is very impressive from the outside.The Anchor Bar, the original home and creator of Buffalo Chicken Wings (1954). This is basically a biker bar, but very popular in Buffalo!This is a Buffalo specialty, the beef on weck. It is roast beef on a kimmelweck (caraway and salt) roll. Mary Jean wasn’t feeling well enough to have the wings.
