Day 50 of our 2025 RVing Adventure with Historical & Musical Interludes

It's Friday June 20th, day 50 of our 2025 summer adventure. I enjoyed a walk around the Harvest Host we stayed at last night. It was a unique Harvest Host location. It is a greenhouse, cafe, winery and brewery. I found the coolest planter while I was on my walk this morning! Since printed newspapers are hardly delivered anymore. A planter is a much more appropriate use of this tube!

The subject is so unique... I am actually thinking of getting it printed and putting it in the Hemlock Fair's Home Arts exhibits.

We enjoyed the muffins that Charlie got from the cafe last night, for breakfast this morning. They were very good! Now, I wish I had purchased the blackberry pie. I bet that was just as good!

We are traveling on US Hwy 22 again today. It is not an Interstate, but it is more like an Interstate than other US Routes that we travel on. It is a 4-lane divided highway for miles, miles and miles.

We went through the Fort Pitt Tunnel. It is on the west side of Pittsburg, PA under Mount Washington. It connects the West End to the South Shore and Downtown Pittsburgh. 

The Fort Pitt Bridge is at the northeast end of the tunnel. The tunnel is known for its unique view of downtown Pittsburgh as drivers exit the southwest end. We navigated around Pittsburgh on I-376, as US 22 and US 30 joined it.

As we went around the southside of Pittsburgh, we passed more unique bridges. I loved the look of this one. It is the Smithfield Street Bridge. It is Pittsburgh's oldest bridge, and one of the first in the country to use structural steel in its construction. It is 1,184 feet long and was built in 1883. 

These bridges are over the Monongahela River. Sometimes referred to locally as the Mon. It is a 130-mile-long river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and Southwestern Pennsylvania. It is notable for several reasons: it flows north instead of the more common south-to-north direction for major rivers in North America. It's also the first river in the US with complete navigational control due to its locks and dams. The river is a major artery for industry, carrying barges laden with coal, iron, and steel. It also provides hydroelectric power and is a source of drinking water for a million people. 

We got slowed in traffic on I-376 as we got close to our second tunnel, the Squirrel Hill Tunnel. The tunnel consists of two bores that pass through Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, carrying two lanes of one-way traffic in each direction for Interstate 376 (Parkway East). 

Construction began in 1946 and the tunnel opened to traffic on June 5, 1953. At a cost of $18 million, it was the most costly single project built by the State Highway Department. The slowdown in the traffic, was because two lanes had to merge into one, as there was construction at the end of the tunnel. Actually, it was three lanes merging into one, because there are sooooooo many people who drove in the exit lane only to force their way into the two lanes that were following the directions and waiting patiently! Grrrrrr!

I missed the picture of the Laurel Ridge Summit sign. But, at an elevation of 2,739 feet above sea level, it provides a commanding view of Laurel Ridge and the surrounding region. I thought the summit near State College was tall, but this one exceeds it by almost 1,000 feet!

Getting closer to Altoona, we could see the wind turbines that are everywhere in these hills in Pennsylvania and Western New York. Pennsylvania currently has 37 wind projects operating and more planned for the future. The largest wind farm in Pennsylvania is Mehoopany Wind Farm, located in Wyoming County. It consists of 88 turbines and produces 141 MW in installed wind power capacity, enough to power more than 40,000 homes.

I only saw one mural today and I was surprised by it and missed capturing all of it. It was in the historic district of the borough of Hollidaysburg.

The mural includes the river that flows through Hollidaysburg. It is the Juniata River, specifically, the Beaverdam Branch of the Juniata River. We ended our day at the Bellefonte Campground off the intersection of I-99 and I-80. It is our full hook-up site for one night. That way we can dump before we head to our water and electric site at the Centre County Grange Grounds.