York Pennsylvania: Visit The Weightlifting Hall Of Fame

OK, all you Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stacey Bentley fans, visit the Weightlifting Hall of Fame in York, Pennsylvania. The hall of fame is located in York Pennsylvania at 3300 Board Road.

Sponsored by York Barbell Company, the museum has 8,000 square feet of floor space. You’ll see the vast and rich history of the weightlifting sport from as early as Greek Olympic events to the modern rise of female strength athletes. There is no charge to enter the hall of fame and you can go on a self-guided tour with a printed tour guide. Learn all about weightlifting and its various classes including powerlifting and bodybuilding. This is a great attraction for all you budding weightlifters. Don’t miss it the next time you come to Gettysburg Pennsylvania. York is a short 40 minute drive.

York County Connects With Maryland Via Bus Service

York County’s public transportation system is linking up with Maryland public transportation using Rabbit Transit, the York County bus system. The scheduled route will run six times a day and take passengers to the Maryland light rail system. According to news sources, the scheduled bus runs are designed for commuters who live in York County and work in Baltimore and D.C. But I see no reason why tourists can’t take advantage of the service as well.

Trips cost $5 one way. That’s a huge savings though considering that gas prices are approaching $2 per gallon again. It will cost you more than in fuel to drive from York to Baltimore.

Visitors to Gettysburg can drive to the Rabbit Transit office or find a Rabbit Transit bus stop and take the bus to Maryland, hop the light rail system into Baltimore or Washington D.C. and enjoy a day trip to two of the Northeast’s biggest tourist attractions.

Could Gitmo Detainees Come To Gettysburg?

President Obama signed an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay within the next year. There has already been talk of sending at least some of the detainees held there to York County where federal prisoners have been housed for some time. This has many local residents concerned, including Adams County Congressional Representative Todd Platts, who has an office in Gettysburg.

Keep in mind that these are prisoners. They won’t be turned loose on the public and asked to dine at local restaurants or cozy up to tourists from Alabama. Of course, one of the concerns for local residents is always escaped prisoners. What if one of them gets loose?

If a foreign prisoner were to escape in York County and make his way to Gettysburg this summer or next while tourists from around the world are enjoying a walk or a ride around the nation’s most famous battlefield, I’m sure you’ll hear about it for a long time. If that prisoner is indeed a terrorist and performs an act of violence then the fallout for the Obama Administration will be even worse. But understand that these plans have not been finalized.

You may not agree with the closing of Guantanamo Bay, but that doesn’t spell doom and gloom for domestic security. Write your Congressional representatives and let them know how you feel about terror suspects being held in Adams or York County Pennsylvania. But, please, don’t panic.

The York County Heritage Rail Trail

Just a hop and a skip from Gettysburg Pennsylvania, in York County, is the York County Heritage Rail Trail. The trail runs 21 miles from the Mason-Dixon Line to New Freedom, running through Glen Rock, Hanover Junction, Seven Valleys, and York. The Colonial Courthouse, one of the great historic places to see in the area, sites on the trail as well. The train is still operational today and provides a great tour of the countryside from Maryland to York.

It is highly recommend to tourists and visitors to the Gettysburg area to experience the York County Heritage Rail Trail.. If you have an extra day set aside for your trip you’ll want to visit the York County Heritage Rail Trail. It’s more fun and awe-inspiring with a personal visit.

York Fairgrounds To Erect Vietnam War Memorial

Soon the York Fairgrounds will be home to a Vietnam Veterans war memorial. Any veterans that were killed from York County will be honored. Bricks are being sold and organizers are hoping to have the memorial completed by the end of 2009.

There will be two classes of brick offered, one for veterans and one for donors. The cost is $100 per brick.

The Veteran’s Affairs office in York has order forms. The York Veterans Affairs office is located at 100 W. Market St., York, PA 17401. Visitors to the area will soon have another site to see.

Does Your York Or Adams County Pennsylvania Business Recycle?

An online acquaintance of mine is working on building a national database of local businesses that pay for post-consumer recyclables. Wouldn’t it be nice to have your business added to that database?

Well, you can.

If you want to be included in this database and you are a small business in Adams County or York County Pennsylvania trying to make a difference in the environment then I encourage you to contact RecycleBills.

I can think of no other worthy project to get behind right now if your business is green or thinking about turning green. If environmental concerns are on your mind and you are into recycling then get in contact with this organization and submit your business to be included in the database today.

Slow Travel In South Central Pa.

I just bought a car from a fellow out Newberrytown way. If you’re not from Gettysburg or the surrounding area you may have no idea where that is. Hell, I just went there and I don’t know where it is. But it sure was fun. Exciting at least.

My father-in-law picked me up in York Springs and we met the seller in York. He has a 1988 Ram Charger. Ugly as sin, but it’s tires are real beauts. And drives like a charm.

So we drove up the road to a title office called Runkles and they gave him the business over his name. His drivers license had one name and the title had II after it, signifying a junior. They wouldn’t transfer the title for that discrepancy. My father-in-law had already left.

So we hopped in the oversized jalopy and headed toward Newberrytown where he pulled into the office of an insurance agent/notary. She had no problem transferring the title for us. I guess it helps to be on a first name basis with the notary.

At any rate, the paperwork all done, I had agreed to drop the seller off at his home in York Haven (wherever that is). Another fifteen minutes later and he was climbing out of my brand new old vehicle waving sayonara. I think that’s French for “So long, suckaaahh!”

Well, I had forgotten to bring along the cell phone so that I could call me wife and ask for directions back home. Mr. Newberrytown had told me to head up the road a piece and hit I-83, which would take me to 581. But that’s in Camp Hill and I didn’t think that sounded right. It was the opposite direction from York and I knew where York was. I went up the road a piece and missed my turn beside the fire company. That’s OK, I took the next one – a winding road called 295 that went up and down and around and in and over and under, then across Conewago Creek followed by more unders and ups and downs and arounds until I finally connected with I-83. I got on the highway headed toward Harrisburg.

Thinking it was the wrong direction, I turned around and went back toward York. When I got home my wife told me I was going right the first time. It just doesn’t pay to be from Texas!

Anyways, I made it to York and got to my exit, Hwy. 74, and took the ramp down to the stoplight. My windshield wipers decided to stop working then. And it’s snowing like Christmas. So I got out of the vehicle and manually worked the wipers because I enjoy looking like an idiot. And that worked until the light turned green, at which point I got back in the vehicle and drove for a few more feet until the snow had my windshield covered again. You know, I managed to make it home alive. Ah! how sweet are neck of the woods.

If you’re from out of town and that sounds like a real good time of travel to you, you can have a similar experience. Just hop in your vehicle and drive. Head to Newberrytown or Over There, which is about half way between Here and Yon, and just enjoy the scenery. Boy, Conewago Creek looks awesome through the snowy icy air in a strange vehicle from 500 feet in the air as the Deliverance-style rapids rush by underneath in places you couldn’t find on a map! And if you don’t believe me, just try it. What else did you come to Gettysburg for?

Calling All Midstate Foodies!

Do you pair your peppercorn encrusted lamb chop with a nice, full bodied Cabernet Sauvignon? I myself prefer a frosty, carmel Yeungling to wash down my secret recipe grilled flank steak — but there is room for both of us at the 2008 Pennsylvania Food and Beverage Show! Hosted by the the Toyota Arena York Expo Center on November 22 and 23, the Show boasts hundreds of different specialty food and beverage exhibitors.

Not only will you be able to sample the best treats the midstate has to offer, but you can even enter to win a slew of fabulous prizes from dining gift certificates to baskets filled with your favorite goodies. You might even rub elbows with some of Pennsylvania’s finest chefs and restauranteers. Also available are live cooking demonstrations; drool over the presentation of The Yorktowne Hotel’s signature Panko-Crusted Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes or sample some festive holiday cookies from Chef Lisa Ridenour’s new cookbook release, “A Cookie in Each Hand.” If adult beverages are more up your alley, listen in on the health benefits of wine or get tips from a beer tasting expert.

Free parking is available at the York Expo Center, but if you plan to enjoy the samples at the Beer and Wine Garden (part of premium admission at $15), you may want to spend the evening in one of York’s swankiest hotels, the Yorktowne.

For ticket information you can contact the York Expo Center office at 717-637-3831.

Pennsylvania Grapes Are Ripe For Wine

PA Farm News says Adams County is one of three counties that have reaped the wine harvest this year.

Adams County, along with Lancaster and York counties, is a part of the Pennsylvania rich wine country. There are more than half a dozen good wineries in the area and this year was ripe for grape growing. The October harvest is upon us and it’s paying off big time.

The weather isn’t always good to us hear. There was some fallout and heavy rain due to the hurricanes along the East Coast this year. But despite the heavy weather there have been seasonal delights and one of the rewards for that are the healthy red and white grapes that will be turned into wine. In the last 10 years, Pennsylvania wine growing has been on the upswing. Thank God for grapes!

Is York County Becoming Marylandized? What About Adams County?

According to Daniel Klotz, a Lancaster County resident, York County is becoming “Marylandized”. What exactly does that mean?

I think what he means is that there has been an influx of Marylanders migrating north to Pennsylvania, primarily York and Adams counties, mainly due to Carroll County’s moratorium on new housing starts. But also because the economy allowed it. Remember, before gas prices shot up, people could afford the commute south to Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Now they can’t. In fact, they are selling their SUVs. And you can bet that fewer people are buying houses north of the state line.

As Klotz rightly points out, the more mountains then the more sparse the population. That’s probably why Adams and York counties are the least populated – though fastest growing – counties in the state. But what does this have to do with tourism? Well, nothing, really. But if you’re visiting Adams County any time soon you can leave thanking your lucky stars you don’t live here even if you DID enjoy your 400th trip to the most famous battlefield on earth.