Charter Day

Good afternoon and welcome to another post to my Travel Journal. Today, I would like to discuss Charter Day. Charter Day is when some Lancaster County travel hot spots are open to the public at no charge. Ephrata Cloister, Landis Valley Museum, and The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania are three places in Lancaster County that you can visit for no charge on Charter Day.

If railroad trains of yesteryear is of interest to you, then heading over to Strasburg is where you want to be. Enjoy celebrating the 327th birthday of the Commonwealth, by observing Pennsylvania made and operated historic trains.

If you would like to witness how the Ephrata Cloister Congregation lived their lives, visiting their grounds is the place for you. One of America's earliest religious communities, the Ephrata Cloister was founded in 1732 by German settlers seeking spiritual goals rather than worldly possessions.

Of course if you want to know the life of the Landis Brothers, then making a trip to the Landis Valley Museum is where you would like to spend the afternoon. (Please see my blog on Landis Valley.)

The Railroad Museum of PA is located at Route 741, Strasburg, PA across the street from the Strasburg Railroad. For more information, please visit www.rrmuseumpa.org. For info regarding the Ephrata Cloister, please visit www.ephratacloister.org. The website for Landis Valley Museum is www.landisvalleymuseum.org.

Longs' Park

This past Wednesday, I went to Longs' Park in Lancaster Pennsylvania. I've been to this park several times, but although it's February, the temperature was nearly 60. I wasn't the only one taking advantage of the warm weather. There were others...couples walking hand in hand, mothers watching their children playing on the playground. Some were just relaxing, enjoying the nice breeze.

Of course, I went to the park to take photographs. Before I go somewhere to take photographs, I try to visualize the type of images I would like to take. Although I did this, the subjects seemed to come to me as I was walking. The subjects in question were seagulls. A lot of seagulls. I didn't count them, but did I really have to? (The image above is one of my first images taken on this day. The seagull was standing on a park bench rail. It didn't even notice me approaching and it didn't fly away after I took the photograph.) There were mallard ducks as well. There was a thin layer of ice on the pond...it was humorous seeing the seagulls and ducks waddle their bodies on the ice. I took 20 photos while at the park, then I decided to call it a day. (I really wanted to go home so I could view my images on my computer and find out if I had any keepers.)

Longs' Park is located off of Route 30, Harrisburg Pike Exit. The park is open from sunrise to sunset daily. Signing off until next time.