Irwin, PA - VACATIONLAND USA

A National Park Service guide gets on the train in Altoona with a tour group and lectures
over the PA system about the "World Famous Horseshoe Curve, the building of the
Gallitzen tunnel, and the Johnstown flood. They all get off in Johnstown and we're all
getting antsy to reach Greensburg. We call the Mulvihills from a radio phone on board to
say we're only an hour away but then get outfoxed by track construction in the Latrobe
area. Brad's cranky, and running up and down the aisles, Mommy becomes more and
more miserable. The trip is pretty good except for the last hour. Pap-Pap picks us up at
the station with a borrowed car seat from K&D and we go back to beautiful Irwin for
supper.
Friday, July 18, 1997- It has come to our attention that we have been magically
transported back to some kind of prehistoric era for which we're not sufficiently prepared.
THERE'S NO WORKING VCR HERE! What to do, what to do? We've arrived laden
with the Holy Grail of Brad's existence, our treasured collection of "Thomas the Tank
Engine" videotapes. "I want to see TRAIN, I want to see Train!" is Brad's mantra and the
stories of Thomas and his friends create a nice diversion for Mommy and Daddy to
otherwise resume their lives. I call around the local video stores looking for a rental tape
player and finally decide on Blockbuster Video up in Greensburg, proud to be pouring
money into the Huzienga empire which later managed to buy the 1997 National League
pennant for the upstart Florida Marlins.
 

Sally and I watch Thomas so often that we can recite much of the somewhat puzzling
dialog and figures of speech (veeerrry British, of course) by heart. "Yapoo Snubs!", " He's
a Mean Scarlet Deceiver", and " Passengers are Urgent" are just a few of these non
sequiters we've grown to love. Now that the VCR crisis is dispensed with , we can now
get on with the serious business of vacationing - which in the Morbeck household
traditionally means Swimming! (Our favorite gerund). We drive up to Keystone State
Park after getting takeout at the Dairy Queen and find a lightly dammed river made into a
long and narrow lake. No one seems to be in the water, which we find very strange. It
turns out that there was a little lightning and they have to pull everybody out for 20 minutes
or so every time they see a strike. We get a little sloshing-around time in until we hear a
few rumbles of thunder (RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE-Stop that rumbling down there!
RUMBLE RUMBLE) and they throw us all out. We decide to go back to Irwin and call it
a day.
 

The Mulvihills seem especially taken with the Brad's wit and wisdom when we get back ,
and find it most entertaining when he displays the family prediliction for going , "Ahhhh,"
after taking a large gulp of any cold beverage. They also have managed to instantly win
over his heart by keeping a steady stream of cold , delicious popsicles ("ice pop, I want ice
pop") flowing.

 

Saturday, July 19, 1997- Brad and I wake up early and decide to go to downtown Irwin to
the fabulous playground they've built since all of the Mulvihills grew up and moved away.

Pretty snazzy, and on our way out we ran into a church group having a mini-festival at the
little outdoor bandshell. A very patient teenage girl blew bubbles endlessly for Brad's
enjoyment and then ......... A Puppet Show!!! Brad doesn't know yet How One Acts
When One Is In An Audience so he stormed right up to get a closer look.

Sally and I try to make believe we can still be tourists like we were before the blessed event
of Bradford Hampsey Morbeck's ascension to toddler-hood. We have reservations to tour
the Henry Clay Frick house in Picklesburg, an outing we've always been meaning to make
but could never before master the planning involved (a simple telephone call several weeks
ahead). Frick was a classic robber baron steel magnate who lived in a beautiful
neighborhood with a bunch of robber baron bankers and other various robber baron
industrial types.
The visit turns into a bit of a disaster. We get our tickets and it's clear that our little
bear is a little cranky bear who is not prepared to be shuttled quietly from room to room in
some old turn of the century palace. We arrive into the main entrance hall with our tour
group and Brad 's mood turns more and more surly. I press the ejection seat button and
we go out to the front entrance portico to play with our omnipresent "Thomas the Tank
Engine" model. Soon he realizes that Mommy is no longer part of the equation and he
throws an absolute fit. They're setting up for a classy wedding out on the grounds so we
walk through some of the tents and seating areas, trying to divert the tears.
Meanwhile, Sally tours the house. She said it was nice but decorated in a bit too
much of the "impress your rich friends" style. Being noticably pregnant, in the first room
she was asked if she "would like a chair?" She replied affirmatively which brought a long
succession of millionaire's chairs brought hurriedly out to her as she entered every featured
stop of the tour. We finally meet up and I clandestinely buy her an anniversary present at
the gift shop. The tour guide nicely arranged for me to receive my money back, something
they seldom do. She was just glad we took Brad outside rather than dragging him along
shedding tears on all of the Victorian furniture.
We call sister Marilyn and arrange to meet her down on "The Point".

We have a pleasant few hours eating carnival food (there's an outdoor festival set up) and
marveling at the big fountain. Brad seems to like it , even the getting wet part. We like
looking at the barges and the pleasure boats scooting around on all three of the rivers
(really only two rivers confluencing).
 

Sunday July 20,1997- Happy 12th Anniversary Mommy and Daddy! Our main expotition
today is a picnic out at Marilyn and Gary's house in Oakmont. Like Brad's birthday the
year before, we always like celebrating our big events at other people's houses where other
people can cook all of the food and other people can do all of the dishes. We arrive and
Joshua is working hard at trying to remove a massive stump out of the front yard.

Brad's Aunt Marilyn presents him with a delightful new bath toy - A seaplane with real pontoons and a little detachable kayak in case the engine sputters out. Grandma is envious.

Brad has fun hanging out with his cousins (K&D&M&MK are in Rehoboth, so they're not
there). They all flop around on a big hammock and Brad likes running away down around
the garage. Luckily Anna Kate is there to chase him. We chat a bit with Abby and Tabby
as well.

Cousin Bernie is there along with his sister-in-law, and he plays his guitar. Brad is mesmerized
when he breaks into a stirring rendition of , "Baa Baa Blacksheep," possibly the greatest
song ever written in human recorded history. The food is all tasty and the Inner Bear is
happy.
 

Monday July 21, 1997- Our dream was to go to Fallingwater today but they're closed on
Mondays. It's a beautiful day so we decide to rack up some miles on the family truckster
(actually a Ford Taurus). We head out towards Latrobe and Ligonier and end up going to
Linn Run State Park. We pass through a bit of horsey country on the way and see a large
spread with a sign that says, "Rolling Rock Farms" with the distinctively familiar scene we
recognize from thousands of Rolling Rock bottles. The park is connected with Laurel
Mountain and Laurel Summit State parks and seems mostly to be a winter snowmobiling
paradise. It' s nice in the summer too, though. We intend to go swimming but Brad falls
asleep in the car right at the key decision moment so we take a back country road north
just to see the scenery. It's beautiful but goes on a bit too long . The high point is passing
through the town of Bolivar, really out in the middle of nowhere except for being on the
Pennsy main line to Chicago.

Tuesday July 22, 1997 - The first rainy day of our vacation, which figures because I've
been intent on getting the definitive picture of Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece
"Fallingwater". I went to house with Mrs. Big two years before so I agree to watch Brad
while Sally tours. It turns out that I could have gone too as they have a terrific daycare
operation into which I deposit Brad for the whopping sum of $2.50 an hour (what a
bargain). No cheesey plastic toys here, they're all made of wood and very tasteful. Brad
doesn't even notice I'm gone. I hike down the nature trail after buying a plastic bag parka
for $2 and take my camera down to the overlook. I took a few pictures when I was here
before but I think I left the roll of film on a rock. I furtively looked around to see if the roll
of film was still there two years later but it wasn't, of course. The rain turns out to be a
blessing in disguise. The house looks great enveloped in a fine mist and I snap off a
number of shots both with the normal and wide angle lens.

We eat lunch at a strange barbeque style place and return home.

Wednesday, July 23, 1997- Today's the day to bid adieu to lovely Westmoreland County.
Pap-Pap takes us over to Greensburg to catch the Amtrak train back to the City of Losers.
Our big coup of the whole trip was having the Buccos engaged in a weekend series with
the Fighting Phils down at the Vet so we caught most of the games on the radio at least.
They're renovating the Greensburg Amtrak station so we have to wait on the seemingly
wrong side of the tracks.

The train arrives impressively (much better on a low platform, there seems like there's more
of it) and mistakenly starts to roll a bit as people are getting on. The conductor barks into
the radio and the engineer reluctantly starts to pay attention. A little worrisome for a natural
worrier.

. This train is a bit nicer than the one we took coming out, as it comes from Chicago and is
all-reserved. The seats are a little roomier and it doesn't stop in quite as many places. We
have a very pleasant trip back and sample the snack bar fare several times. I'm changing
film so I miss my picture of the "World Famous Horseshoe Curve" - better luck next time.
Brad is a little bit more of a seasoned train traveler this time and falls asleep for a good
portion of the trip. We arrive back in Philadelphia in the late afternoon to find 3 kitties
very happy to see us. It's nice to be popular, even if it is because we feed them.