A Stargazer’s Guide to the Laurel Highlands August 9, 2022 by Laurel Highlands PA The Laurel Highlands is hustling and bustling with bikers, hikers, families, rafters, and foodies during the day, but what outdoorsy activity can you do once the sun goes down? Get lost in the stars! While there aren’t any dark sky sites in the region, we know a few spots where there is minimal light pollution and not too much tree coverage, making it a great place to get a mesmerizing view of the constellations. Laurel Hill State Park Like all state parks in the Laurel Highlands, Laurel Hill State Park closes at dusk, but they still want you to enjoy the beautiful view of the stars. If you want to stargaze in the large parking lot near Laurel Hill Lake, just give the park office a heads up by calling them and providing the make and model of your vehicle and you’re good to go! Laurel Hill sits at a high elevation and has little light pollution, making it a great stargazing spot. This would be a perfect way to end a day exploring the spectacular state park! Forbes State Forest Gather your friends, head to Forbes State Forest, and hang out under the stars! The state forest offers more than one area that is absolutely perfect for stargazing. Where else could you get a better view than the highest point in the entire state? Mount Davis may require a little bit of a hike, but it’s totally doable in the dark. Remember to pack flashlights! Another great place to set up shop is Roaring Run Natural Area, right off of Fire Tower Road via Route 31. The lack of trees in this area gives you a big wide open to lay on your back and take it all in. The Historic Summit Inn Resort The Historic Summit Inn Resort is one of the best locations to watch the sunset in the Laurel Highlands. One of the only remaining grand porch hotels in America, the Summit has an amazing great veranda front porch. Get there early and enjoy dinner before starting your stargazing adventure with an incredible view of the astounding sunset. Vin de Matrix Winery As if the name doesn’t give it away, Vin de Matrix Winery in Rockwood is completely celestially themed! The winery’s name was inspired by the star Vindemiatrix, the third brightest star located in the Virgo constellation, which means “the grape gatherer.” While you can’t stargaze here, you can grab a bottle of Cosmic Cord, Sirius Red, or Beetlejuice Berry to enjoy wherever you’re laid back staring at the night sky! Campgrounds Make your outdoorsy outing complete by sleeping under the stars at a campground. If you’re feeling adventurous, sleep outside of the tent or play it safe and rent a cozy cabin. Regardless, you’ll have a great view of the sky with the sound of the fire crackling nearby. Tips and Tricks: Many state parks and organizations host special events like night hikes, sunset snowshoeing, and educational outings. Keep your eyes peeled for outdoor events as they are announced. Google a meteor shower schedule and mark dates in your calendar. During the Perseids meteor shower in August, you can see up to 60 meteors per hour! While full and super moons are fascinating, new moons are just as gorgeous. Even natural light hides the stars, so new moons show off layers and layers of glistening stars you couldn’t see any on another day! State parks close at dusk, even their parking lots. Please abide by this rule!
The Best Golfing in the Erie Region July 29, 2022 by Visit Erie The Erie region is home to several golf courses that welcome every type of golfer from beginner to professional. Sharpen your game and test your skills across their sprawling fairways and beautifully landscaped greens. Whether you shoot a 72 or 144, there’s nothing like spending a couple hours, or even an afternoon, out on the golf course. Here are our suggestions for the best golfing in the Erie area. Peek‘n Peak Resort The Upper Course at Peek’n Peak is a championship-caliber, par 72 course and is perfect for players of all skill levels. The unique terrain and natural landscape creates an atmosphere that is unlike any other course. The panoramic views and mature woods give a serene experience to all who are on the course whether it be during spring, summer, or fall. Erie Golf Club Erie Golf Club is an 18-hole par 69 course, designed by the prolific American golf course architect A.W. Tillinghast. Enjoy lunch or dinner with a cocktail on their patio while watching the sunset and scenic views of the course. Erie Golf Club is a PGA operated facility with a fully stocked pro shop and a friendly staff of golfers. Riverside Golf Course Founded in 1915, Riverside Golf Course is one of the oldest courses in northwestern Pennsylvania. The 18-hole, par 72 course features rolling fairways, manicured greens, over 48 sand traps and 6 lakes spanning 242 acres. The newly renovated Rambler at Riverside restaurant offers contemporary American cuisine and overlooks the golf course. Photo by John Mangine Mound Grove Golf Course Mound Grove Golf Course features a beautiful scenic 18-hole, par 72 golf course set against the backdrop of an historic 1860’s barn/restaurant. Year-round private and online golf lessons with their Golf Academy and Professional Coaching program are available by appointment. Lake View Country Club Lake View Country Club is a private 18-hole, par 72 golf club that offers one of the most challenging and beautiful courses in the area, with an elite practice facility that golfers of all skill levels can enjoy. Lake View was built by legendary golf course architect and Donald Ross protégé James G. Harrison. The club has hosted several prestigious tournaments, including the West Penn Amateur Championship and the Pennsylvania State Amateur Championship. Harbor Ridge Golf Club Harbor Ridge offers an enjoyable round, for golfers of all ages and skill levels with expansive views of Lake Erie. It is a family-friendly public 9-hole, par 36 golf course, bar, and restaurant complex. Their course features bent grass tees, fairways, and greens from four sets of regulation tees. Bring young golfers out to their USGA slope/rated family tees.
Fun in the Sunflowers at Maple Bottom Farm July 8, 2022 by Laurel Highlands PA Vickie and Mike Baker have owned Maple Bottom Farm in Dawson for 5 years, raising chickens, milking cows, and processing cheese. The couple shares a passion to educate others on agriculture and dairy, so they do just that by providing farm tours to visitors. They also have a beautiful farmhouse bed and breakfast on site, offering a serene place for visitors to rest and wake up to the sounds of the roosters, alerting them to start their day exploring the Laurel Highlands. The property proves to be a must-visit destination in the Laurel Highlands, but the farm’s sunflower maze is the crown jewel of the farm. Spanning across 10 acres on Maple Bottom Farm, the sunflower maze is open every day besides Mondays until Labor Day. Their hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. This year, the farm planted more than 300,000 sunflower seeds across the 10 acres, including 2 acres of orange (autumn beauty) sunflowers that grow multiple blooms per stem. Throughout the maze, you will find multiple props like a 1950s gliders bench, hay bales topped with saddles, and vintage photo frames, making plenty of photo opportunities with a beautiful backdrop. After a walk through the maze, you’ll probably work up an appetite. During the week, Maple Bottom Farm sells cheese curds, ice cream, and milkshakes made from their own dairy products, and on weekends, you can find a food truck parked on the property. If you prefer to pack a lunch, you can catch some shade under the pavilion and enjoy the views while eating your meal. Sunflowers aren’t the only flowers blanketing the farmland. This year, Maple Bottom Farm planted 26 pounds of zinnia seeds, resulting in millions of zinnias blooming across two-and-a-half acres. The colorful zinnias stand at 2- to 3-feet tall and attract swarms of beautiful butterflies. On Wednesday mornings, those who pre-register can pick up a 9-quart bucket of sunflowers, zinnias, or a combination of both! There’s something romantic about a field of sunflowers, right? Plan your next date night at Maple Bottom Farm with an intimate picnic in the sunflowers, which includes admission to the sunflower field, seating, silverware, stemware, blankets, pillows, a cheese board, and a mason jar filled with fresh flowers that are yours to take home. Feel free to bring your own food and beverages to enjoy during your date night, they’ll have a bucket of ice waiting for you! There will be no shortage of photo opportunities during your visit to Maple Bottom Farm, so they’re challenging you to a photo contest! Catch a butterfly in the zinnias or a goldfinch in the sunflowers, snap a pic and submit your photos to Maple Bottom Farm via Facebook Messenger! The deadline to enter is September 10, and the top photos in each category will be posted on Facebook for everybody to vote for their favorite! Each winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to the Farmhouse Bed and Breakfast. Although the sunflower maze will only be open until Labor Day, Maple Bottom Farm has big plans for this fall! Keep an eye on their website and Facebook to catch dates for farm-to-table dinners, trunk or treat, movie on the barn nights, and a fall festival complete with pumpkin picking and wagon rides. With new blooms popping up every two weeks and props rotating in and out of the maze, no two visits to Maple Bottom Farm are the same! Regardless of when you visit, the immense beauty of the vast farmland is something you won’t soon forget. “Sometimes we take the beauty that surrounds us for granted, and we are grateful that we can share it with other people.” – Vickie Baker All photos were provided by Maple Bottom Farm.
7 Favorite Summer Activities at Presque Isle State Park May 31, 2022 by Visit Erie Designated as a National Natural Landmark and Erie’s top attraction, Presque Isle State Park is a 3,200 acre peninsula that reaches out into Lake Erie. There is always something fun to do at Presque Isle State Park, where you can easily spend an entire day enjoying the park’s many outdoor adventures. Bring your family and friends and make your escape to Presque Isle! Here are a few of our favorite summertime activities. Visit Presque Isle Beaches Presque Isle State Park features seven miles of sandy surf beaches, providing visitors with the only surf swimming within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The beaches of Presque Isle are great for sunbathing, swimming, picnicking and sunset gazing. Presque Isle beaches are open daily from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day, unless otherwise posted. The regular hours are Noon – 7:30 p.m. Parking and admission to the park is free. Go Biking or Rollerblading Presque Isle has miles of hiking trails, both paved and unpaved. The most popular and heavily used trail is the 13.5-mile Karl Boyes Multi-Purpose paved trail. Unpaved trails are located throughout the Park and include the Gull Point Trail, Graveyard Pond Trail and Dead Pond Trail. Rental equipment is available near the Water Works Beach area and includes one person bicycles, tandem bicycles, surreys, rollerblades and more. Explore the Presque Isle Lighthouse Built in 1873, the Presque Isle Lighthouse offers visitors the chance to climb its tower for panoramic views of Lake Erie, all while learning its vast history and function. Public tours of the Presque Isle Lighthouse are available May through September. Enjoy the Picnic Areas Numerous picnic tables can be found throughout Presque Isle and are perfect for a casual day at the beach or a gathering. If you prefer to reserve a table in a specific spot, there is a small fee, however there is no charge if a table is not in use. If you have a larger group such as a birthday party or reunion, there are various size pavilions available for rent. To inquire about picnic or pavilion rentals click here. Take a Ride Aboard the Lady Kate Enjoy a leisurely 14-mile, 90 minute tour of Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie aboard the Lady Kate. This fully narrated sightseeing boat tour includes Erie’s lighthouses, Gull Point Nature Preserve, Presque Isle’s shores, Erie’s skyline, beaches, wildlife and more. Sunset tours are also offered. The Lady Kate is docked at Perry Monument. Tours are available May 22 – September 26. Learn about the Perry Monument Located next to Misery Bay, the Perry Monument is dedicated to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, who was a prominent naval squadron leader during the War of 1812. Perry, along with Presque Isle, played a vital role in the victory over the British in the War. Interpretive panels detailing the story of the War of 1812 and The Battle of Lake Erie line the sidewalks surrounding the monument. Explore the Lagoons The lagoons of Presque Isle are perfect for exploring by canoe, kayak, paddle board or row boat. You can bring your own equipment or the park offers rentals for various watercraft. Throughout the summer, the park offers free guided lagoon by pontoon educational boat tours.
Fascinating Flora and Fauna in the Laurel Highlands May 9, 2022 by Laurel Highlands PA The natural beauty of the Laurel Highlands is stunning any time of year. With so many of us spending more and more time outside, exploring new nooks and crannies of our great outdoors, it got me thinking about the region’s array of fascinating flowers and wildlife. I’m certainly no botanist, naturalist, or biologist, so I reached out to the professionals – Kim Peck, Environmental Education Specialist at Laurel Hill State Park Complex, and Rachael Mahony, Environmental Education Specialist at Forbes State Forest, for some help identifying and interpreting some of the coolest creatures in our region. If you do encounter any of these special treasures while exploring the Laurel Highlands, please do not touch them. Give them space and admire from afar. FLORA Snow Trillium Sometimes called the “Queen of Spring,” the snow trillium begins to peek out in late March and early April, making it one of the first flowers to bloom each spring. The snow trillium is a graceful, but hardy flower to behold that can be found near steep stream valley slopes with lots of limestone. Look but please don’t touch these graceful beauties. Picking the flower will kill the plant. Mountain Laurel Pennsylvania’s state flower, mountain laurel, is abundant in the Laurel Highlands! The beautiful shrub keeps its foliage year-round, but keep an eye out in May and June for umbrella-like flowers that range in color from white to pink, with unique purple markings. Want to see the spring flowers yourself? Lucky for you, they can be found in many Laurel Highlands state parks and forests and on Fallingwater‘s property! Sugar Maples Sugar maples pull double duty in the Laurel Highlands – tasty maple syrup and stunning fall foliage. In order to produce maple sugar for syrup, there needs to be an abundance of maple trees and the perfect climate – a la the Laurel Highlands! Springtime weather in the region is ideal because of its cold nights and warm days. That alternating weather cycle, from freezing to thawing, is what changes the atmospheric pressure in the trees to allow the sap to flow out of them. Visitors can find Somerset County maple syrup at local farmers’ markets and the sugar camps where it is produced. In the fall, the darling sugar maples use their abundant natural sugar in combination with rainfall and sunlight to create some of the most amazing fall foliage. Sugar maples often turn a fiery red or majestic orange when in their peak. Purple Pitcherplants The Purple Pitcherplant didn’t always call Spruce Flats Bog “home.” Once upon a time, Spruce Flats Bog was once a virgin hemlock forest and in the late 1800s/early 1900s these trees were harvested leaving the area barren. Rainwater began to collect due to the unique underground geology of impermeable sandstone which helped the area to fill like a bowl, resulting in a bog. Bogs are nutrient-poor because water typically doesn’t actively flow in and out, rather the water in the bog is from precipitation, such as rain or snow – this decreases oxygen. Low oxygen and cold water slow rates of plant decomposition which creates an acidic environment within a bog, in most cases. Spruce flats bog is unique in that there is a small water source that feeds into the bog which makes the water less acidic than the typical bog. In the mid-1950s, purple pitcherplants were transplanted to the bog by the Westmoreland Botanical Society. Native to Pennsylvania and much of the Northeastern US, the purple pitcherplant gets its name from the ‘vase-like’ shape of its leaves. Flowers extend above the leaves and bloom during the summer. Pitcherplants are carnivorous plants that consume insects by luring in prey, trapping it, and consuming it. The insects are trapped in the vase-like leaves and are unable to escape the slippery, hairy interior of the leaves. At the bottom of the ‘vase’ are digestive enzymes that will break down the insect and nutrients with be absorbed by the plant. Purple Fringeless Orchid Orchids do grow in Pennsylvania! The Purple Fringeless Orchid is very rare. It is listed as a threatened species in PA. This orchid blooms in July and August and is pollinated by moths and butterflies. It prefers marshy meadows with acidic soil. It is only found in a few counties and currently occurs in both Fayette and Somerset Counties. We do not release the specific location of this orchid to ensure that it remains protected and a part of the fascinating flora of Pennsylvania. FAUNA Vernal Pools Vernal pools are usually temporary puddles or ponds of water that are used by amphibians for breeding. The pools come alive in early spring. The sounds of frogs and toads are quirky and unique to each species. It is super fun to know where the pools typically exist in the area and explore them each spring. You can take in the sometimes deafening sounds of amphibians welcoming warmer weather and potential mates. White Tail Deer An interesting and important fact about the White-tailed Deer is related to mother deer and new fawns. New fawns are born in late May and early June. The fawns will drink mother’s milk for the first part of their lives. Mother deer need to forage for their own food and keep healthy in order to feed and care for her fawn. She does not take the fawn with her to forage, but instead leaves it in a safe place, hidden in high grass, to rest until she returns. The fawn remains still and scentless to detract from any predators knowing its location. If you see a small fawn curled in a field please leave it alone. Never touch a fawn! Observe from a distance and allow it to rest and wait for its mother’s return. American Woodcock This migratory game species is known by unique names like “timberdoodle” and “bog sucker.” They eat primarily earthworms. The long bill is perfectly suited to gather earthworms and their large eyes keep a lookout for predators while they are eating. Their late winter/early spring arrival to Pennsylvania breeding grounds brings a fun courtship display performed by the male woodcock. The woodcock prefers at least a quarter acre of somewhat soggy open field with surrounding forest for its display. The male will sit on the ground and make an audible “peeeent” sound to begin the display. It sounds like an insect. Then the woodcock will take flight and fly 200 to 300 feet in the air while its wings whistle. Then it will spiral back to the field while making a chirping/gurgling sound. Again it will “peeeent” a few more times and repeat. This typically lasts for one-half hour to an hour at dusk and sometimes at dawn. The courtship begins in early March and continues through mid-May. Brook Trout The Brook Trout is the only species of native trout found in the Laurel Highlands. These sensitive fish require pristine streams full of macroinvertebrate life and high-quality cold water streams in order to thrive.
Five Ways to Spend a Spring Day on Erie’s Waterfront April 8, 2022 by Visit Erie Now that warmer temperatures are on the way, are you ready to “spring” out of the house and find some fun things to do? Here are our top suggestions on how you can enjoy Erie’s beautiful waterfront this spring! Experience New Heights at the Bicentennial Tower One of our area’s most recognizable landmarks, the Bicentennial Tower, is open year-round and offers birds-eye views of Downtown Erie, Presque Isle State Park, Lake Erie and on a clear day, Canada! You can access the 138-foot top level observation deck via stairs or elevator. From the top deck you can also get a unique perspective of the abstract mural entitled “Flotsam”. It is painted on the entire second-level observation deck and was created by internationally-known artist SatOne. Dig for Hidden Treasure at Presque Isle Bring a bag for beach glass hunting on the sandy beaches of Presque Isle State Park! Our friends at Relish Inc. tell us that the best beach glass can be found at Beach 1, located near the entrance to the Park. These sparkly, colorful gems are great for making crafts and gifts such as jewelry or picture frames. For tips of the trade, seminars and of course, tons of beach glass products, make plans to come back in October for The Great Lakes Beach Glass & Coastal Arts Festival. Order Lunch with a View One of Erie’s dining hot spots is the Bayfront Grille’s outdoor patio at the Sheraton Erie Bayfront Hotel. The Bayfront Grille is the top-rated Sheraton restaurant in the world, features American fare with flair! Enjoy your lunch amid the relaxing waters of Presque Isle Bay set in a casual atmosphere. We recommend their signature house salad or the chicken salad croissant with a side of truffle fries. Discover Erie’s Maritime Heritage at the Erie Maritime Museum Learn Erie’s role during the War of 1812 and the Battle of Lake Erie and how it helped shape the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The museum’s central exhibit is the U.S. Brig Niagara. It is home –ported just outside the maritime museum and serves as a floating exhibit and sail training vessel. During the summer, you can board this majestic Tall Ship for a day or sunset sail. Cruise Presque Isle Bay aboard the Victorian Princess Sailing the waters of Presque Isle Bay since 1998, this three-level Victorian-style paddlewheel boat is the Grand Dame of Erie boat tours. Sunset, sightseeing, dining and party cruises are available May to October. It’s the perfect way to enjoy life’s special events with friends and family.