General: Pennsylvania

This is about the area I grew up in. It is my first review on this site I hope you all find it helpful.

Though currently this part of the state, well our entire state for that mater, is not exactly booming economically there is a plethora of things to do. I will try to give a sampling of the variety of things available to do in this area. There are many other attractions than what I will include in my review, but do to space and time ...
...mentioning a few. I will keep the descriptions brief also I just want to tempt you to come visit where I grew up.

I will start with my Home town of Altoona. Altoona is small city known for being a railroad town. At one time it had a population of approximately 80,000. Now, it is only around 50,000 but it is friendly and steeped in tradition. What are some of the things to do in this area I will break it down into categories to help ... more

This is about the area I grew up in. It is my first review on this site I hope you all find it helpful.

Though currently this part of the state, well our entire state for that mater, is not exactly booming economically there is a plethora of things to do. I will try to give a sampling of the variety of things available to do in this area. There are many other attractions than what I will include in my review, but do to space and time I don’t want to lose my readers I am only mentioning a few. I will keep the descriptions brief also I just want to tempt you to come visit where I grew up.

I will start with my Home town of Altoona. Altoona is small city known for being a railroad town. At one time it had a population of approximately 80,000. Now, it is only around 50,000 but it is friendly and steeped in tradition. What are some of the things to do in this area I will break it down into categories to help you out.

Amusements

Lakemont Park is a small amusement park, which offers a day of family fun. I remember going there as a kid and loving it, and I still love it as a parent. They have added rides and added a water park since my young days. It is the home of the oldest roller coaster and the price is not very bad. An All-day ride pass is $7.95. Now some of the attritions such as the Go-Karts are extra, but this is true wherever you might go. There are plenty of places to picnic at this park, which I highly suggest because the vendor food is expensive and tasteless.

Lakemont Park is located off RT. 36 in Logan Township. If you are in Altoona and take RT. 36 south you won’t miss the park because you can see it from the road and there are signs telling you where to go.

A few miles east of Altoona off I-99 is Del Grossos amusement park (Bland’s park here on Epinions). This is another small park, which offers a fun day of family fun. An All-day ride pass at this park costs $12.95 and the other attractions such as mini-golf cost more. My personal opinion for the cost hit up Lakemont I think it has more to offer.

The Slinky Actions Zone is a fun center. It has your typical games, which cost a fortune, to play and you get tickets to win prizes. I will admit I was surprised at the quality of prizes you could get for a small amount of tickets. We go to these types of places fairly often and usually the prizes are not that great. When you have a very active 6 year-old these places are very popular. There is also a huge area of tubes, ball pits, and slides to climb and play through. When we went last year it cost $3.95 for the kids an adult could go in free with the accompaniment of a youngster. They would rent you knee pads for $1.00. Splurge and rent the kneepads for yourself. After 10 minutes of being in the tubes you will be thankful. The games to win tickets are extra the breakdown was 4 tokens for $1.00, of course, we ended up spending a lot more than that for the games. Now if only they could come up with something to give me energy to keep up with my son. One note do not I repeat do not get the food hear. It is extremely expensive and just downright awful. I will make some suggestions as places to eat later in my review.

If you leave the Slinky Action Zone parking lot and turn right go through the traffic light about 500 yards up the road you will find Legioners Park. This is a free park with a great playground. The people who made the park talked with children to find out what they would like in a playground. Oh boy, the result is a multitude of fun. They have many things to climb on and slides galore. Also, there are pipes you can hit to make music, and of course the traditional swing sets. They have wooden beams suspended by strong wire cords to add difficulty to walk across. This park was well thought out and built. If you have little ones I really suggest you check it out. They have places to picnic and a large field where you can throw a Frisbee or ball if you chose. The only thing you might want is to have that energy boosting devise I asked somebody to invent when talking about the Slinky Action Zone.

Historical Sites

The Rail Roaders Museum and Horseshoe Curve are two must see’s if you are at all interested in trains. The museum is open from 9a.m. to 5p.m. seven days a week during the summer. In the winter they close on Mondays. Rates for the museum are $8.50 for adults $7.45 for students and seniors, and $5.00 for children under 12. The museum has a lot of interesting information about trains and the building of the railroad. The museum is actually in some of the old Conrail shops, which have been closed down. One section I particularly enjoy is the bar. In this section it looks like an old time bar and they have two movies they play alternately. I have only seen part of one (it doesn’t keep the interest of the younger ones probably geared for 14 or above) the movie is a bunch of locals sitting at the bar gossiping. However, there is a lot of Altoona’s and the railroads history packed into their gossip. I felt it was a clever way of providing history and also giving people a taste of the local color. Also, something I found neat is the statues of people in the museum where made by putting actual people in body casts so they are replicas of real people most of whom worked for the railroad. The Website for the museum is interesting also you may wish to check it out if you are interested in trains. HTTP://www.railroadcity.com

Another place you may wish to visit is Baker Mansion this was the house of Elias Baker who owned Allegheny Furnace. They have varying exhibits we went one year around Christmas and different groups put up displays describing Christmas of the varying ethnic backgrounds in the area and how they celebrate the holiday. It was really interesting. I need to mention that what Baker Mansion main claim to fame is the haunted wedding gown. It is enclosed in an airtight case and so it is said that on the wedding anniversary of Elias daughter the gown starts to move. I personally have not seen it and really don’t believe it, but doesn’t every town have a ghost story. Admission to the museum is $4.00 for adults and $3.50 for students. I also need to mention that stopping at the museum store is a must. It is run by a great lady (but she isn’t the attendant she just runs the store and does the purchasing—it’s my mom).

Miscellaneous

Just 4 miles north of Altoona is the Oak Spring Winery, which has tours 7 days a week 11a.m. to 6p.m. The winery is closed on major holidays. I know some of you are interested in this type of outing. We went but it really isn’t my thing. It is interetesting to learn about the fermenting process, but as I said I just can’t get excited about wineries. Maybe because I really don’t like the taste of most wine. I might mention they have an apple wine that I could tolerate. Give me a Coors Light and I’m happy.

There are a wide variety of places to eat in this region. If you are feeling rich and looking for a very nice Italian restaurant try Allegro. You will need nice clothes to go hear and entrees start at about $15.00 and go as high as $50.00 I would also suggest making reservations. The Allegro is located at 3926 Broad Ave. Altoona PA. Phone number 814-946-5216.

A restaurant we frequent when visiting Altoona is the Prime Sirloin Buffet, which is a chain restaurant, but it is the only one we have ever come across. It offers a nice buffet with a variety of choices. Last time we went for lunch and I pigged out on their Reuben sandwiches. Another thing I really like about this restaurant is they offer several choices of sugar free deserts. I am diabetic and it means a lot to me if a restaurant makes a point to treat us fairly. Every time we have gone hear and it’s been several times at different times of the day the restaurant has always been clean and they keep fresh food coming to the buffet. This restaurant is located at 501 Municipal Dr. Duncansville, Pa. It is right beside the Slinky Action Zone. So go to the Slinky Action Zone work up an appetite and head over to the Prime Sirloin Buffet.

Another chain restaurant, which you will find, scattered throughout Altoona and PA is Hoss’s. This is a wonderful steak place. They have a fabulous salad bar and their steaks are terrific. They offer some seafood dishes, which also make the taste buds, dance with joy. I am not listing where they are because as I said they scattered throughout the region. The price range in around the $6.95 to $12.95 range so it’s not an extremely expensive place to eat.

Accommodations

There are many hotels to choose from I have only stayed at the Days Inn, and this was about 6 years ago. At that time the hotel was very clean and comfortable. They offered a coffee pot and hair dryer in the room. They do not have a restaurant, but there are about 4 or 5 restaurants within walking distance. (When we go to Altoona we usually stay with family. I’m very cheap). It has been a long time to give much information on the hotel and as I said I haven’t stayed at any of the other hotels sorry about not being able to provide much detail in this area.

There are also some State Parks with campgrounds scattered throughout the region. A couple of the St. Parks are Prince Galitizan St. Park and Canoe Creek St. Park. I have camped at Prince Galitizan St. Park and been there for picnics and swimming many times it is a woodsy and beutiful park. The park is about 30 miles north of Altoona.

Final Thoughts

This area is not as expensive as some areas I live in the Pittsburgh region now and gasoline prices in the Altoona area are always about 5 cents cheaper than they are hear and right now we are paying around $1.31 per gallon I think our area is cheaper than a lot of areas. Imagine only paying $1.25 that’s what my Dad said he’s paying right now. Anyhow that’s just a small example of how you can save money visiting this wonderful area.

I think I have given a good sampling of the attractions this area offers there also are
some arts and antique museums and shops in Hollidaysburg I know a lot of people enjoy that type of thing. I personally am not drawn to that type of attraction that’s why I am just mentioning briefly now.

For an area where the family can enjoy themselves and kick back and have fun come on over to Altoona. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at what this small town in Central PA has to offer.

This review can be found at another review site under my user name. So, yes some of you may have already read it.

 

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