Birds, trains, and life

This past weekend Willie and I visited Yellow Creek state park. It was a quick visit, just to see what was there. We went to a water fowl observation post that was about a quarter mile off the road. We didn’t see any water fowl, but we did see an Eastern Towhee on the walk back to the car. ​

After lunch, Willie, my mother-in-law, Judy, and I went Horseshoe Curve. I had seen Horseshoe Curve a dozen times on the drive to Altoona, I even went through the curve on an Amtrak trip from Philly to Pittsburgh, but never been to see the curve itself. Our timing was impeccable: we got to see two trains in quick succession. It was really neat to see the train stretch around the mountainside like that, and I got to see real live helper trains for the first time! ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The next best part about Horseshoe Curve was the mini-incline they had running from the visitor’s center up to the viewing area. Theirs had two cars running at the same time, so there was a funky switch in the middle. And, they called them funiculars, which is, I gather, the technical name for an incline railroad when there are two cars. That’s such a great name: it sounds very steampunk. ​

Afterwards, we had yummy frozen custard at The Meadows and saw a bank with a banner advertising that they were bailout-free. Well, whatever works, I guess. ​