So for Father's day yesterday I was treated to day at Knoebel's with an overnight stay at a local bed and breakfast.
Weather - Sunny, high near 90.
Departed Dover, PA at about 10:00am, and headed north to the Elysburg area. But first, a quick driving tip through the ghost-town of Centralia, PA. For those who don't know the story, take a few minutes and read the story of the underground mine fire.
Mine Fire - Coal Burning underground, Homes destroyed seems to have the best account and pictures of it. I was able to see the house with the buttresses, the time capsule, and some steam from near the cemetery, which is a rarity considering the weather.
At least yesterday there were tourists standing on the hill overlooking the cemetery than there were citizens of the town (11 vs 9).
After driving around for about 20 minutes, we went to Knoebel's. The parking lot looked nuts, cars were back to tram stop 3.
We entered and didn't do too much, my three year old kind of dictated the day. I believe the order was food, Pioneer Train, Flyers (best Flyers anywhere), Flume, Paratrooper, Scrambler, Balloon things next to the scrambler, and Skloosh. A total of $19.40 in tickets.
The balloon things kicked my ass and I was done for the day. My wife was reeling from the Paratrooper, so at 5:00 we adjourned to possibly come back that night, but we had to check into the Bed and Breakfast.
We stayed at the Sleepy Hollow Bed and Breakfast (
Sleepy Hollow Bed & Breakfast), about 3 miles from the park. It's a beautiful place on beautiful land. The owners, who live off-site, were around for most of the evening and were very friendly. After speaking to one of the owners, Ed, I found out that he was childhood friends with Dick and Buddy Knoebel, and still had contact with them - including having dinner that night with them at the park.
We chatted for about 30 minutes about the park, about the floods, about Flying Turns. I learned what's delaying the opening of the coaster, which is probably common knowledge around here but news to me - something about the wheels not being right and carving the wood during test runs. They're working with PTC to design new wheels, but regardless Dick has ridden it and gave it great reviews.
The next morning we had breakfast there, chatted some more, and fed fish in the B&B's pond. As we got into the car we decided that we didn't need to go back to the park, as we had tentatively planned, so we came home instead.
Final score:
Centralia - 10/10
Knoebel's - 10/10
Sleepy Hollow - 10/10
Centralia/Knoebel's 6/15/08 
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