The sidewalks may not be made of yellow bricks, but there’ll be no place like Somerset during the 22 nd Annual Fire & Ice Festival January 13-15. Hosted annually by Somerset Inc., the Fire & Ice Festival has drawn thousands of visitors to the streets of Uptown Somerset each Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend since the event’s inception in 1995. Over…
Read More
Leaf peeping – traveling to view and photograph the changing fall foliage – is a favorite pastime for many on the East Coast each autumn, including here in the Laurel Highlands. Brilliant shades of orange, crimson and gold adorn the rolling hills and countryside, turning the region into an awe-inspiring landscape of vivid colors. There is no exact…
Read More
If you’ve ever driven through Pennsylvania, you’ve no doubt noticed the Keystone State is home to a plethora of barns. Some are red, some are white. Some are simple, one-level buildings while others are multi-storied structures. I’ve even seen purple barns and round barns in my travels. To the untrained eye, one barn may seem like any other, but…
Read More
A few weekends ago, we decided to explore the birth of a nation by traveling along the National Road through the Laurel Highlands. The National Road – modern-day U.S. Route 40 – was the first federally funded highway in the U.S. and set a precedent for a national highway system and future public works projects. Beginning in Cumberland, Md., the…
Read More
Every February just a bit north of the Laurel Highlands, a groundhog determines whether spring is right around the corner or if another six weeks of winter is on its way. Plenty of people love winter and everything associated with the season. Still others dread that Punxsutawney Phil’s annual forecast will stall the return of warmer, sunnier…
Read More
When it comes to celebrating our nation's birthday, several destinations come to mind as prime locations to dive into all that is the Independence Day holiday: Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, Gettysburg, national and state parks, and the list goes on. Locally, fireworks displays and attractions like Idlewild Park & SoakZone, the…
Read More
Last Memorial Day, I took part in a learn-to-kayak program at Laurel Hill State Park near Somerset. I'd wanted to learn how to flatwater kayak for some time, but without a kayak of my own and without knowing anything about kayaking, getting out on the water seemed like an unachievable goal. But thanks to the free Memorial Day lesson, which included…
Read More