The day started off very quiet in the campground. ?We watched the sun sneak up between the trees. ?What a beautiful start for our day.? We did a little shopping at the? Bass Pro Shop, Aldi’s, and Walmart to restock some much needed camping supplies.

When Wayne worked for IBM/Premise years ago, he worked a lot in Philadelphia, PA where he became good friends with Jim, one of his customers. ?They stayed in touch all these years.? When Jim found out we were coming to this area and asked if they could take us sightseeing. ?They came to the campground around 12:30 to pick us up and start our amazing adventure.

Our first stop was the Civil War Museum. ?It was a wonderful representation of the North and the South. ?We spent a couple of hours here enjoying all the memorabilia. ?There were bricks making up the sidewalk that told how many soldiers served and died from all the states. ?It’s well worth the trip if you are ever in this area.

We then took a driving tour of downtown Harrisburg, PA. ?We saw the state capital. ?We saw what looked like a house, but you could drive through the middle of it. ?It was the entrance to a cemetery and was something unique that we would never have imagined existed.? They drove us to a beautiful area called Reservoir Park – Italian Lake. ?It was absolutely gorgeous. ?There were beautiful black and white swans and a bunch of geese. ?I don’t remember ever seeing a black swan.

We were getting pretty hungry so we?decided it was time for dinner. ?Jim and Barb suggested we eat at Duke’s Bar & Grill. ?It had a menu of about a hundred pages from salads, to Mexican, to Italian, to meat and potatoes, and BOY WAS IT delicious. ?Wayne and Barb got the Mountain of Meatloaf ( see photo in slide show ), which when you see the picture you will know why.? It was a “mile high mountain” 🙂

After the wonderful meal and conversation and view Jim drove us out to Three Mile Island. ?It was a little scary being out there. ?Two of the reactors are permanently inactive, but ?two are still active. ?We saw people fishing, but Barb said they are told not to eat the fish with more than 2 eyes, or more than two tails. (ha ha)

We also saw some beautiful homes in the downtown area. ?Some areas were well kept, and some stood in ruins. ?The architecture of these homes are beautiful. ?It’s a shame to see them so deteriorated and run down.? We also were toured through? City Island Park. ?They have soccer fields, minor league baseball fields, hockey, and playgrounds. ?It was very nice for people of all ages and very safe for families to bring their children.

They also drove us beside the river where the flood plains are. ?There are beautiful homes here, but every time it floods they get flooded. ?They said when the river starts rising they have to move all their belongings up to the second floor, because the water covers the first floor. ?The newer homes are built up a floor and the garage takes up the first floor. ?Beautiful view of the river from here, but would not want to take the chance of being flooded.

Thanks to Jim and Barb, we had a most wonderful day. ?We got to see a lot of things we would never have known were here if it were not for our wonderful friends.