Summer is Here!!

Summer Break is here – and I for one am looking forward to staying here in FL for more than two weeks in a row!

Since PA is a looong drive we again decided to leave a day early and make a small vacation of the trip. As always – we hit up Lambert’s Winery in Weston WV – that place never gets old for me and from what they say – they are doing well and distributing in WV now. As we drove through Phil’s hometown I saw a sign on the old Insane Asylum that they now give tours – of course Phil “had to go in”.

The official name of the hospital is the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. It was constructed between 1858 and 1881 and is 1296 feet long, consisting of four floors with 9 acres of floor space. Yes – it is BIG. Phil’s Dad was actually employed there back in the day as a Radiologist. Phil remembers going there and said it was creepy even then. The Asylum is a National Landmark and the owners are looking to restore it to its original condition.

 

The building where Phil's Dad worked

I will say this place was pretty creepy – NO WAY would I have gone near there if it was not in the middle of the day (lol). The guide actually explained that the TV show Ghost Hunters was there and they did have “experiences” – even saw a shadow of a person go into a wall. I guess the show has already aired but we did not get to see it.

 

A metal door which would shut in a fire - it was huge!

It was a very interesting experience to say the least. I did hear one sound that was out of the ordinary – so that creeped me out. In the picture below the poles are metal and each one of the indentions was put there by a patient. The guide explained a lot of the history, of course the happenings that he experienced and those he had heard a bout (he has worked there since the 80’s). The rest are random pictures from throughout the Asylum…
We did not get to go into the building where Phil’s Dad worked but the guide said he had experienced many weird things in that building – it was not part of the tour. I will say I was not upset about this – lol! The tour took about 2 hours – we saw all four floors.

 

After the tour we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up and head to dinner…afterwards we drove through the quaint towns, stopped at a small “Ice Cream Barn” (yes-I had ice cream-lol)…we just relaxed and enjoyed outselves – until it started pouring.

Fourth of July – We got up early and headed towards the track and knew that we would be stopping at the Flight 93 Memorial which is a couple miles for the Somerset race. It was sprinkling when we got there but we got out and started taking in everything. I will say – this was one of the most “moving” places I have ever been”. It was very hard to read everything and not be upset – it was amazing. I am glad we took the time to visit the memorial...and it is important to never forget what happened that day to so many innocent lives.

 

Race time - Pennsylvania was great!! I loved the track and had a great run going until two lapped riders got tangled in a high speed section right in front of me. It happened so fast I had no way around and I ended up getting tangled also. The one rider realized what had happened and helped me get my quad out so I could go on which was cool of him. So, I put my head down and kept pushing to finish 4th and 7th overall. I felt better at this event than any other this year and am looking forward to the last 4 races.

As always – thank you to GEICO Powersports and all of my sponsors and especially Phil who might I add drove 12 hours straight Saturday to put us into FL Sunday morning. We slept (as good as you can sleep sitting up in a truck) for 3 hours and headed home at 6:30 am. It was great to be home early but wow – we were both EXHAUSTED!!

Take Care…and enjoy the SUMMER!!!
Jennifer