Visiting the area

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Since nobody else would make a decision we are headed out this morning to visit the Elk Country Visitor Center in Benezette, PA.  It is going to be a drive of about 55 miles.  Hey, you don’t speak up you drive where the tour director says.  This is supposed to be a place where you can view elk, learn about them, and enjoy some scenery.   Well, we got to learn about elk and enjoy the scenery but we didn’t see any.  I got kidded about that for a bit.  It was a pleasant drive and we did enjoy the views. 

After the unsuccessful elk visit we headed into a town called St Mary’s to visit the Straub brewery.  It is a small local brewery that we thought we might get a tour of.  Turns out the tours are on Monday through Friday.  We did get the opportunity to sample some beer from the “Eternal tap”.  They had a light lager, a lager and an amber ale.  The light lager was about the only one I could possibly drink.  But then, I don’t exactly like beer.   Terry had a couple of glasses and said they were OK.   The Straub brewery claims 1872 as their beginning date and they have been in business ever since.  They made near-beer during Prohibition.   It is one of the older brews in Pennsylvania. 

After getting our beer at Straubs we asked the people there to recommend a place for pizza.  They gave us a couple of suggestions and we asked which they would go to for lunch.  They said, “Doughboys”.  Turns out we had passed that on our way into town but I couldn’t remember exactly where.  We couldn’t find it in the GPS (turns out the name was Rick’s Doughboys) but we finally located it and went in.  They had a special going with an XL pizza, a dozen  wings and 2 liters of soda for $20.  That is what we had.   You got to pick the coating for the wings and we got adventurous and selected garlic butter and parmesan cheese.   They were really yummy.  Lydia and I were discussing how to use that flavor combination at home.  The pizza was good too. 
Once we finished lunch we asked the waitress about a little church we tried to find on our way into town.  It is listed as one of the smallest churches in the country.  It measures 12 feet by 18 feet and is called Decker’s Chapel.  It was built in 1856 by Michael Decker in honor of his miraculous recovery from a back injury he suffered when he fell from an apple tree while working in his orchard.  It is also on the National Register of Historic Places.  She was able to tell us when to slow down and look for it.  Using her instructions we soon located the chapel.  Here it is. 

We took a wandering path back to the campground.  We weren’t in a real hurry and wanted to see the countryside.  It was a good day spent with good friends.  We only have another week or so before Terry and Lydia leave to head back to Calif.  We will miss them. 
Lydia had put some ribs in the crockpot before we left but none of us were hungry so she is just going to save them for tomorrow.  It is cooling off now. In fact, the temp tonight is suppose to be in the high 40's. 

That is all for today.  Have a great time.