The Jar of Fun is back...

A few years ago, I bought Rich a copy of 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up. The book lists places both far and near (for example, there's Ayers Rock in Australia and Blyde River Canyon in South Africa to go along with more 'local' destinations such as Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks in California or Niagara Falls in New York).  Short of winning the Powerball, I suspect there are many places in the book that we'll never see.  But we have hit a few of them already and I think that's pretty cool.

One of the 'Places to Go' is a riverboat cruise on the mighty Mississippi River... something we did in October 2008 during a trip to New Orleans.  I loved that riverboat cruise, being among the many barges that travel up and down one of the busiest stretches along the Mississippi, taking in the sites along the way... from areas still damaged after Hurricane Katrina to an oil refinery to the breathtaking view of the skyline as we approached downtown New Orleans.

Tuesday, the Jar of Fun made its first appearance in nearly three weeks, giving us perhaps the closest equivalent I'll find here in Central Pennsylvania - the Hiawatha Paddlewheel Riverboat and Williamsport Trolley Tour.  Rich also made his first appearance on a Jar of Fun day, an unexpected surprise since I told him the night before that he was not allowed to influence the destination if he planned to tag along (he really wants the Whittaker Science Center in Harrisburg).

The hour-long cruise sails out of Susquehanna State Park four times a day (11:30, 1:00, 2:30, and 4:00) in June, July, and August.  The tour's literature promises you'll learn what a Boom Rat is and how the Susquehanna River helped Williamsport become the richest city in America during the height of the Lumber Era, and it delivered on both counts... all for the low, low price of $7.50 for adults and $3.50 for kids (there are coupons on the website for $1.00 off each ticket, so it was $18.00 for four of us).



            After the cruise, we took a tour on
the Williamsport Trolley.  Trolley fares were $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for children.  The tour was a roughly 90-minute long ride through Williamsport’s areas of interest, including Millionaire’s Row (the beautiful homes built by the lumber barons during the city's Lumber Era).  We also passed Memorial Park where the first Little League Baseball game was played and learned about how that first little league team was formed.  I've had it in the back of my mind to take the kids to the Little League World Series all summer so it was fun to get a little of the history behind the organization.  Especially now that Matt is expressing an interest in playing Pee Wee ball next spring!

We passed this mural somewhere along the tour... if you are from State College or you've at least been through downtown, you should recognize the artist (even if, like me, you don't know his name).  You can see his local work on the side of SBS.

Another highlight of the tour (if you can really call it that) was a brief stop at the Peter Herdic Transportation Museum... and brief is really all you need here.  Admission is included with the trolley tour.  There's not much to see here - an old bus, an old coach, and a canoe inside... but outside, there's an old Pullman car that you could walk through and that was pretty neat.  This particular car had a dining area, kitchen and a few sleeping rooms.

We've got a video that we've probably seen a hundred times by now called The Big Train Trip which follows two boys on a trip from Toronto to Vancouver on VIA Rail Canada.  The kids have always had an interest in an overnight train ride, and the Pullman car put that front and center in their minds again... I'd love to do the Canadian trip, but I priced it out once at something like $10,000 (it may have been Canadian dollars, but that's still too expensive for a three-day train trip).  So maybe we'll settle for the auto-train to Florida one day...

I think this picture is pretty cool...

We had a great dinner at Paradise Cancun in Williamsport, played miniature golf at Hoopla's (outside the Lycoming Mall), and finished off the day with ice cream back at Amy's Frosty Freeze in Mifflinburg (you may recall we also stopped there after T&D's Cats of the World on Jar of Fun #2 day).

All in all, it was a good day.  The kids really enjoyed the paddleboat ride and the trolley ride.  And, they both crashed hard on the drive home, which I guess was to be expected since we were out of the house for more than 12 hours.

Now that the Jar of Fun is back in business, I'm already looking forward to whatever our next adventure might be...