PSoTD

For Pennsylvanians in search of pubs, this review blog can be helpful.

There is actually a festival about this held in Stahlstown every year. The things you can learn about Pennsylvania, and the activities of others, using this Internet thing.

But I am amused that there's an organization called The Pennsylvania Gourd Society.

But that's wrong.

Pennsylvania is the fourth-most visited state in the country, with an estimated 138 million visitors annually. Travelers to Pennsylvania spent approximately $27 billion in 2007, including nearly $20 billion by leisure visitors on transportation, food, rooms, shopping, entertainment and other items.

Now how do I get in on this 27 billion...

A few years ago we were in Colonial Williamsburg, and we saw a Great Wolf Lodge on our way to our motel. On the way back we stopped to look inside, it was a complete lure to our kids - an indoor water park set inside a hotel, with 3 or 4 story slides and lots of kids running around, having fun. Almost on the spot we told the kids that someday we would stay at one.

So last weekend we went up to the Great Wolf Lodge in Scotrun in the Poconos and stayed a night, and the kids had a blast. It WAS nice to get out of near freezing rain, put on a swimsuit and play in relatively warm water in an 84 degree air environment. We saw kids from toddlers to maybe 14-year-olds running around in the waterpark having a blast, but I think the place doesn't offer enough different rides to retain older teenagers - which, if you're like us and don't have older teenagers, is just fine.

It's not cheap, but you can take two days at the waterpark for every night you stay there, so you have to think of the cost in terms of both lodging and water time. Also, the GWL has several programs for the smaller kids, including crafts and story time and games. In the evening, we spent $25 to let our kids buy a wand and play a game called MagiQuest which was spread out throughout the hotel with interactive stations, and they played for four hours that night and a couple of hours the next afternoon after we hit the water slides again. It was ALMOST as big of a hit as the water slides, and there were kids running around all over the hotel, brothers and sisters in pajamas playing as teams, having lots of fun. Well worth the $25.

GWL has pricing deals that are better than the night we went, but because of school and sports our flexibility was limited and we were ready to end our kids' asking, WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GREAT WOLF LODGE. We were a bit concerned that we would see it as not worth the money and effort, but we came away feeling like we had a fun and worthy weekend. Of course, now our kids are scheming to go with their friends again someday in the future...

Just spent our first weekend ever in the Poconos this weekend. Very nice place, but does it always rain this much?