Central PA. wingding!

I arrived here while Heather and her family were away on vacation, so I patiently held my breath in the box and was finally let out early this morning. Whew! Heather lives in Hollidaysburg, PA., which is a small town right next to the small city of Altoona. We visited several unusual places today and boy am I beat...


First stop: The Altoona Railroaders Museum. Apparently at one time in our nation's history, Altoona was the hub of all things train related. Railroading was the lifeline of the economy and supposedly people set their watches by the running of the trains. The world famous Horseshoe Curve is here, and it is one of the impressive examples of engineering and ingenuity I can think of. Today this part of the economy has been greatly diminished, however many people in this area retain a strong attachment to this part of the town's history.


Second stop: The Boyer candy factory. Did you know that Altoona is the home of one of the most successful family owned candy factories in America? Me neither. But it appears that there is something known as the 'Mallo cup' and women experiencing PMS have been known to draw blood over it...I toured the factory and sampled some of these Mallo Cups--they are worthy of all the hype, believe me!


Third stop: The Slinky factory. Back in Hollidaysburg resides the Slinky factory. Yes, Hollidaysburg is the home of the Slinky. In fact the captain of industry owner of the factory drives a fancy Cadillac around town with a license plate that reads--you guessed it--SLINKY! The people at the factory store let me sit on a pile of them and have my picture taken. Being surrounded by Slinkies made me feel very...odd.


I arrived here with many wonderful gifts from Heather in Utah, including some lovely origami paper, a skein of Wool in the Woods, a unique ball holder and other nice gifts. She was very generous! Today I am off (via Priority Mail) to my next destination and I promise not to eat any more Mallo Cups!

-Gnorm

Sorry that Gnorm remained in a box for the last week while we were away. Having him was a great opportunity to see my town from a gnome's perspective!