The scenic countryside of Pennsylvania and our rich history are such obvious attractions that they often eclipse many of the other great amazing elements of our region.

For example, our beer is world famous and we are home to the oldest brewery in America. The Yuengling brewery in Pottsville, which was established in 1829 is a Mecca for all beer aficionados visiting the region.

However, in my opinion the most overlooked piece of our region’s heritage is the music that has been produced here over the years. Many famous music artists have called Pennsylvania home at one time or another, with names such as Will smith and Hall & Oates representing just a couple of the big names who have been influenced by the region.

The Best Guitarist in Pennsylvania?

I am taking online guitar lessons (using an excellent site called Guitar Instructions, which I highly recommend by the way) to learn to play guitar at the moment so I’m naturally drawn to guitar-based music. I love everything from classical guitar pieces written by Bach through Blues, Jazz, Rock, to experimental stuff that pretty much no-one else likes other than me and the people who play it. One thing about the Pennsylvania region is that it has spawned some great guitarists, the greatest of which in my opinion is Glenn Branca.

This guy rocks! Not only is he a guitarist of some note, but also a composer, with many fine achievements under his belt.

He is quite a controversial figure in the music world and many people have expressed their views on him in the popular press, whether they love him or hate him he certainly generates discussion.

Take the solo featured in the video below for example. It was taken during a live performance by Branca at Jeffrey Lohn’s Loft in New York in June 1978 and features some rather avant garde solo improvisation.

His soloing can best be described as atonal, with little in the way of actual musical notes to interfere with Branca’s creativity. I’m not sure I would have been amongst the first in the audience to burst into applause, but what he does in that performance is certainly thought-provoking.

And that is what good music is about after all, isn’t it? It makes you think. It challenges the ideas you have about the world, and in this case the ideas you have about what a guitar solo should comprise.

For me, that’s a neat metaphor for the whole Lancaster-York Heritage Region. The area means different things to different people. What one person thinks of as quaint, others see as important historical artefact. One person’s avant garde is another’s amplified noise.

No matter what your preferences for the perfect holiday, Pennsylvania has it all. You just need to explore a little to find it.

I am not the kind of person that believes in spoiling my dog. Mind you, Duke, my Labrador really does mean a lot to me. However, I am not going to spend $100 a night on one of those fancy pet hotels that gives the dogs massages. And I think a dog in shoes is plain ridiculous. I do not believe that my dog should be better dressed then me. After all, he doesn’t need to be; He gets all the ladies he wants just by sniffing at them. The only thing I really ever spend money on for Duke, besides vet bills, is that home flea treatment. I suppose, however, that this is really more for me than it is for him. Some people make a great big deal about dogs and fleas, but as long as bugs don’t get on me I am fine. Duke never really had a big problem with fleas anyway. I would just buy him a generic dog flea treatment every now and then and he’d be fine.

Anyway, Duke is one of my most favorite pals. I take him just about every where I go. He is the best company in the world just because he never argues with me and he doesn’t hog the remote. I will never forget the trip we took last summer up to Pennsylvania. Duke and I really had a good time. It was a road trip that we took in my old conversion van. For me, this was a very long trip and, besides for Duke, I was traveling alone.

We really had a great time. I took Duke to one of the dog parks up there. I never usually go to dog parks but I wanted to try something different this time. I was surprised that I had to pay for entry, but since it was much cheaper than one of those doggy daycares I didn’t mind. Later that evening we got back on the highway. Now usually Duke is calm when we’re on the road, but this time it seemed like the more I drove the more he scratched and whined. He was going crazy all over the back of the van a few hours after we got on the road. I didn’t know what his problem was so I had to stop and check it out. Turns out that Duke had fleas all over him. Worst was that they were all over the back of the van. For some reason the old dog flea treatment that I normally use hadn’t worked for Duke this time.

He needed a solution quick but I had to go on a little ways further before I got to a store. By that time I don’t know if it was psychosomatic or the fleas were biting me too, but I was itching just as badly as he was. I could barely contain myself when I got to the store. People were looking at me all funny. This time I decided I’d better get something that worked, so I got Frontline for Dogs. They had some kind of on-the-spot treatment and I used it on him and I got a spray for the van.

Let me tell you that this stuff really works. We got rid of the fleas and made it home. Now Frontline Plus for Dogs is the only kind of dog flea treatment that I use.

To the west of Philadelphia and north of Baltimore lies the counties of Lancaster and York. The Susquehanna river runs through this area and looks like an interesting area to learn about the history of America in the beautiful countryside surrounded by nature. All kinds of historical references relating to events such as the American Revolution, the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution are to be found.

The difference between when I went travelling in the United States fourteen years ago and now is that it’s much easier to travel light today. A perfect example of this is that instead of carrying books to read on holiday, now a days, there are a selection of hand held electronic book readers to choose from. The way that these devices work is that they hold electronic books. In other words, on one reader, we can have hundreds, if not thousands, of books. This is a really nice option, especially if we’re travelling.

So if I did the same trip again today, I’d try to encourage my friends to visit some of the less well known tourist attractions in the area. One thing that caught my eye was the First National Bank Museum. This is the only known bank in America still preserved in its original setting. This could really give us a taste of life as it used to be.

Then when it comes time to relax, I’d love to find a scenic spot by the Susquehanna river and enjoy reading a book. These days, more and more people are choosing to use these new electronic reading devices. In fact, a few new models have recently come on the market, the Amazon Kindle Touch is one of the latest offerings.

Photo from Democrat and Chronicle

This looks like an amazing region to explore the great outdoors, take pictures and enjoy reading a book in the open air. When it comes to travelling, the Amazon Kindle as well as other devices like the Barnes & Noble – Nook are revolutionizing the way we read. Now we really can take as many books as we like on holiday with us. We’re no longer restricted to what we can carry. The way things are now, we can carry as many books as we’d like! That’s why, if you love getting back to nature, and like the area surrounding the Susquehanna river then you bringing your Kindle with you is just another way to increase the enjoyment!

The Lancaster-York Heritage Region has changed its name to the Susquehanna Gateway Heritage Area to highlight our strategic focus on the cultural & economic value of the Susquehanna River to our region, state & nation. We’re also expanding our community outreach to include an e-newsletter and a new membership program.