We’re
in Pennsylvania now. Coal is big in this
area. My favorite town name is Port
Carbon (since 1852). The name came since
the town was on a river and coal was shipped out from this town. Cool!
Our first
stop was a coal mine. You travel by cart
into the mine. Our group was mostly 5th
graders from a local school. While they
were noisy, it actually made the tour more exciting. Plus, I’m about the same height of the kids
so I was amused.
Our
guide wasn’t really happy being a guide, but you knew he lived it as a coal
miner. A gruff man, he even told the kids to stay in school so they wouldn’t
have to work as a miner when they grew up.
My
favorite part was this signature by the Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter. He flew into space in 1962 and visited here
in 1969.
Our
next stop was Yuengling Beer, the oldest brewery in American (1829). The brewery was built here because they could
build tunnels to keep beer cold (around 52 F) in those days before refrigeration. They used some of the coal miners to build
the tunnels. 
John
and I both worked making cans so the part of the tour seeing the speed of the
canning process was fun.
Of
course we also enjoyed the samples after the tour.
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