I'm Erik the Travel Guy fasten your seatbelts because this is Pennsylvania's
great outdoors immerse yourself in the natural beauty of this unique region of
Pennsylvania charming small towns and unbelievable state forests interactive
activities for the whole family fantastic food and the world's most
famous weather predicting groundhog can all be found here this region is made up
of five distinct counties and cook forests all located in northwestern
Pennsylvania it's conveniently situated on interstate 80 by way of the family
truckster or you can arrive via southern Express Airways into Dubois and while
you're here you have to make the stop at the very famous straw brewery in the
town of st. Mary's and what's this eternal tap I've been hearing a lot
since we got here it's been a tradition of hospitality at the brewery for as
long as anyone can remember and we've always had a tap of beer tap here you
can actually see some there's some old pictures of different earlier versions
of it but we've always had just spirit of hospitality where visitors could come
in have a couple of years enjoyed talk with friends and then just all we ask is
you wash your glass of course we sampled all the flavors and we also had time for
a light lunch at Gunnar's yes that's the savage burger challenge and it's not for
the faint of heart and no I didn't even come close to finishing this four pound
burger I have a question for you have you and yours been dreaming of a
romantic weekend getaway at an amazing Victorian B&B well this is your dream
come true welcome to the Towers Victorian Inn this
breathtaking home features six guest rooms each with a private bath enjoy a
glass of wine on the porch and each morning breakfast is served in the
impressive dining room this magnificent home is on Millionaire's Row
and part of the lily of the valley here in Elk County we brought you to Venice
at the elk capital of Pennsylvania I might add
as you can see right behind me that's the visitor center it's brand new it's
gorgeous inside yes you need to spend some time there however that's not the
main event the main event elk and here's an insider tip now the elk are most
active at dusk and dawn so you know right on time let's go I say at least an
hour should do the trick to browse through the interactive
exhibits and do a little shopping you can spend a few hours or the afternoon
learning about the elk and other creatures that roam free here but I also
suggest getting really close oh and one more thing make sure you take the
horse-drawn carriage ride there's reason for this because when you do he'll get
up close and personal with these guys I look carefully that's a 700-pound help
looking at us right now it doesn't get any better than this all
that elk viewing has made me a little thirsty so I opted a sample a little
moonshine at Blackbird distillery where they make every batch in every flavor by
hand and owners Jennifer and David black yep they're an authentic Pennsylvania
treasure have you ever wondered how they make those authentic wooden bats for
Major League Baseball well to answer that question you have to come here they
start with specially selected mature trees from western Pennsylvania every
bat is made in their factory and it follows a rigid 14 step quality control
process to ensure you get what you deserve each and every time so the
bottom line fans they go to Cooperstown super fans they come here
this is bwp oh it's cool hey I'm one of them for history lovers he'll find
plenty of historical information throughout the region but one of my
favorites is the Jefferson County History Center it's located in
Brookville here you can spend the day exploring the museum discovering your
family tree researching the history of the county and purchasing a little
historical literary souvenir we can debate whether or not travel is or isn't
political but as far as I'm concerned travel is personal and if you're looking
for a perfect spot to be at one with your thoughts well look no further then
cook Forrest the 8500 acre cook for a state park and more than 3,100 acre
Clarion Riverlands Lion scenic Northwest during Pennsylvania known for its stands
of old-growth forests the parks forests cathedral of towering white pines and
hemlocks is a National Natural Landmark as scenic 13 mile stretch of the Clarion
River flows through cook for a state park it's popular for canoeing kayaking
and tubing after a full day of exploring have dinner and spend the night at
Gateway Lodge the newly constructed cabins are breathtaking and the dinner
delicious time for a little word association if I
say weather capital of the world and you say Punxsutawney you'd be correct oh and
by the way there's only one Punxsutawney Phil what does he do
on the other 363 four days a year he's busy as as we are he makes appearances
he's gone to sporting event schools libraries were constantly on the go with
and he and he's got a pretty good record I mean oh yeah hundred percent hundred
percent he calls it every time right and if you're a PBS member you can view the
entire episode on PBS passport I had to get to Clarion County to take part in
the autumn leaf festival over five hundred thousand people visit this area
for this nine-day internationally award-winning festival it's filled with
events and activities rides games music food football touch-a-truck cruise ins
Auto Rama and farmers and crafters day it's the largest daytime parade in
Pennsylvania this is the town of Fox Berg in Clarion County I heard about
this beautiful Steinway I just couldn't help myself don't you take a look around
this up you and yours can spend time along the Allegheny River seeing
wildlife and just taking in the natural beauty have lunch or dinner at Allegheny
Grill and spend the night at fox bergen i also highly recommend taking in a live
performance at lincoln hall where you'll discover a fully restored Wurlitzer
theater organ hi welcome back pretty remarkable huh now let's review we've
got five distinct counties the breathtaking cook forest outdoor
recreation indoor cultural activities abound and we're just getting started
look we've only got three minutes you've got a lifetime of vacations ahead of you
we'll see you here in Pennsylvania's great outdoors
I'm Erik the Travel Guy thanks for watching for more information and to
plan your next visit to the Pennsylvania great outdoors region check out visit P
AG o calm
we open that up I'm just kidding this one's in the back I don't know what to
do process through what's called moulting gets them ready to be used in
grooming and one more thing before we leave you've got to take the horse-drawn
wagon ride muscle-memory what hi we believe sometimes travel can be funny
beyond your backyard with Eric the Travel Guide premieres this spring on
Blue Ridge PBS and PBS passport