Vanlog, Uniontown, PA
August 12, 2020
After a loud night at the Cracker Barrel near the Pgh International Airport, we drove into downtown Pittsburgh this morning to see the Carnegie Museum. Already limited to 10% capacity because of COVID-19, the 10-12 time slot was even more limited for immunocompromised and elderly individuals. It almost felt as if we had the museum to ourselves at times. I have never been to the Carnegie Museum that I can recall. I was inspired to visit when I was at Dinosaur National Monument last summer and learned that most of their famous dinosaur fossils wound up in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Well, I will tell you. I have been in a lot of museums in the world, and this one is right up there. This is a well-organized and well-run operation. The first thing we saw was the amazing mineral collection, which rivals that of the Natural History Museum in Washington DC and the one in Freiburg, Germany. Then we entered intot he dinosaur exhibit. Wow! Just amazing. Full-scale fossils of all sorts of dinosaurs organized by period: Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. And hardly anyone there!






Then we walked through the mammal collection, botany specimens, and birds. The mammal dioramas were painstakingly designed to be as true to form as the real habitat. Having been to many of htese places, I agree.
The Carnegie Museum of Art also has a fairly impressive collection.
After three hours int he museum, we drove to Mt Washington for beautiful views of the city.
Then it was on to Fort Necessity, where George Washington learned how to be a soldier during the French & Indian War. This little palisade built of necessity housed about 300 soldiers.
Then we checked into our free campsite (reserved through the forest service) at Forbes State Forest for the next three nights. Very private, but not far from a paved road.