Slippery Rock Creek is a small stream in Western Pennsylvania, a tributary of the Beaver River. From its source in Slippery Rock Park in Butler County, it flows through McConnell's Mill State Park before flowing into the Beaver near Ellwood City.
Slippery Rock Creek is a favorite for whitewater kayakers and canoeists from Pittsburgh and Ohio. With Class-II and -III rapids and engaging beauty, it attracts regular paddlers from novice to advanced level.
McConnells Mill State Park
McConnells Mill State Park is located in Lawrence County, PA along Slippery Rock Creek just southwest of the intersection of US 422 and US 19.
It features a deep scenic gorge with the restored mill and a covered bridge at the bottom, accessible by a roadway that winds between large, room-sized boulders on the hillside.
There are several trails in the park, including a pair that lead to a waterfall (with an old limestone kiln next to it). Nearby is Moraine State Park with its large lake.
Like all Pennsylvania state parks, admission to McConnells Mill is free.
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh is a city in Western Pennsylvania, and the county seat of Allegheny County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 334,563 (metropolitan area 2,358,695), making it the second-largest city in the state. For many years the center of the American steel industry, Pittsburgh is nicknamed The Steel City or The Iron City.
Wealthy area businessmen of the 19th century, including Andrew Carnegie, the Heinz family and Henry Clay Frick, donated large sums of money to local educational and cultural institutions. As a result, Pittsburgh is rich in art and culture. The world-class Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs in Heinz Hall, which also plays host to other events throughout the year. The Benedum Center and Heinz Hall provide venues for numerous musicals, lectures, speeches, and other performances. Pittsburgh is also home to one of only two professional brass bands in the world, the River City Brass Band. Other musical arts groups include the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra (PYSO) and the River City Youth Brass Band, both of which include top musicians from the Pittsburgh area, in addition to the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, a nationally and internationally acclaimed semi-professional choir. These performances produced by these intensive programs are usually free to the public.
Pittsburgh also boasts several visual arts museums, including the Andy Warhol Museum, dedicated to the works of Pittsburgh native Andy Warhol. The Carnegie Museum of Art is home to works by such luminaries as Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, and many others, along with galleries of sculpture, modern art, the Heinz Architectural Center, a large film and video collection, and various travelling exhibits. Installation art is featured outdoors at ArtGardens of Pittsburgh. The Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece Fallingwater is about an hour's drive from downtown, and the North Shore boasts an 1895 neogothic church, Calvary Methodist, whose interior was designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany; the church's stained glass windows are some of the largest and most elaborate work Tiffany ever created.
Pittsburgh Filmmakers teaches media arts and runs three "art house" movie theaters. The Pittsburgh Playhouse at Point Park University has four resident companies of professional actors.
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History, located in Oakland, has extensive dinosaur collections on display, including the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever discovered, and an Egyptian wing. The building may be distinguished by a life-size statue known as, "Dippy the Diplodocus" to the right of the main entrance. Other dinosaur statues are visible around the Pittsburgh area, these decorated by artists nationwide and sold as a benefit to the Carnegie Museums. The Carnegie Science Center, located in the North Side near PNC Park and Heinz Field, is more technology oriented.
Pittsburgh also houses the country's National Aviary. Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, in Schenley Park, feature seasonal and global plants in a recently-remodeled Victorian-style greenhouse. More additions to the Conservatory are scheduled to begin in 2005. Just up the street from the Conservatory is the Schenley Park Golf Course, one of Pittsburgh's premiere public golf links. Kennywood Park is widely regarded by rollercoaster connoisseurs to have one of the best collections of functional rollercoasters in the world, including several early 20th century wooden coasters: the Racer, the Thunderbolt, and the Jack Rabbit. A water park owned by Kennywood, Sandcastle, is another local amusement park.
Recently, Pittsburgh has gained a reputation for its large indie and punk rock scene. Several notable indie rock bands have come from Pittsburgh in recent years, including Rusted Root, Don Caballero, and punk rock band Anti-Flag. The city is also famous in the underground for its strong hardcore scene, producing bands such as End Of Humanity and Built Upon Frustration. Some bands have ventured into film scoring and video, such as Jesse Prentiss and Jamal Morelli's "Ritual Space Travel Agency" and Ben Opie's "Watershed".
The David L. Lawrence Convention Center, located on the south bank of the Allegheny River, is quickly becoming some of the most sought after convention space in the country, as it is able to accommodate all sizes of conventions, exhibitions and conferences. Certified with a Gold rating by the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design initiative, the building is considered the first ever "green" convention center and world's largest "green" building. The convention center hosts such prominent events as the Pittsburgh International Auto Show, the Windpower 2006 Conference & Exhibition, the National Youth Workers Convention and the 2005 National Council of Teachers of English National Convention.
Youngstown, OH
Youngstown is a city located in Mahoning county in Ohio, on the Mahoning River, 65 miles southeast of Cleveland, Ohio, and approximately 62 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 82,026. Youngstown has among the highest rate of population decline of any city its size in the United States, with less than half the population it had at its peak around 1950. The Youngstown-Warren Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), however, contains roughly 600,000 people. The Steel Valley Area as a whole (including Youngstown-Warren and Sharon-Farrell-New Castle, PA) is comprised of almost 720,000 residents. Youngstown is the county seat of Mahoning CountyGR6. The city is just 10 miles west of the Pennsylvania state line, and is centrally located between New York and Chicago.
Probably because of regional economic decline, Youngstown has a rather negative self-image, despite some real jewels. Besides the well-landscaped university, the city has Powers Auditorium, the city's main music hall and home of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. In addition to Powers, the city also has two other auditoriums: Stambaugh Auditorium, which plays host to several concerts as well as stand-up comedians, and The Playhouse, which shows community theater productions. Also near campus is the Butler Institute of American Art, one of the best displays of American art in the country, and the attractive yet under-visited Museum of Industry and Labor. In addition, the downtown has a wide array of well-preserved churches.
Youngstown's best kept secret is probably Mill Creek Park, a narrow five-mile-long park (reminiscent of a smaller Rock Creek Park for those familiar with Washington, D.C.). With the restored Lanterman's Mill, Bear's Den rock formations, nature trails, Fellows Riverside Gardens and Nature Center, and the "Cinderella" iron link bridge, Mill Creek Park is a valuable attraction of the city. From opposite overlooks in the garden, one sees an amazing contrast: from the south side, a forested view over Lake Glacier; from the north side, downtown Youngstown.
One of the more recent attractions to open in the city is the Chevrolet Centre, formerly the Youngstown Convocation Center, which was primarily funded by a $26 million federal grant, and is located on the site of a former steel mill and opened in October 2005. The Centre's major tennant is the Youngstown Steelhounds, a hockey team that is a part of the Central Hockey League. The City also plans to develop vacant land adjacent to the convocation center, either as a park, a riverwalk (the Mahoning River flows through the site), an amphitheater, or a new athletic stadium for use by the city's public and private high schools.
Another known attraction in the Youngstown area--though not so much known by younger people--is the former Idora Park amusement park. The park, which closed in 1984 and is currently owned by a church, was once a major attraction to Youngstown residents who didn't want to travel to Geauga Lake in Aurora, Ohio just outside of Cleveland, Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, Kennywood in Pittsburgh, or even Conneaut Lake Park in Meadville, Pennsylvania, the closest one of the four to Idora. Many middle-aged or older people who remember attending the park when they were younger like to drive by to look at the remains of the park. Some have also snuck in, though the church has posted "No Tresspassing" signs around the park.
