PODCASTS

Tag: #travel
Staycation – Elk Country Visitors Center – 8/30/24

Staycation – Elk Country Visitors Center – 8/30/24

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It’s “Staycation Destinations” on Family Life

Keystone Elk Country Visitors Center – the PA Wilds

North Central Pennsylvania is gearing up for a massive influx of tourism, as we move past Labor Day Weekend.

The Elk Country Visitors Center at Benezette, Pennsylvania, sees 400,000 guests annually. Add in the people who go elk watching each fall in the public lands without stopping by the visitors center, and you’ll know why this interaction with nature’s unique wildlife is such a big deal.

Ben Porkolab is the Conservation Education Coordinator for the Keystone Elk Country Alliance. In this Family Life News Feature, he offers our listeners a radio tour of the Pennsylvania Wilds, one of only two regions in the U.S. where Elk are this numerous.

You will hear about the Pennsylvania elk herd, plus what makes these huge animals so unique. He talks about why Elk County and the surrounding regions captures the imaginations of so many people. It draws crowds from through the local area and throughout the world. (Porkolab gives the example of one couple who came half way around the world, with three specific tourism goals.)

Porkolab also gives insights into how this kind of Wildlife Tourism is so significant to the region.

 

Check out the Elk Country website for full details, recommendations for your visit, and live cameras and recorded videos to “take you there” (even if you can’t visit in person).

In addition to this Staycation podcast, we also have web-only BONUS CONTENT with elk viewing and elk-viewing safety tips for you and your family. Check it out as well.

 

 

Staycation Destinations is a weekly summer feature presented by Family Life News. Even as we arrive at the end of Summer 2024, your radio travels don’t have to end. All of Greg Gillispie’s features are available from your “Family Life News” podcast feed or through the NEWS tab at www.FamilyLife.org. You can visit — or revisit — these unique places in New York State and Pennsylvania by listening to or downloading our audio.You can also scroll through our Staycation archives from previous summers.

You can also share these interviews with friends and family, or choose to subscribe to receive notifications each time your favorite Family Life podcast posts a new episode. Find all our podcasts on our website or through the Family Life Now mobile app.

 

 
Staycation – Elk Country – Bonus Content

Staycation – Elk Country – Bonus Content

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:02 — 5.5MB)

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Staycation – Elk Country – Bonus Content

 

Pennsylvania Elk Country Educator Ben Porkolab is featured on this week’s Family Life “Staycation Destinations”.

You can hear that primary feature here from FamilyLife.org/newspodcasts.

 

He also wanted to add some advice for those who go to the Elk Country Visitors Center, any of the nearby national forest or state park areas, or some other place in these 11 counties in north central Pennsylvania.

Tap the podcast player on this page for this bonus content with Porkolab’s recommendations to enjoy watching the elk, but keeping you and your family safe, if you get “up close and personal” around one of these majestic animals.

 

 

Also, the website for the Elk Country Visitors Center has a full library of images and videos of the elk in Elk County and beyond … like this one:

 
Staycation – Niagara Power Vista – 8/23/24

Staycation – Niagara Power Vista – 8/23/24

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 11:05 — 15.2MB)

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It’s “Staycation Destinations” from Family Life

The beauty and majestic power of Niagara Falls draws tourists from all across the region and all across the world. The power of those millions of gallons of water has powered the generation of electricity which now accounts for all the electrical power used in New York State.

The history and the science of hydropower has been captured by the Niagara Power Vista, a free visitors center at Lewiston New York, at the dam just north of the Falls. Guests have dozens of interactive exhibits to demonstrate how inventors like Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison used hydropower for their engineering work. Visitors can play-act a simulation of how to build a community electric grid and keep it functioning. Plus, the Power Vista has some memorable views of this natural wonder of the world.

Lou Paonessa, community affairs director for the New York Power Authority, describes the uniqueness of the Niagara Power Project since its founding, and what families, individuals and school groups can see and do at the Power Vista.

 

“Staycation Destinations“ is a weekly Friday feature through the summer on the Family Life radio network. Host Greg Gillispie maps out unique opportunities for you to discover somewhere unique in Pennsylvania and New York, fairly close to home and fairly affordable. These Staycation features air during the Noon Report and 5 O’Clock Report on the radio and on our live streaming. You can also find our features on FamilyLife.org and the Family Life Now mobile app. You also can search for “Family Life News“ on most popular podcast platforms. Listen, subscribe, share or download them.

 

 
Staycation Bonus Content – Drake Well & Pithole City – 8/16/24

Staycation Bonus Content – Drake Well & Pithole City – 8/16/24

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:46 — 6.6MB)

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This week’s “Staycation Destinations” feature took you on a radio tour of Edwin Drake’s Well #1. It essentially became the birthplace of the modern petroleum industry.

The Drake Well Museum and Park, with its indoor and outdoor exhibits, tells of this history.

In this additional interview segment, Emily Weaver of the Friends of Drake Well Incorporated makes about 20 miles further south of Titusville, to another historic site in the Oil Creek Region.

 

In the 1860s, Pithole City sprung up and grew to a population of 15,000 as people flooded in there, in an oil-focused version of a gold rush.

Weaver tells us more of that story, and describes what people can see at the Pithole visitors center (open seasonally on weekend).

 

Pithole City is operated as a tourist site in conjunction with the Drake Well Museum.

If you haven’t yet heard the primary episode of this week’s Staycation, find that feature here among our news podcasts on FamilyLife.org.

 

 

“Staycation Destinations“ on Family Life maps out unique opportunities for you to discover somewhere unique in New York or Pennsylvania, fairly close to home and fairly affordable. These Staycation features aire during the Noon Report and 5 O’Clock Report each Friday during the summer. You can hear the broadcast on the air and streaming online. You can also find our features on the Family Life Now mobile app, on FamilyLife.org, and search for “Family Life News“ on most popular podcast compilations.

 
Staycation: Coudersport Ice Mine – Gary Buchsen – 8/02/24

Staycation: Coudersport Ice Mine – Gary Buchsen – 8/02/24

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:30 — 11.7MB)

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It’s “Staycation Desinations” on Family Life

This week, a visit to a unique phenomenon of nature, in North Central Pennsylvania.

The Coudersport Ice Mine has been a longtime attraction for locals and out-of-town visitors. After being closed for a number of years, Gary Buchsen (the father) reopened the Ice Mine ten years ago. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, guests can see how layers of ice hold onto the mine’s walls, even with the hot summer temperatures in the surrounding outdoor air.

That man’s son, also named Gary Buchsen, retired after a career as a school superintendent and now leads the family’s operation of the Ice Mine. Listen to that stories — and a preview of what guests experience — in this weekly summer podcast from Family Life News.

The Coudersport Ice Mine is open Wednesdays through Sundays in the summer. More details about the location, hours, and affordable ticket prices are available from their Facebook and website.  The travel website Atlas Obscura also took a tour, posting more history, photos and reactions.

 

 

 

Staycation Destinations is a summer feature on the Family Life Radio Network, hosted by Greg Gillispie. Each Friday we seek to map out a unique opportunity for you to map out somewhere unique in Pennsylvania and New York — fairly close to home and fairly affordable.  Podcasts of our previous episodes are available anytime to hear, download or share from our News Podcasts page at www.FamilyLife.org. You can also search for “Family Life News” on the Family Life Now mobile app, Spotify and many other podcast sources.

“Buckle up, and enjoy your journeys.”
Staycation: The Jello Gallery & Museum – 7/26/24

Staycation: The Jello Gallery & Museum – 7/26/24

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:03 — 8.3MB)

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The JELL-O Gallery – Le Roy NY

It’s “Staycation Destinations” on Family Life

The hometown of Jell-O brand gelatin continues to celebrate the century-plus of fun, wiggly food.

The Le Roy Historical Society intentionally chose a more-fitting name for its museum — this is an art gallery. As you’ll hear in this podcast, some of the most prominent displays at the Jell-O Gallery are the forms of colorful and vibrant marketing which introduced the product to the American public, and demonstrated the ease of making instant Jell-O … so simple even a child could do it.

Listen as well for other parts of the history, and other parts of the displays which focus on vehicles and a wider view of Le Roy’s history.

The Jell-O Gallery is at 23 East Main Street in Le Roy, which is about halfway between Batavia and Rochester.

 

Here is the winner of their 2024 Photo Contest on the Gallery’s Facebook page:

 

“Staycation Destinations” airs Fridays on Family Life during the Noon Report and 5 O’Clock Report.

Each week, all summer long, we map out a unique opportunity for you to discover somewhere unique, in New York or Pennsylvania — fairly close to home, and fairly affordable.

Previous destinations are linked from www.FamilyLife.org/newspodcasts.

Staycation Destinations – National Women’s Hall of Fame – 6/21/24

Staycation Destinations – National Women’s Hall of Fame – 6/21/24

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:36 — 11.8MB)

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It’s “Staycation Destinations” on Family Life

We begin the Summer 2024 tour of Pennsylvania and New York in the Finger Lakes region, celebrating 300+ people who transformed medicine, culture, sports, politics, the arts and so much more.

Every one of these special people — a woman.

National Women's Hall of Fame

The National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls has used a nomination process through which the general public can nominate potential inductees.

The Hall marked its grand reopening in an expanded facility this spring, and debuts new exhibit space in July with interactive exhibits on loan from the Smithsonian. “Voices and Votes: Democracy in America” will be paired with displays of fiber arts from local and regional crafters. A guest presenter is Hinda Mandell of the Rochester Institute of Technology who has explored a unique parallel between textiles and smartphones.

In this exclusive Family Life News podcast, Executive Director and CEO Jennifer Gabriel tells you about the Hall and its history, its mission and its summer schedule.

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The National Women’s Hall of Fame is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Details are at www.WomenOfTheHall.org.

 

“Staycation Destinations” is our weekly summer series, broadcast each Friday at noon on the radio and online, then posted to our News Podcasts page. Each offers a radio tour of a unique site in Pennsylvania or New York, fairly close to home, fairly inexpensive, and good for a potential day trip or longer visit by individuals, couples, families, friends or church groups.

 

Some weekends, we also give you a “Sidetrip Suggestion” -- another place in our two states which stands out in a unique, quirky, or enlivening way.
For this weekend, a completely different angle on what a Hall of Fame can celebrate:



The Bare Knuckles Boxing Hall of Fame celebrates John L. Sullivan. With none of those bulky boxing gloves, and 75 rounds later, Sullivan won the world championship.
It was in barns built in 1889 where Sullivan trained with a very original fitness guru. William Muldoon is celebrated as the "Father of the Modern Medicine Ball". Some of his other fitness innovations are still in use in that industry today.

The Bare Knuckles Boxing Hall of Fame [BKBHOF] is seven miles north of exit 30 on I-86, in the town of Belfast, NY.

 

Autumn Leaves – a Fall Foliage Tour of PA & NY – 10/06/23

Autumn Leaves – a Fall Foliage Tour of PA & NY – 10/06/23

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:39 — 14.6MB)

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Many New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians (plus guests to the two states) spend an afternoon, a weekend, or a week — out in nature and enjoying the divine design of autumn’s leaf colors.

Certified Arborist Jerrod Webber and Natural Resources Specialist Ryan Reed gives you a forecast on the best views in our two states this month. They also explain how wet/dry weather, wildfire smoke, and the temperatures of the week you go touring all affect the abundance and the beauty of your leaf watching.

Pennsylvania’s weekly Fall Leaves Forecast

New York State Department of Forestry

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