Bring Your Own #1 – The Italian Oven

Hello and welcome to Bring Your Own – The Pennsylvania Wanderer’s newest feature.  In this series I’ll feature some of the restaurants that Brenda and I visit that allow people to bring their own wine.  We love BYOB restaurants because they allow us to enjoy some great food and wine without breaking the budget.  We [...]

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Catching Up Part IV – Cullari Vineyards and Winery

It was a cold, gray day in Harrisburg on December 7 so Brenda and I decided not to wander very far from home.  The closest winery to our home is the Cullari Vineyards and Winery on Route 422 just outside of Hershey and we had never been there.  We knew we could get there, take [...]

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Hunters Valley Winery – Part II

I started off in the tasting room by asking Bill Kvaternik what his signature wines were.  The Susquehanna Sunrise is a semi-sweet blush that features the rare Dutchess grape.  This grape is named after Dutchess County, NY where it debuted.  Unfortunately, New York has mainly abandoned the Dutchess and today it’s grown only in a [...]

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Hunters Valley Winery – Part I

It’s another cold, dreary Saturday in Harrisburg.  I’m starting to wonder if we’re ever going to see the sun on a weekend again.  The miserable weather wasn’t enough to stop Brenda and I from heading north to the Hunters Valley Winery in Liverpool, PA.  The drive was an easy half hour up routes US 11 [...]

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Hunters Valley Winery

Tomorrow Brenda and I are off to interview Darlene and Bill Kvaternik the owners of Hunters Valley Winery in Liverpool, PA.  Watch for my story about their winery and them.

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Catching Up Part III – Galen Glen Winery

On October 4th I was on my way to Mahoning Valley speedway and stoped to visit the Galen Glen Vineyard and Winery in Andreas, PA.  The winery is tucked back up a hill in the beautiful Lehigh Valley near Lehighton and Tamaqua.  The farm has been in the Troxel family for over 200 years and [...]

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The Interstate Highway Welcome Center – A Wanderer’s Best Friend

There is a new trend in Rest Areas that’s very exciting for wanderers like Brenda and me. Many states have opened Welcome Centers at or near their borders with other states. These Welcome Centers offer far more than the traditional services like rest rooms, vending machines and hotel coupon books. They offer travel services such as hotel reservations and weather radio reports; and most importantly to Brenda and me, they offer great selections of visitors guides and have employees who know about the places listed in them. We get many of our ideas for places to visit from these folks. We learn about places that we didn’t know existed and never would have found through internet research alone.

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Antietam Battleground – Part II The Driving Tour

After our talk with Mannie, Brenda and I hit the road on the 8.5 mile self-guided auto tour of the battlefield.  Here are some of the highlights:

This modest church was built by the German Bretheren Baptists in 1852.  Known as the “Dunkers”, these people were pacifists and didn’t fight in the war.  The Confederate Army [...]

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The Antietam Battlefield – Part I The Visitor Center

Last Saturday Brenda and I took a drive to Martinsburg, WV to visit my son Alan.  Despite the cold, gloomy weather, we decided to detour to the Antietam Civil War battlefield outside of Sharpsburg, MD on our way home.   I’ll leave the Civil War History to people far more knowledgeable than me but I [...]

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Wine Makes a Great Last Minute Gift Idea

As it does every year, time is quickly running out on the last minute Christmas shoppers.  If you’re in the Eastern Half of Pennsylvania, let me recommend a few wines (in no special order) you might want to consider giving.
For the Dry Wine Lover
1. Cabernet Franc from Galen Glen Winery in Andreas, PA ($16.00 per [...]

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