The park and museum are really very nice. The museum has lots of interpretive exhibits describing the history of the site and the oil industry in the region, and how the oil drilling technology progressed through the years. The park itself was nice open ground along side beautiful Oil Creek (which had lots of fly fishermen in it) and scattered around were buildings and operating replicas of the period equipment. The centerpiece, obviously, was a replica of the original Drake's Well building, with an operating steam engine-operated well pump.
Oil Creek running adjacent to the park. Good trout stream.
The park grounds, with various buildings and replica equipment. Finally, a good view of the trees. The trees in our corner of the state were fully leafed-out for weeks before this picture was taken. What a difference!
This was really a nice park, and the day was already shaping up to be beautiful day. The sun was rather hot, but it was nice and cool in the shade with a beautiful deep blue sky. 
From here we drove a short distance to a state park with a related theme - Oil Creek State Park. This park talked about Drake's Well, but dealt with the topic on a broader level. It was really about those earliest days of the oil industry in this part of the world. There were many towns in this region that shot up in the early oil boom. The stories behind many of these towns - how quickly they shot up and were abandoned when the oil ran out, or the ratio of "houses of ill repute" and saloons relative to churches, the number of gun fights, etc. - rival even the wildest stories of similar times in the old west or in the California gold rush.
An old bridge crossing Oil Creek.
Sarah: This is the bridge that Jackson and I walked across and Jason had to go back and get the truck to drive over because Lincoln was too scared to walk over it. Well, in hindsight...maybe we should have driven too. After Jackson walked across this and then back across it once...that's when the front wheel of the jogging stoller started to get messed up. At first I thought it was the bumpy road that was making the stearing difficult but we quickly realized the front tire frame was bent or something. The rest of the trip we did not have a functioning stroller and poor Jackson was wheeled around doing a "pop-a-wheely" the rest of the time.
The park was again, very, very nice. There were hiking trails, a big picnic and playground area, a beautiful stretch of Oil Creek for fishing, and lots of interpretive trails showing where certain buildings were 150 years ago when this area was one of those crazy boom towns, called Petroleum Center. There was also a biking trail that goes around the park, but also goes for many miles, connecting this one to Drake's Well Museum and to Titusville. Finally, during the summer tourist season, there is an old train that passes through all of these oil-related parks and historic sites, dropping off and picking up passengers.
So, when we 1st got to this park,we parked and had a little picnic in the grass beside the truck. We then walked a short ways over to the ranger station, and along the way, I saw 2 amazing birds I'd never seen before. One was a male Scarlet Tanager, seen here:
and the male Rose-breasted Grosbeak:
Neither of these pictures is mine - they flew away too fast. Now, I've never been much of a birder, but I think that's at least partly because around Birmingham, all we ever saw were the same old boring birds - doves, bluejays, robins, and catbirds. Nice once or twice, but it never seems to change. Philly has pretty much the same birds. But, there are some beautiful migrating birds in western PA. I couldn't believe how red that Tanager was - it didn't look real.Anyway, after seeing the birds we walked across the bridge to where the old town used to be and started along that interpretive path, but Jackson and Sarah were both starting to get fussy, so we went back to the other way to take a short hike on a trail, and then along side and in the river, ending in the picnic area where we laid Jackson down for a nap. 
Jackson has always played with his feet a lot, and sometimes when we put hm down to nap he grabs his foot in his sleep and holds on to it.
His nap didn't last long, and now he's in the stage where he thinks its funny to squirm and try to "run" away when we're trying to change his diaper. So, this time we just let him crawl away and play in the grass "necked". He had a blast.
This was another park we both said we'd like to come back to. Unfortunately, we soon had to be on our way.
We spent most of the rest of the day driving. Other than things in Pittsburgh, the western edge of the state seems to be rather devoid of places to see or things to do. I was expecting this based on the general itinerary I planned based on the map, but it also became a realization that we were entering the last portion of our trip. I wanted to go to Moraine State Park because a moraine is a geological feature created by glaciers, but when we got there, there was no camping and I couldn't find anything that looked geologically interesting. There was a pretty lake and forests, but that was about it. This park was kind of a bust. They had cabins, but they were expensive and required a 2 night minimum. We had to do something though, because it was getting late in the day. So, we ended up camping at another one of those big, privately-owned, full service campgrounds. Again, out of principle, I don't really like these things, but it wasn't too bad. We had a pretty secluded spot. After setting up camp, we drove around the area some more, got some supplies, and then went back to camp.
Noodles and sausage for dinner. This was the 1st meal cooked on my big camping stove - one just like we used when I was little.
Jackson took a very late nap, and then wouldn't go to bed. He was up ate driving his mommy crazy. Unfortunately, I couldn't help because I was "busy" outside "cleaning" up our camp site. We buttoned down the hatched, because even though it was a beautiful evening, the forecast called for rain late tonight and in the morning, maybe storms.
One more thing...so we were expecting storms the next morning...remember? At 4am I woke up to siren going off. I just knew it was a tornado siren. That's what it sounded like and it kept going and going and going. I woke Jason up and said, "Quick, we have to get out of here, the tornado sirens are going off!" Here I am thinking...oh my...here we are in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the forests, in a TENT and here comes a tornado!!! Great, I thought we got away from tornados when we moved from Tupelo. Anyway...it was NOT a tornado siren, but rather a volunteer fireman alert siren. Has anyone else ever heard of this?? I thought Jason was making it up just so he wouldn't have to wake up so early but the campground owner confirmed it later.
Such a city girl. What a spazz.
It was another really great day, but it has become clear that we won't have time to hit many of the other sites we'd highlighted on the map. There just won't be enough time.
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