On a sticky day in late August as the heat wave of 2010 was waging one of its last battles against the thermometer, the Cestere family from Long Island was attending a rock concert at one of Bucks County’s oddest parks.
Actually, they were the concert.
Armed with hammers provided by the owner of the nearby campsite where they were spending the week, Joe Cestere, his wife, Doreen, and teenage daughters Jessica and Brittany spent the afternoon tapping out tunes on the various boulders at Ringing Rocks Park high above the Delaware …

When you think about scuba diving, what exotic locations pop quickly to mind? The Florida Keys? The coast of Belize? Australia’s Great Barrier Reef?
How about Nazareth, Pa.? Didn’t think so.
But Dutch Springs, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this weekend, has become one of the hottest scuba destinations for divers on the East Coast over the past three decades and now draws more than 35,000 dive students and enthusiasts each year.
“If you are not involved in scuba diving, you may not know that we have scuba here in the Lehigh …

Every day hundreds of people file past the Liberty Bell in its glass home outside of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Over the past two centuries the bell has become known as a symbol of freedom and democracy across the globe. What isn’t as well known is the fact that if it wasn’t for a committed band of Lehigh Valley farmers, the iconic bell might not have survived the first year of the Revolutionary War.
The Liberty Bell Shrine at Zion UCC Church in Allentown is a tribute to the brave patriots …

Welcome to “It’s Not That Far,” a travel blog dedicated primarily to destinations within an easy drive of eastern Pennsylvania. I say “primarily” because we will stray beyond that boundary on occasion — such as when I take a longer trip that I think is noteworthy. But for the most part, we will visit the exciting and interesting places within two hours of home – which, to me, is the Lehigh Valley.
Unlike many other bloggers, I am an experienced newspaper journalist and writer. That means I know what questions to …