Special discounts for Ohio residents

Special discounts for Ohio residents

PITTSBURGH

Ohio residents looking for a convenient vacation destination that won’t break the budget have several options in Pittsburgh. A special discount is now available to visit popular family attractions including Kennywood Amusement Park, Sandcastle Water Park, Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Science Center.

Families can customize their own vacation plans by choosing to visit one, two or all three attractions and enjoy a significant savings. A Pittsburgh Premier Family Fun Package includes tickets for the amusement park, the zoo and the museum for only $49.99 – more than $30 less than buying tickets for all three attractions separately. Single-day Kennywood tickets can also be purchased for $34.99 – $20 off the regular admission price.

For more information about Kennywood’s Pittsburgh Family Fun Packages and hotel discounts, please visit www.kennywood.com/ohio or call 412-464-9931.

Divers can view underwater art museum off Keys

KEY WEST, Fla.

Divers off the coast of Florida can now visit an underwater art museum.

Divers finished placing a series of artworks on a sunken ship about seven miles south of Key West in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

The project consists of 24 large photo illustrations created by Austrian artist Andreas Franke. They were placed on the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, a former U.S. Air Force missile tracking ship that was intentionally sunk 10 years ago to create an artificial reef.

Franke calls it the “Plastic Ocean Project” and said he wants it to draw attention to the need to eliminate plastics in the world’s oceans.

Museum gets massive steam engine running

BETHLEHEM, Pa.

A century-old steam engine has been put on display at Pennsylvania’s National Museum of Industrial History after workers got it running again for the first time in nearly four decades.

The 115-ton Corliss engine once pumped 8 million gallons of water a day for the York Water Co. in York. It’s now a showpiece attraction at the industrial history museum in Bethlehem, which has spent the past 10 years restoring it.

Museum historian Mike Piersa says the steam engine is the most powerful of its kind in the country and one of only four that work.

Tenn. tries ‘laugh trackers’ at top kids’ destinations

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Tennessee tourism officials say they’ve counted kids’ laughs to help parents weigh their trip options.

The Department of Tourist Development says it equipped more than 200 kids with wearable “Laugh Trackers” for more than 450 hours.

The attractions they tried out included the Children’s Museum of Memphis, Discovery Park of America in Union City, Nashville Zoo, Fall Creek Falls in Spencer, Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Hands On! Discovery Center in Gray and Dollywood in Pigeon Forge.

More than 36,000 laughs were recorded, an average of 1.3 per minute. The results and reviews are available on a “Kid Reviewed” website.

The sound-activated trackers connect to Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices and send recordings containing laughter to a secure server, paired with location and heart rate data. The children’s identities stay anonymous.

Associated Press