Flight 93 National Memorial

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After the flawed exit to see Wilbur Wright's birthplace, I was determined to redeem the day with a visit to an attraction which was worthy of a road trip detour. In 2013, on the last stop on the way home from the Grand Canyon, Clare and Conor and I visited the Flight 93 National Memorial. That was only two years after its creation, and at the time there was only a wall of names and a parking lot. There was no visitor center and no other amenities. So I decided to fit in a visit on the way home as I knew that there were now more features to the Memorial. 

The Memorial is located in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, about a 15-minute detour from the Somerset turnpike exit. Fast forward some eight years later, the Memorial is now full fledged, with a Visitor Center, a Memorial Plaza, including the original white marble wall with the names of the passengers and crew, a Memorial Grove of trees, and a giant tower with 40 wind chimes called the Tower of Voices. 

The Memorial is very solemn site, and a fitting tribute to the passengers and crew who gave up their lives to stop an attack on the U.S. Capitol, and was a more than worthy detour and stop for the day and a fitting end to the 3-week road trip.


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