Silly Yak Gluten-Free Kennywood trip

My daughter, two of her friends and I met up with Chandra and some of the other participants in the Yahoo "Silly Yaks" group for an outing at Kennywood on Sunday. What a wonderful place! In addition to the great rides, most of the park is covered in trees and there is ample shade available for even the most sunburn-prone among us.

But the very best parts? They allow (and even encourage) people to bring picnic lunches and have a large number of covered picnic pavilions available for both large groups with reservations and small family or other groups to use. They also offer a number of gluten free options throughout the park - their Potato Patch fries are gluten free, as is all the cheese sauce used in the park. And those fries with the cheddar sauce and bacon? To die for! But take someone with you to help eat them - the portions are huge. The burgers (sans buns, of course) and hot dogs are gluten-free, the soft serve ice cream is, too. And of course, the lemonaid and cotton candy are treats everyone can enjoy.

Good rides, and a lot more of them than Maria's friends had expected based on the size of the park. Six dollars for preferred parking, but there is a skyride to the free parking area!!

The only drawback? It took us two and a half hours to get out of Pittsburgh. The tunnel we took on the way in was closed for construction when we tried to get back out.

Still... we'll be doing it again. We will just plan to leave a bit earlier (before the tunnel closes for the night) or to take the turnpike.