SHANKSVILLE, Pennsylvania - If you’ve driven across the Pennsylvania Turnpike toward Washington, Baltimore or Philadelphia, you’ve likely seen signs marking the exits for the Flight 93 National Memorial and Visitor Center.

I had passed those signs more than once without making the quick detour. You’re in the middle of what might seem like nowhere, well southeast of Pittsburgh.

But visit, as I finally did recently, and you’ll learn that there, a few miles from the tiny borough of Shanksville (population 197), you’re only 18 minutes from the nation’s Capitol – at least at the speed that United Airlines Flight 93 was barreling on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

Suddenly, the quiet open fields amid the rolling hills invoke eerie feelings of what it must have been like that morning.

Two planes had already struck the twin World Trade Center towers in New York City and a third had rammed into the Pentagon. But all was quiet in Somerset County until -- boom -- Flight 93 came to a crashing, fiery end just over the top of a hill and heading into an open-field valley.

My wife and I recently made the Flight 93 National Memorial part of a two-day October getaway, just as the leaves were starting to turn, which also included a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Kentuck Knob home a little over an hour away.

For me, it was my first trip to Shanksville since 9/11. I was there that day as a Plain Dealer reporter, along with colleagues Joshua Gunter and the late Diane Solov.

So much speculation and uncertainty was part of that day. Was the plane shot down? Where was it heading? Were more hijackings in the works? Witnesses -- some who saw the plane, some who only heard it -- offered bits of information. There were no survivors.

I went back there this fall to refresh my memory of the surroundings and see how things have been memorialized. The bonus was how informative the entire presentation is at the visitor center.

Others, like a gentleman from Georgia who I spoke to, were there to learn and pay respect. He and the volunteer we chatted with talked about what we remembered in vivid detail about that day, wherever we were. The volunteer called events like those ‘flashbulb” moments, times that could not be forgotten. A veteran, probably from that era, soon introduced himself. He was emotional as looked at names on a nearby wall.

For younger people, like those in the large school group there for a guided tour, it’s a place to learn.

Inside the visitor center, we heard the voices of those on board as they called loved ones from the plane, read their stories, and viewed candid snapshots. It’s some of the most stirring stuff, as part of the center that retells the story of not only Flight 93, but what played out elsewhere that day, much of it on TV.

“I hope to be able to see you again baby. I love you,” one female caller from the plane said, leaving a voice message moments before the crash, one of three recorded messages visitors can listen to by holding a speaker to their ear.

A timeline follows the flight from its takeoff in Newark, New Jersey, en route to San Francisco before it turned near Cleveland after it had been hijacked.

There are details of communications with Cleveland air controllers and tiny artifacts found scattered at the scene - an officer’s badge, the work photo ID of another passenger and more.

And there are stories of those thrust into new roles, such as small-town county coroner Wally Miller, who met with family members and protected the site as a “coroner’s scene” for four years.

The visitor center sits almost hidden next to tall walls, positioned to demonstrate the path of the plane as it dipped over the hilltop. Near the crash scene – a walk of seventh-tenths of a mile down a path - sits a long memorial wall, containing the names of the victims, many of whom tried to wrestle control of the plane from the hijackers.

Where the hijackers intended to fly the plane is uncertain, one volunteer explained. Initially, the White House was a commonly thought to be the target, but later evidence suggests the Capitol was the likely aim, he said. Congress was in session that day.

Displays explain how it is known what went on inside the plane - in part from 37 phone calls 13 passengers and crew placed ahead of the crash. Passengers and flight attendants knew the World Trade Center had been hit before they voted to rush the terrorists in the cockpit in an attempt to retake the plane.

The plane rolled upside down and, traveling at 563 mph, crashed in the vacant field. All 33 passengers, seven crew and four hijackers died.

During the wee hours of Sept. 12, 2001, deadlines past, I headed back from Shanksville toward Cleveland with much unknown at the time. A stop there now, whether it be for an hour or closer to the nearly three hours we lingered, provides so much detail for visitors year-round.

Getting there: The Flight 93 Memorial and Visitor Center is 3 hours and 20 minutes by car from downtown Cleveland, via the Ohio and Pennsylvania turnpikes. Exit at Somerset, then a 25-minute drive. If you’re continuing east, you can get back on the Pennsylvania Turnpike 35 minutes east at the Bedford exchange.

Where to stay: There are plenty of hotels in Somerset, directly off the Turnpike ramp, plus resorts nearby at Seven Springs and Hidden Valley.

What else to see or do: There are a lot of options within an hour or so: Tours of two Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes – Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob . Rafting on the Youghiogheny River and Ohiopyle State Park . Skiing at Seven Springs and Hidden Valley . Plus, Idlewild Park with with amusement rides and Story Book Forest , is along the Lincoln Highway (U.S. 30).