Pennsylvania

Somehow, we ended our trip with 5 days and 4 nights in Pennsylvania. It isn't a very large state (don't tell them.) But we had two things that guided our decisions. We had a dinner engagement in the middle of the week and a tour of a museum at the end. It was up to us to fill in the middle.

We bypassed Pittsburgh. Sorry Pittsburgh. Karen was reading the guidebooks and looking at maps and it seems that the three rivers, steep mountains and one way streets are daunting if you don't have a darn good reason for being there. So we side stepped it. One of the things we did do was try to stay off the major byways. You only get to see a lot of trees if you take them. Because we did this, we found the Flight 93 Memorial site. This is not advertised anywhere. It is a memorial at the place where the third plane in the 9/11 attacks went down. This is amazingly beautiful country. The road up to the memorial was filled with huge old houses. The site itself is in the middle of fields. I can't even imagine what the locals thought when the plane went down on that day. Most of us were already traumatized when we learned of this event.

Our next stop was Gettysburg. Karen and Peter had never been here before. We took the auto tour through the battlefield roads. Little Big Top is a major site for the battle. On the second day of the three day battle, soldiers were fighting from down below (see left) trying to stay alive while being blasted from on top of this hill. You can see a tour group (see right) in the prime vantage point at the top of Little Big Top.

This outcropping of rocks on the right is that pile of stones in the the picture above it. I don't recall how many men died behind these rocks. It was amazing what they went through. Karen has noticed that many of the sites we've visited have special playgrounds and touristy stuff for kids. Battle fields can be pretty boring if you are too young. We decided that you can give your children an idea of what that day was like by letting them climb all over these rocks. A lot of parents thought the same thing. This place was loaded with families. And, as you can see, it was a beautiful, HOT, day for climbing.

When we were in France a couple of years ago, I wore my hat everywhere. That's because it was always hot. I did the same in India. Karen and I were going to bring our crushable hats because we knew it would be hot on this trip. Here is the one who remembered. The one who forgot bought a couple of baseball caps. The best was from Rushmore. Karen never recognizes me in it. I do look a bit like a farmer.

After Gettysburg, we drove through Amish country. I really wanted to do this, but we didn't think we would have time. Silly us. The scenery was beautiful again. We passed many horse drawn carriages. We found an Amish bakery and left with the question about whether the young ladies were really Amish or just in costume. I'm hoping the former. Karen asked why I had wanted to come here. I told her that I remember they had good food here. Good food has been lacking in this trip. We did find a really good restaurant that served tomatoes fresh from their garden. I also had fried chicken. The freshness was a change for this trip. And even though I stole this picture from a website, we did see men plowing with horses.

Our final stop of the tour was the Barnes Foundation just outside Philadelphia. Anytime we mentioned that we were going here to Pennsylvanians, they were impressed. I was impressed. This place is filled with Cezannes and Renoirs. He acquired a few other Impressionists over the years, but he had hundreds of the Cezannes and Renoirs. The Barnes will soon be absorbed into the Philadelphia Museum of Art. That will be sad. The people who work here are very intuned with the building and the Foundation's goals.

And then we drove to Arlington. And then I started the next phase of my life. So this is goodbye for now from

The Ramblers +1