Off to somewhere: a hybrid road trip

[Southwest Dave]

Cool report Don !

I am enjoying the "Magical mystery tour" along with the pictures !

[Lifemagician]

Dode and Don live in Huntingdon PA, ............

Only a couple of miles from where I am reading this thread. Great country, been roaming around here for a few days.

Lifey's enjoying your trip

[CalOldBlue]

Dave and Lifey; thanks for the kind words.

Seems folk are stuck on the current puzzle, here's another clue:

This area is also known for covered bridges. There's a sad little tale surrounding the taking of the first shot here. I had to walk through some mowed weeds (shin-high) to get to where I could take this shot... in walking back to the car I stepped in a foot-deep hole, twisted my ankle pretty bad.

I'm OK now (about two weeks after the event), but I've had to hobble around for a fortnight.

The bad bridge:

Photo: Don Casey

A happier (and more scenic bridge):

Photo: Don Casey

[Lifemagician]

They would have to be the bridges around Bedford, where I was only a couple of weeks ago. That 2nd photo is much like one I took. Don't know off the top of my head the names off all the little places around there.

[CalOldBlue]

After leaving State College, we drove off to Lancaster, in the heart of Amish country. That evening we left the boys in the hotel (seems we wore them out) and Linda and I went into town.

We were there on "First Friday"; a night they keep many stores, museums, and art galleries open late. This gave us a great opportunity to do some evening touristing.

We HAD to his the Quilt/Fabric museum, Linda being a quilter and all. It's in a former bank building:


Photo: Don Casey

We also had time to visit the Heritage Museum, where on the third floor was a delightful printing shop exhibit staffed by some delightful volunteers:


Photo: Don Casey

I have to admit, while I'm not sure what I expected Lancaster to be, but whatever that expectation was, it wasn't a busy semi-city. Interesting enough, but not very Amish. For that, we hit the countryside as noted earlier above.

Downtown Lancaster at dusk:

Photo: Don Casey

While we saw very few Amish (we weren't particularly seeking them out), we saw quite a few Mennonites. These are both Anabaptist sects within the larger branch of Protestantism; with roots in the area now known as Germany. The Amish eschew much of modern technology, but somewhat selectively. Electricity is permitted in the context of work, but not home or leisure. Mennonites on the other hand are less restrictive. Both dress in ways that set them apart from both the tourist hordes, and the locals who are not adherents. Most obvious are bonnets (typically made of a white mesh fabric) and ankle length dresses for the women.

The fabric store, as were several other retail establishments we went to, appeared to be staffed by Mennonite women.

[CalOldBlue]

I believe the rest of these will be "straight" posts... no more puzzles here. Of course, I may change my mind.

Anyway, after the ankle incident, and a stop for medical supplies at a local mega-mart, we took off for Philly (yes, in this case I let Linda drive).

We met Laura (from Penn State) and her friend for dinner at Marakesh, a Morroccan restaurant right off South Street.

South Street at Passyunk

Photo: Don Casey

South Street is a collection of shops, bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and lots of lots of people. We were there on Labor Day weekend (Saturday), and it was hopping!

We got there early, so we strolled (or limped, in my case) the street, window shopping. Actually, Kris bought a hat in a hattery, and I spotted a cigar store that would come into play in a few days. Dinner was spectacular if not cheap; something like 7 pre-determined courses served family-style. No forks here, fingers and hunks of pita bread. You do get a lap towel to help cleanse your pinkeys from time to time. Oh yeah, belly dancer too!

After dinner, we hot-footed it back to the hotel so I could watch the Cal Bears in their first football game of the season. Fortunately they were playing Maryland, local enough to Philly that it was covered. Unfortunately it was an 8pm start on the West Coast, so I was up until 2am. They won so it's all good.

The next day, my ankle was so bad we all decided I should stay off it and ice it... so Kris and Linda headed off to the Philadelphia Art Museum. For you "Rocky Fans", this place has the steps he runs up. For you John Singer Sargent fans (as Linda is), there are a handful of nice Sargents on display (they tell me).


Photo: Kris Tapper

Linda and Kris swung through Reading Terminal Market (more on this later), close by our hotel, and picked up dinner... cheesesteak sandwiches and moon pies. Beer from the front desk finished the repast.

ONLY for those of you who are NOT squeamish, this photo link shows you how colorful a human foot can become.

Note: I'm fine right now, and in fact other than the one day, it didn't impact what we were able to do and see... much.

[CalOldBlue]

So how do you see a city when you have a bum wheel?

Doubledecker sightseeing bus

Photo: Don Casey

We picked it up at Reading Terminal Market, and rode the last two-thirds of the loop, seeing quite a bit of Philly. When it got to the starting point of the loop (near Independence Hall), we were told we needed to board another bus to continue the loop. We took this opportunity to grab lunch, and asked the guide for a recommendation for cheesesteaks in the area. He suggested Sonny's, three block down Market, so off we strode to Sonny's Famous Steaks.

Three cheesesteaks (wit wiz, onions, peppers), one order of cheese fries, one order of onion rings, and three sodas later (and very happy), we headed back up Market towards the Independence Hall area. (Suggestion: order the extra wiz, they were a little light and that probably cost them a higher spot in our ranking.)

On the way back we popped into Franklin Court,

Photo: Don Casey

which is the area where Ben Franklin lived and worked. His house has long since been torn down, but there is an interesting (underground) museum on the property (accessed through the archway in the shot above), a printing shop (middle of the shot, and the skeleton of his house recreated in steel beams:


Photo: Don Casey

We hopped back on the bus, rode it to where we got on and beyond to a stop where we could get off and visit the Franklin Institute. This is a science museum, funded in part with money from Ben's estate. It sits next to a traffic circle with an interesting fountain, and views to the Art Museum one way, and City Hall the other.

Fountain:

Photo: Don Casey

Art Museum:

Photo: Don Casey

City Hall:

Photo: Don Casey

The special exhibit at the museum included Renaissance instruments... quite frankly after you've seen 2 dozen bronze astrolabes you've seen them all, but the highlight was one of the two existing telescopes used by Galileo. It looked like nothing more than a length of plumbing, and I wasn't allowed to photograph inside that exhibit, but it was neat to be that close to one of the scientific instruments Galileo used to turn the world upside down.

So we waved goodbye to the statue of Ben in the rotunda, boarded the bus and rode it back to our hotel. Dinner was at an Italian chain restaurant; decent and filling. Anybody who's visited my Flat Stanley Blog knows I can't resist night photography, so I managed to limp outside the hotel long enough to take a shot of City Hall. An amazing (and HUGE) building (pretty much fills an entire city block):


Photo: Don Casey

And so to bed. Tomorrow, we spend a few hours more in the city of brotherly love, then move on.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Very nice captures -- I like that night one the best!

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

That is a wonderful night shot !

I think you done the right thing in resting that ankle up for a while, it looked pretty nasty.

[CalOldBlue]

You should have seen the top of the foot. For whatever reason, the discoloration extended to the toes, all the way to the nail bed. I know, too much information.

Best packing decision this trip: bringing a pair of Keen sandals as a second pair of casual footwear; let me bandage up and still get into a pair of shoes. Between the swelling and the Ace bandage I couldn't fit into my dress shoes OR my sneakers.

I'm pleased the shots seemed to work; I couldn't use a tripod, so I ended up cranking the speed up and holding the camera against a light pole to steady it. Removed some noise in post-processing. I do like some of the Salzburg shots in my blog better (night shots tend to be at the end of each blog entry; clicking on a photo opens up a larger version in a new window), but there's still visible noise artifacts in the dark areas I need to go back and work on some more.

Thanks and stay tuned for more entries (although no more night work; due to squatting in the 'burbs I didn't make it into D.C. (coming up shortly) to shoot the monuments at night).

Thankfully, since one of Linda's best friends lives in Rockville, MD, there WILL be other trips to D.C. in our future.