We slept in again, must have
needed it! The sky is grey and it’s a
pleasant 24C.
After our second cup of tea, it
started to rain, which was forecast. So after
fortifying ourselves with an enormous feed of pancakes and maple syrup I take
this perfect opportunity to check my notes on this State and share some of my
new found knowledge. Here you go:
We’ve decided we really like
Pennsylvania and it has been interesting to cross it east to west rather than
north to south alongside New York like we did in 2015. Pennsylvania’s major cities are Philadelphia
(American revolution) in the east and Pittsburgh in the west (iron, steel -
pioneered by Dale Carnegie and more recently cutting edge technological
research) and Erie (a major seaway port). Historical Gettysburg also rates if
you are into battleground history (1863 Civil War). Lancaster, just west of Philadelphia is the
heart of the Amish people. Hershey, “the
sweetest place on earth”, apart from confectionery also boasts a “65 ride plus
12 rollercoaster” amusement park, there is also a camping resort there.
The Allegheny mountain range,
runs southwest to northeast and diagonally splits the state. The rest of the topography is a mix of
rolling hills and flat plateaus. The
land is fertile and therefore rich in agriculture – lots of corn, hay, oats, soya bean, vegetables, wheat, and tobacco, even some wine!
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| Trump Pence billboards - you can't get away from them in rural America either! |
Famous people hailing from Pennsylvania – Bill Cosby (I bet they’re not so proud of this State son these days), Lee Iacocca (Ford, then Chrysler - thank you for the Mustang Lee) and Billie Halliday (Blues). Although she died in 1959, her music lives on with such hits as Summertime and These Foolish Things.
And sadly the Flight 93 Memorial, just west of the town of Bedford
– this is the third spot where the horrific events of 9/11 played out - a tragic reminder of the flight that
likely was bound for the White House or Capitol, only to be taken down by the
courage of the 40 passengers and crew who confronted their captors and made
sure no additional deaths besides theirs would occur.
Pennsylvania is also famous for
various foods - Shoofly Pie is one of the most identified desserts in Amish
country, the sweet, gooey pies are made with molasses and brown sugar. Also Pretzels and Scrapple which is a mix of
pork (scraps), cornmeal and spices, heated and poured into loaves. It's sliced
and fried or baked. Red Beet Eggs -
another PA Dutch favourite. Haven’t
tried any of these so far, but the Shoofly Pie is tempting.
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| Yum, Shoofly Pie!! |
The rain clears during the
afternoon so we take a walk around the grounds, a lot of campers have bailed
obviously thinking the rain is going to hang around.
There is a small fenced off planting of Chestnut Trees in the park. A plague of Chestnut blight started in the early 1900's on the east coast devastating 200 million acres, 4 billion of these mighty giants by the 1950's. One in four trees in the native forest were Chestnuts. They could live for 300 years, grow to 100 feet and 6 feet in diameter. The native wildlife depended on the nutritious nuts - deer, squirrels, turkeys and bears. The blight was deemed the worst ecological disaster of the 20th century. but it did cause the Federal Govt to introduce the first plant quarantine laws in the country.
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| American Chestnut Tree |
And just in case you were thirsty:
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