Day 1: Farewell Pennsylvania

July 30 (& 31), 2005
State College, PA to Lancaster, PA

I lived in State College for two years and came to appreciate the beauty of central Pennsylvania. It was usually at least ten degrees warmer than my native upstate New York.

I learned about its patterns of ridges and valleys, and that if I drove through a series of two of these, I'd end up in Belleville, home of the Wednesday market, a kitschy combination of farmer's market, flea market, and plant and livestock auction. Morning customers at Belleville were mainly Amish (and those like me who hoped to catch the fresh eggs before they were gone), while afternoons were for tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of Amish children in their straw hats and looking to buy t-shirts with tractors on them.

Despite my love idyllic State College, my logic was that given how much I learned by living only 350 miles from my home base, I'd learn ten times as much by living 3,500 miles away. I owe it to my future students to learn and explore.

Rosco and I left late morning for a short drive to Lancaster, my first stop. Rosco, who had always been a stellar passenger, decided this roadtrip was not for him and began to pant. If you've ever seen a cat pant, it is not pleasant. I considered turning back and letting him stay in Pennsylvania, but fortunately he calmed down. While I remain a skeptic, it may have been Bach's flower essence that kept him calm throughout the rest of the trip. He recovered by the time we got to Susan's house and immediately took over the house (as long as her dog wasn't around).

The landscape was exactly as you'd expect there, beautiful farms and rolling hills. Not that different from the Hudson Valley. We visited Lancaster, which I expected to be stellar, but really wasn't. It tried to be, with a farmer's market in the center of the city, and a lot of revitalization work, but revitalizing doesn't work when there's no businesses to fill the storefronts.

So downtown Lancaster wasn't happening, but staying with Susan's family was great. Lots of good food (I'm hoping this will be a theme for this trip) and the most beautiful baby ever (Susan's sister's). Then we did Shakespeare in the park -- very impressive production, albeit a bit long.

Onward to Day 2>>>

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