All in all, today was a fairly uneventful day in the wonderful world of Sarah and Oscar. We did manage to check two more states off of our list:
In the meantime, we learned the very important lesson that on the Ohio and Pennsylvania Turnpikes there are no welcome stations with nice safe locations for taking pictures with the welcome sign. It most certainly involves pulling over to the side of the road and waiting for 18 wheelers to pass so you can get the shot. That's why the Ohio shot in particular is a bit blurry. I was in a bit of a rush to get the hell outta there!
Throughout the state of Ohio, we kept it simple and stayed on the Turnpike. But upon entering Pennsylvania, we came to two conclusions. First is that the Turnpike is really, really boring. There is absolutely nothing of value to look at. Second, and perhaps more important, is that the Turnpike is really, really expensive! It was gonna cost almost my whole allowance for the day just to drive across the great state of Pennsylvania. Screw that! So, outside of Pittsburgh somewhere, we pulled off and found a scenic route. Once again, luck was on our side. The highway that we pulled off onto, US 30, would take us directly to Philadelphia. Splendid!
Even better, was the great reward that just a few miles past where we entered US hwy. 30 we found this:
Now, I fully realize that I am moving to a location where these are a whole lot more accessible, but I am leaving a location in which I had to drive over an hour to find one. I'm still a bit gunshy to pass one up without stopping. And it happened to be lunch time, and I happened to be hungry. The road trip gods were speaking to me, and I answered quite promptly!
Along the scenic route, we passed through some absolutely phenomenal scenery. I would have stopped to take pictures, but once again I was a bit in fear for my life. There are some very windy roads with steep inclines/declines on them. It took all of my might just to drive them. Stopping to take pictures wasn't about to happen.
We did however make one scenic stop. As we were driving down hwy 30, we noticed a sign for the Flight 93 memorial. I had no clue that's where I was, and this isn't something I would typically go out of my way to see. But once again, I listened to the road trip gods and took the extra 20 minutes to go see it. Sadly, it's not exactly complete. It won't be until this September for the 10 year anniversary. But, there was a pretty nice temporary memorial and educational tour about the events of the day.
Our second stop along the "Big Historical Moments in US History" Tour was in Gettysburg. Unfortunately, I was starting to get very sleepy and really wanted to be in Philly already, so we didn't really stop. But, we enjoyed the scenery from the car.
At that point we gave up on the scenic route and headed back to the Turnpike. It was a lot cheaper this far into the state and a lot quicker once we got our fix for interesting things to see.
Now, we're getting settled and resting. A shout out to our hostess with the mostest Jessica. Thanks for your hospitality!
Tomorrow hopes to be a day full of wonderful adventures in Philadelphia... a little history, a little cheesesteak, you can't go wrong!
No comments:
Post a Comment