Heading
West
September 16,
2003. We blasted
off from Secaucus, New Jersey and headed fer some where else in
New Jersey, to meet up with Jim's nephew, Keith and his wife
Brenda. Keith's mom is Jim's sister, Helen, who loves the
crooked roads, but Keith seems to be able to make things a whole
lot easier when it comes to finding him.
He told Gloria, "Go 3
traffic lights, then turn into the Diner on the left side of the
road, I'll meet you there in 5 minutes." When we got
there, he was already there, waiting, so they went inside and
sat down, and were joined by Brenda within another few minutes,
and had a wonderful brunch. Us guys ate some candy out of
the goody bag in the van.
After the brunch they came
outside and Gloria took the picture
of Keith, Brenda, Jim, and Keith's truck, named
"Bill," cuz that's what he gets every time he takes it
in for repairs. Keith gets thirsty a lot, that's why
there's a ton of bottles of water and Gatorade in the back of
the pickup. He tried to tell us he bought it to sell at
their gas station and store they have jest up the road, but we
don't totally believe that story.
Their store was "three
traffic lights north" on a certain road...no turns or
curves or any other confusing things like that, so it sounded
reel boring, and we were running late and they both had to get
back to work, so everybuddy said goodbye, and we took off for
Pennsylvania again.
Then to make things even better,
Keith gave Gloria directions to get back onto the Freeway,
Expressway, Turnpike or Parkway, whichever it is that they call
it around there, and in we made it without even getting
lost!!!!!!
The Crayola
Factory
The next stop was
the Crayola Factory, in Easton, Pennsylvania, which is a little
town about 40 miles north of Philadelphia as a crow flies, and
we got there after about 60 miles and 2 hours, cuz we weren't
flying a crow. That little town would probably make Jim's
sister Helen happy, cuz we got lost about 8 or 7 times finding
that Crayola Factory, cuz it was located up one street, around a
couple of corners and curves, then down another street into the
town square traffic circle. I didn't think you could have
a circle in a square, but there it was!
Traffic circles
are normally reely scary, but this one was even worse.
They had added traffic lights to it to assist in the
confusion. The traffic lights and pedestrian walk/don't
walk signals seemed to fight each other. And nobuddy
seemed to know what the rules were. On top of all that,
the light turned from green to yellow to red, then back to
yellow then green again. A truly one-of-a-kind landmark
that will help to remember that town.
Jim finally
decided to jest drive down the alley and get out on another
street after witnessing 8 or 7 near misses between cars and
pedestrians. He figured they should also put in a trolley
car track to complete the project. He did finally find a
parking spot when somebuddy left.
The Crayola
Factory was kinda cool. A guy showed a
demonstration of how they make the Crayolas in another factory
nearby, and the gift shop was reel cool. The ice cream
cone from the McDonald's in the front of the building was also
reel good. Easton's website is almost as confusing as
their traffic circle, but here it is: City
of Easton, Pennsylvania
After leaving
Easton, we headed fer Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where we checked
into a motel fer the night.
World Famous
"Horseshoe Curve"
September 17,
2003.
Harrisburg--we checked out of our motel and the old folks headed
back downtown and went fer another bike ride, as detailed on
page 2. After the bike ride we blasted off for Altoona,
Pennsylvania, where we checked out the World Famous Horseshoe
Curve,
which takes the main line of the railroad over the
mountains. The most dramatic pictures are available on
their website, so be sure to click above to see them.
Photo #1 shows
the sign at the entrance to the parking lot, announcing the
presence of yet another "World Famous" landmark.
Photo #2 shows
some of the 194 steps that take you to the observation area.
Photo #3 shows
the tracks that take the "Funicular" cars up and down.
Photo #4 shows
the 2 "Funicular" cars passing each other while Jim
took the stairs down so he could take this picture.
Sparky's
Photo Album of Horseshoe Curve |
1. Horseshoe Curve sign
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2. Just 194 steps to the top
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3. "Funicular" tracks
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4. "Funicular" cars passing
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"Altoona" is a
Native American word that means, "Land of many motels with
ugly wallpaper and tile."
"Funicular" is
an Altoona word that means, "Give it a funny name and
they'll pay to ride it."
We spent the night in Altoona,
then blasted off for Pittsburgh the next morning.
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
September 18,
2003.
We left Altoona after eating the free breakfast at our motel and
headed fer Pittsburgh. We had heard that Pittsburgh
at one time was a very dirty city, but they had cleaned it up in
recent years. It's not exactly on the Interstate highways
that we usually take when going to the east coast or coming home
again, so we never had been there before. We also had
heard that it was known for the incredible number of bridges
that crossed the various rivers there, so, of course, the old
folks jest natcherally had to go and check it out.
We drove downtown
and parked in a parking garage, then caught the subway that took
the old folks across the river so they could take the
Monongahela Inclined Plane to the observation platforms atop
Mount Washington, where they could get a superb view of the
city.
Photo #1 shows
the subway train that brought us across the river to the foot of
Mount Washington.
Photo #2 shows a
view of the Monongahela Inclined Plane from a distance.
Photo #3 shows
the plaque commemorating the landmark.
Photo #4 shows
one car going up as the other one is on its way down.
Photo #5 shows
Jim standing on the overlook after looking over the side.
Photo #6 shows a
very long train and lots of bridges, from an observation deck
atop Mount Washington.
Photo #7 shows
another view of still more bridges, while photo #8 shows yet
another bridge that spans the river between downtown and Mount
Washington.
Sparky's
Photo Album of Pittsburgh |
1. Pittsburgh subway train |
2. Monongahela
Inclined Plane |
3. World
Famous Sign |
4. View
looking up the hill |
5. Jim
on the overlook |
6. Long
train & lots of bridges |
7. Lots
more bridges |
8. And
yet another bridge |
You ken find out a lot more about the bridges in the area by
clicking on this website: Pittsburgh
Bridges
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