Fall Break in Pennsylvania!

My good friend Jeanette (one of my former administrators at school) and her husband John (he is one of the key people in leading me to getting my heart fixed!) are living in Pennsylvania while John is in grad school. Debbie (a teacher friend) and I decided that it would be a perfect destination trip for our Fall break!

It was SUCH a fun trip! The scenery was beautiful. One of us was saying, "oh my gosh look how pretty!" every three or four minutes.

We took a road trip (via the scenic route) to Gettysburg and Amish country.
Our drive dipped us down into Maryland for a bit.

Along the way we saw signs for Cunningham Falls and decided to stop. It was a 1/2 mile walk up to this beautiful little spot. What a gem of a find!
Not to far from the falls is Thurmont MD. We decided this was a good place to stop for lunch. Not having much luck finding anywhere to eat we decided to stop and ask a man walking down the street (we had passed him twice and Debbie told us to not judge a book by its cover and just stop and ask!). He turned out to be a very nice young man (with not very many teeth). Yes ma'am, he could recommend a place to eat, a nice buffet (if we had only known the foresight this was giving us). Well we followed his directions to a better part of town and found Rocky's where we each got a HUGE calzone! Rocky did make my calzone special just for me with the "must have" ingredients for a perfect calzone.

We stopped by the Gettysburg visitors center to set up a guide for the next day only to find out we were "between a pig and poke" according to the gentleman helping us and would not be able to get a guide. What the heck does that mean? A pig and a poke?

We ended up getting an audio tour of Gettysburg. This was a truly humbling experience that made me feel patriotic to the bone!
Off to Amish country where we were to spend the night. Before our road trip I done a little research to learn more about the Amish people and decided that the simple life style sounded very appealing and that I might like to join them. Jeanette asked a very thought provoking question, "how does one become Amish? Do you just show up one day in the outfit and say,'Hi, I'm new!'"
We had a most delightful day driving around Intercourse PA. and the surrounding areas just exploring. We stopped at some fun shops and admired their quilts and furniture. I looked for a husband but found out that they start courting at 16 and marry by 20. I am an Old Maid in Amish land .. ok in most lands. We also discovered that the Amish really like buffets! Trying to find some place to eat that just had a regular menu proved to be very difficult. We finally ended up at Jennie's Diner where the pancakes were bigger than your head! The people in this part of the country sure eat large food. I really am contemplating adopting some of the Amish lifestyle ... just on a more modern level. ;)

A day in the city. Who knew that Pittsburgh was such a pretty city!
The Steelers were playing right across the river from where we were eating lunch. You could hear the roar of the crowd. It was super cool.

Our last day was spent visiting a couple more sights. Our first stop was the Flight 93 crash sight from 9/11. Another humbling and very emotional sight. True heroes!
We then drove through the country to Frank Lloyd Wright's house "Fallingwater". Being an are history teacher this was one of the trip highlights for me!

I am pretty sure our tour guide is in love with the late "Mr. Wright".

It came in very handy that we kept running into professional photographers along the way that could take pictures of the three of us.

One last stop before heading home ... Ohiopyle State Park. This is really a summer destination so most of it was closed down. But beautiful all the same.

it turns out that I pose for pictures a lot .. huh ... who would have thought!

Jeanette and John are some of the most fun people to visit and spend time with. Debbie and I had a fabulous trip and came home with great stories and memories. Thanks for inviting us to come and we hope to see you again really soon! (we will totally let you win at cards next time! ha)