Sunday- departing Pittsburgh

Last night before writing the blog, we packed. Therefore early-ish this morning we left the hotel. We decided to get on our way as there were going to be other ‘home-coming’ events including a marathon in Pittsburgh. We met a load of departing botanical artists and one or two tagging-along husbands, boarding a shuttle to the airport. There were one or two tagging-along wives at the event too, so I don’t want to appear discriminatory!

Unfortunately we were slightly late (By seconds), so didn’t get away in time to drive our planned route before it was closed off. We therefore found our way around the back Streets of Pittsburgh to get away from the university area where most of the things were going on. It feels a little like being a peeping Tom when going through really shabby and run down areas. I could certainly understand why the botanic gardens wanted to get children from poor backgrounds to learn about growing things in their own neighbourhoods. Introducing something like that might encourage them out of areas similar to what we saw and help them to integrate out into the world.

We eventually got out of the city and were so glad that the couple to whom we had offered a lift to the airport had refused. I don’t think we could have made it in time for their flight and would have made their situation worse. I hope they read this and did make their flight.

After about a comfortable hour’s drive, we stopped off to have some breakfast. There was also a shop nearby, with delicatessen etc. we decided to be very sensible (for lunch), and buy a salad, apples – and cashews!!! Then we went into the diner next door and had an American style breakfast. Not pancakes as we had those last week and vowed not to have them again. They were huge, thick and doughy. No, this time we had 3 eggs, bacon fried to a crisp, hashed potatoes and toast – each! We had as much coffee as we wanted and were asked if we wanted to take some with us – free of charge. You don’t see that in England, although I suppose we should have restricted the size of the breakfast. It was worse than a full English breakfast calorie-wise.

We drove north towards Eirie and then turned right across the top of Pensylvania along Route 6. This is off the main highway so we drove through towns and villages seeing some lovely countryside. We seemed to climb steadily and as we did so the trees got more yellow and red. It remained sunny and warm so we were able to really enjoy the journey ( listening to an un-abridged exciting book via the CD player).

At lunchtime, we found a lovely area by the side of a river to eat our lunch. It was really spoilt by tiny, biting insects. But my husband did see his first, second and third chipmunk. We beat a hasty retreat and continued our evermore colourful journey. At one point which was quite high, the red was really impressive.

Now we are in a motel in a place called Wellsboro. It is near an area they call the Pennsylvania Grand Canon. Unfortunately it is quite shallow where we are, so doesn’t give the impression of Grand Canyon – at least here. The motel is meant to have Internet, but I think you have to catch it as it flies past. I haven’t been quick enough yet, so I am writing this in a word processing application and will copy and paste if I get the chance. This blog is our travel diary.