Road Trip Photos - June 2016

The most interesting man in the world.

I've been on the road again.  This time we drove to Pennsylvania.  Our first day we spent outside of Philadelphia and the next day we drove up into the Adirondacks.  It took us about six hours to get to Pennsylvania.  It was another three hours to the cabin where we were staying in the Adirondacks.  The weather was warm, but in the mountains it was comfortable.  Fortunately, we missed all the severe weather coming and going. 

Readers from other countries may wonder about the first picture.  The cardboard cut out is from a very successful advertising campaign.  Dos Equis beer ran an add that grabbed everyone's attention.  The commercials were interesting because they told a story about the life of a man deemed "the most interesting man in the world".  He consorted with the wealthy, rich, and famous.  His life story was all about adventure.  He joined the circus, went to bull fights, and probably did all the interesting things you ever heard about.   He was accompanied by two beautiful women.  And of course, the most interesting man in the world drank Dos Equis beer.  The advertising took on a life of its own and generated many funny jokes and internet memes.  So, when we stopped at a restaurant along the way, I just had to get a photo of this.  The restaurant also had a cutout of a Mariachi musician in traditional outfit with a cutout that you could stick your face through, but I was unable to talk my husband into letting me take his picture with it.  He has an aversion to looking silly in public.

Foggy on the bridge.

So while I am writing about this restaurant, I must say it was amazing.  Most of the time a restaurant is just booths and tables.  Once in a while you come upon one with interesting decorations.  This one was absolutely the most interesting restaurant I have seen in a long time.  The restaurant was called Los Muchachos (English translation:  The Boys)  The wooden chairs and tabletops were colorfully painted with different scenes.  Of all the chairs and tables I could see, I did not see a repeat of any scene.  The place was colorful.  And the food was really good too.  Abandoning our previous plan for a light lunch, we dug into the lunch buffet.  The food was really good.  If you ever get to Middleton, Delaware, look this place up.  It is a delightful place.

Church without a steeple.

So, back to the road trip. We took Route 301 to Philadelphia and then the Pennsylvania Turnpike up to the Adirondacks.  Mostly what we saw was trees and farm land.  Around Northern Virginia and Maryland there was a lot of traffic.  We crossed several rivers and drove past some amazing infrastructure.  The East Coast is a mixture of old and new.  Now, some of the new is getting old.  And in some places some of the best of the old is being preserved in historic districts.  I love old architecture.  During a previous time of prosperity some beautiful houses and buildings were built.  The homes built today can't really compare to it.  If the people that owned the houses could come back and see what we have built today, I think they would think that we live a drab existence.

One of the historic districts we drove through was in Odessa, Delaware.  I grabbed a few shots as we drove by.  We have been driving through that area for a number of years.  It is rather dismaying to see how much the area has grown and how bad traffic congestion is there.  (I am sure that the people that live and work there are happy to have jobs and homes, but I really miss the beauty of the area that has changed so much.

Historic district: Odessa

In one of the photos, an old steeple on the church has been taken down.  I have seen that on a number of churches in multiple places.  Steeples are expensive to repair.  Possibly the underlying supports are not as strong as they need to be and there is a fear that bad weather could cause a collapse.  Many churches still have a steeple of course, but I am seeing more and more churches being built without them.  Steeples are beautiful to see, soaring high up into the air. It is one more thing disappearing from our landscape.

I am always amazed at the infrastructure of our country: cities, bridges over wide rivers and the bay; trains and train tracks, industry, farmland and farm equipment to name a few categories.  It is all so awe inspiring.  This infrastructure is the backbone of our country.  When we are staying in our homes or apartments, it is easy to take it all for granted.  When you get out and see it in person, it really helps you understand what it takes to make a country function.  

This trip was driving North.  One of the things that struck me on the trip was that I was passing through different planting zones.  In my area of Virginia, hay has for the most part been harvested here and soy beans and corn are coming up.  In the mountains of Pennsylvania, they don't plant until after Memorial Day.  As we went further North the hay was still in the fields waiting to be cut.  I don't think I have ever seen so much hay in my life.  It was not just a field of hay.  It was hay fields as far as you could see to the horizon.  I don't know whether that is the norm or the abundance of hay is due to a drought in the western part of the country.  Lack of rain may be causing a poor growing season out there and the price of feed is going up.

First glimpse of Philadelphia.

In Levittown we had fun playing a game with nieces and nephews, siblings, and their spouses.  We spent the rest of our time at a beautiful cabin with my husband's family. It was great to spend some time with them.  We don't get up there very often.  It is a long drive.  I would like to see them more often.

Anyway, I'm home now.  There had been a severe storm while we were gone and the electricity had been out for a day and a half.  It was back on by the time we arrived home.  We had to throw out all the things in the refrigerator.  There was not a whole lot in there, mostly condiments.  When we travel, I try to pair down what we keep in the refrigerator just for this reason. 

Our general view on the highway.

Sunday I will be blogging about my lamb soft sculpture project again.  I had made a little progress on that project before we left.  I will be back to working on it again today, so there will be some new pictures.