Mile 12,631 – Home Again. Our last day, we drove home from Austin, Pennsylvania. It was only the third day (out of 63) without any sunshine. The weather was dreary and drizzly when we arrived.
Those of you who have been following the blog regularly may have read some of my sneering comments about other tourists and tourist traps. The overpriced hoopla and interminable “commutes” in-and-out of Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks are not the fault of the Park Service. The truth is that the most popular attractions suffer from their own popularity. Providing more services and accommodations will only make things worse.
Some of my more memorable experiences were often spontaneous surprises in not-so-famous places:
- Taking a swim in a lake in Northern Minnesota
- The Grand Coulee landscape in Washington state
- The kite festival in Long Beach, Washington
- Driving down an abandoned stretch of old Route 66 in Arizona
- Hiking the Pancake trail near Pikes Peak with my friend Johanne
- And a silly afternoon with P.J.’s sister Wendy and brother-in-law, near the Kinzua Dam
We threw apple cores into the Allegheny River and, to our surprise, the cores got caught in eddies and started floating up-stream until they got caught in the rapids. Watching that process was a pleasantly mesmerizing, relaxing, and educational activity (in hydrodynamics) on a beautiful day in the beautiful Pennsylvania Wilds.
On my next cross-country trip, which will not be any time soon, I’d like to spend more time visiting not-so-famous places and places I have not been before. I also want to plan a destination trip to Yellowstone, with accommodations inside the park. That park may be crowded, but it is also big enough so you can escape the crowds if you are willing to walk. And it has such a variety of sights to see!
This concludes my daily posts. I have updated the highlights and lowlights with trip summary entries, and P.J. still has more pictures to upload. We hope to have the blog complete soon.