WELCOME TO MY PENNSYLVANIA TRIP
This travelogue is a reflection on the attractions I visited between October 8 and October 15, 2000. How did I end up in Pennsylvania? As it always seems to be, that’s an interesting story.
Readers of my other travelogues know that I’ve always traveled with my friend, Tom Marihart. Tom has proven over time to be a great friend and a very adaptive traveler. So, it was a natural reaction that Tom came to mind when the urge to go on another trip started taking over my brain. Tom, however, had other issues going on in his life.
After we got back from Canada, Tom decided it was time to get another job. He had been at his (then) current job for three years – a sin in the topsy-turvy employment market of Silicon Valley. His search for employment ended up taking him to Lucent Technologies’ plant in Reading, Pennsylvania. After some brief negotiations, he accepted a marketing position with Lucent. I initially thought this was the nail in the coffin for any travel that we’d do in 2000. However, Tom mentioned he could use some help finding a place to live. Since I had never been to Pennsylvania, it seemed like great excuse to help a friend, see something I hadn’t seen before, and satiate the travel bug.
My last two travelogues have been written in a diary format, with specific pages on certain sites. As I began to put this site together, I quickly realized that format wouldn’t work for this travelogue. Almost every day would be, “Went to Borders for a light breakfast. Spent all morning looking at apartments. Went to (attraction). Came back to Reading for a dinner at one of the chain restaurants, then went to bed.” I also thought about formatting this page around the different sites that I visited, much as I had done for the 1997 England Trip page. But that didn’t seem to capture the spirit of the trip adequately. I ultimately decided to group it around some of the themes that I enjoy exploring during my trips. However, lines between themes really blur for each of the sites. I’ll mention the interrelation at each site’s specific page. For indexing purposes, I’ve placed the sites under what I thought was its primary theme.
The section labeled General Impressions has my thoughts on the areas that didn’t merit their own pages. It also contains information about the hotels where we stayed and special restaurants where we ate. The sections labeled History, Religion, and Art are brief introductory statements that serve as a preface to my thoughts on the sites listed under those headings.
As always, Lonely Planet proved to be a valuable guide in planning and executing this trip. I used the 1st edition of the New York, New Jersey, & Pennsylvania guide. It wasn’t as good as the Lonely Planet guides on Great Britain or Ireland, but it proved to be adequate for this trip. It is my understanding that a second edition is now in print. I hope that it contains a little more information about some of the attractions that one can find in Pennsylvania.
I hope that you enjoy reading about this trip as much as I enjoyed the trip itself. I also hope that there is some useful information within these pages for anyone planning to take a trip to Southeast Pennsylvania. As for where I’m headed next, there is a trip on the immediate horizon. You will read about it once I return. Until then, enjoy Pennsylvania!
· History
· The Birth Of The Nation (Valley Forge/Philadelphia)
· The Rebirth Of The Nation (Gettysburg)
· Religion
· The Saints (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Katherine Mary Drexel)
· The Practitioners (Amish Country)
· Art
· The Temple (Philadelphia Museum of Art)
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All pictures and text are copyright Michael Lima. You can contact
me at mikvs@ix.netcom.com.
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