Franci fixed breakfast (she wouldn’t let anyone help in the kitchen) and we got on our way at about 11. The GPS took us through the highly populated area of Philadelphia, Washington DC, and New York on good Interstates and the drive was not hard.
We drove through Pennsylvania’s more rural areas. The fall colors became more breathtaking as we drove north to the Villa Roma Resort Lodges. This is a huge resort area with a major hotel and countless buildings — a lovely place in a lovely area with breathtaking trees all around us.
This is apparently a popular vacation area for people from the cities that we went past to get here. This place is unusual in that they empty our trash and change our towels every day, and clean our unit for free mid-week.
Monday: We joined a tour of the hotel and grounds — what a place! This is a lovely large hotel with all the comforts imaginable — it reminded me of the train stations of the large cities in Europe – spas, shops, nightclub, every type of activity imaginable. In the evening we went to a magic show – fun and a bit corny, but we enjoyed the different type of entertainment. A large group of people enjoyed the show with us.
Tuesday: We drove west over the New York/Pennsylvania State line to Forest City, Pennsylvania to ride our bikes on the DH Rails to Trails bike path. It took about an hour to drive the 38 miles there because of the winding roads — what a gorgeous drive — both directions, and especially coming home with the sun shining on the fall colors of the trees! Even if it hadn’t worked to ride the bike trail, the drive would have been worth the time and distance!
The trail is dirt packed, often with crushed rock on top, and has an almost constant uphill climb while riding north. We rode to Uniondale (5 miles) and stopped at a deli for a rest and snacks. A couple came in and we spoke with them a bit. The man’s parents had started the deli, and he had worked there as a child and after that. We asked about all the award ribbons on the wall — they had been earned by the lady who now runs the deli. After we ate, Verle suggested that we ride 2 miles further north to Herrick Center, which we did. We knew the ride back to our van would be easy with the tailwind and downhill slope. Fun — much faster than our uphill ride.
Thursday: We drove to Scranton, Pennsylvania to visit the Steamtown National Historic Site, a railroad museum. A highlight of the visit was a guided tour of the restored Roundhouse, which still is in active use. I finally understand how the Roundhouse worked.
48 locomotive engines could be worked on at a time, and several are in repair now, including active diesel engines. Through the years the bays have had to be made longer to accommodate the growing size of the locomotives. Another tour of a caboose (led by a very self-conscious young man, who had trouble remembering his script) was fun. A theater, History Museum, many train cars and engines throughout the grounds, and multiple exhibits at the visitor’s center made for a full day. The work of the various railroad personnel, the timeline of the railroad beginning in the 1830’s, and the place of big railroad spenders and unions were all discussed. The museum is very well done and interesting. We enjoyed the leaves during the entire drive back to our resort, again going through Herrick Center, the end of our bike ride on Tuesday.
It rained much of the day on Friday, and we were glad that we hadn’t made plans to hike or bike. We spent the day in our condo, enjoying games, and I wrote a couple of letters.
Saturday: We drove to visit my brother Jim’s daughter, Jennifer Lescott and family, in a suburb of New York City. What a wonderful drive it was to their lovely home. The trees are in their prime and just gorgeous with the sun shining on them, especially the morning and evening sun. The green evergreens and green meadows and black rocks make a lovely contrast. It’s almost more beauty than the heart can hold. This certainly needs to be added to my list of “….and heaven will be even better than this!” But how can it be????
Jennifer made a lovely lunch for us. Before lunch, Serena and Hannah showed me some of their photograph books, and Benjamin was quite friendly.
They plan to move around Christmas to a home that they have been remodeling. After lunch, Benjamin wanted us to come in and play with his trains with him, which we did. It was really a very special day, one we will not forget. We especially enjoyed the kids and visiting with Beau and Jennifer.
We spent the evening eating leftovers, watching the Husker football team get beat in the last couple of minutes — again — and watching the NU Volleyball team beat Michigan in 4 sets.