Christine OToole - Pennsylvania Off the Beaten Path: Discover Your Fun

To Jim, James, and Bill: great Pennsylvanians.

And to the memory of Bruno Lavoissier, 19882009.

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ISSN 1536-6197ISBN 978-1-4930-6575-2 (paper : alk. paper)ISBN 978-1-4930-6576-9 (electronic)

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When I think of Pennsylvania, I think green.

Driving home to Philadelphia after a weekend at the beach, I used to roll down the window as I crossed the Delaware River and sniff the humid fragrance of an August night, so different from south Jerseys parched sand. On a spring drive down Route 6, Ill see a golden mountainside and know its a week away from leafing out (unless it snows, of coursea distinct possibility in the Pennsylvania mountains). Whether observed from a bike seat in York County or a trail along the Chestnut Ridge, this state has simply terrific photosynthesis.

The natural end of all that transpiration is, of course, fall, and its fabulous here. In October you bask in what I think is its most memorable weather: warm days, deep blue skies, and a palette of colors that Crayola (a Pennsylvania company) would kill for. Throw a few elk, bear, bikers, or golfers into that picture, and youve got the state at its finest.

Pennsylvania is an old state. Its central ridges and valleys are mind-bendingly ancientabout 250 million years old, geologically speaking. Evidence of human life in rock shelters in Washington County goes back at least 16,000 years. Ten thousand years ago Indians hunted mammoths and mastodons. Europeans first settled here in 1643. All those layers of history mean that however you slice it, theres always something new to enjoy and digest.

Spend lots of time in Philadelphiaits as youthful as it is historic and has a collection of fabulous museums that would take weeks to visit. Walk around Old City, an authentic 18th-century neighborhood where young locals push strollers and scooters. In-line skate down Kelly Drive (but remove the skates when you get to the Rocky steps at the Museum of Art). Boo the sports teamsits a tradition hereand ride the Market Street El, the Broad Street subway, or the trains to Suburban Station, because the Schuylkill Expressway can be a nightmare.

But Pennsylvania is a broad state. So, in planning your jaunt here, be broad-minded.

If you think state capitols are a snore, youll be pleasantly surprised by Pennsylvanias neoclassical masterpiece on the banks of the Susquehanna. If youve ever seen the Grand Canyon, you owe it to yourself to compare it to Pennsylvanias version, a gorgeous gorge in Tioga County. And if you think Pennsylvania military history is all Gettysburg and Valley Forge, find out why native tribes joined forces with the French to battle the British for this land before the nation even existedand why the redcoats hacked their way through hundreds of miles of deep, mountainous forest (more greenery) to claim their fort at Pittsburgh.

Pennsylvania is green because its well watered. Between the peaceful upper Delaware and Lake Erie, ribbons of white water and terrific trout streams cut through the woods. In the valleys of Susquehanna and Lancaster Counties, lush farms snuggle against every rolling hillside, enjoying magnificent thunderstorms. And streamside county seats like Franklin abide like Brigadoon, charmingly unchanged.

Although Pennsylvanias tourist attractions often focus on industry, agriculture is still its biggest business. So, since youre being broad-minded, try a U-pick orchard or produce from a roadside stand. Visit the annual Farm Show in Harrisburg, which celebrates everything that grows in the state, from apples to zucchini. (Sweet-faced kids leading sweet-faced cows, butter sculptures, and rodeos, tooall for free every January.) Give Pennsylvania credit for the steady improvements in the states 116 parks. Over the past few decades, the Department of Conservation of Natural Resources (DCNR) has worked to groom them and to create interpretive signs and exhibits. Nice job, DCNR (and thank you, commonwealth taxpayers).

Old industries have new purposes here. Many abandoned short lines built to haul coal are now being converted to trails. A bonus: Most of them run alongside rivers. Hundreds of peaceful miles that used to be rusting steel are now long, restful water-level pathways. (The states prettiest country roads have also been linked in biking networks.) And in Elk County former strip mines have been converted to verdant meadows, creating a resurgence of elk. The herd is now one of the largest in the eastern United Statesa rustbelt story with a wild ending.

Quick: Whats the states website address? If youre tailing a car with a Pennsylvania license plate, the answers right in front of you: state.pa.us. Use that ubiquitous URL to find all things Pennsylvanian. Select the tourism page, Visit PA (visitpa.com), and type a keywordsay, appleand youll find museums devoted to apples, farm markets galore, even restaurants with apple desserts to die for.

Twenty years ago the state had a slogan that promised Youve Got a Friend in Pennsylvania. (Today youll see front license plates in the same blue-and-gold style that say Youve Got a Friend in Jesus, a play on that old catchphrase. When you see one now, youll catch the reference. Thats true native lore.) The old ad campaign caught on because its common sense and the real thing. With 12.8 million residents, you really are bound to know someone here. And I can vouch for the part about friends, most recently while writing this book.

In Donegal a fellow in a pickup truck tugged my car out of a snowdrift and simply drove off with a friendly wave. Dennis Tice of the Bedford Visitors Bureau insisted that my family drive to Gravity Hill, the most memorable of all my off-the-beaten-path destinations. Two shy Smethport teenagers, the only employees, kept me, the only dinner guest, company at the Courtyard Restaurant while I ate. And Ken Fosco made the early US Navy come alive for me on the Flagship