November saw us undertake one of our famous “slams” — a road trip with lots of locations in a fairly compressed period of time. There were two notable changes on this slam: (1) it was on the East Coast, and (2) we injected some plane flights into the mix (thank God!). The principal reason for the trip was to celebrate Deb’s Mom’s 100th birthday in Bedford, PA. But given that this was in mid-November, we decided it didn’t make sense to fly back to WA before flying down to Mexico for the winter.
Bedford County is a charming and bucolic region in South Central PA, only two hours drive from either Washington, DC or Pittsburgh. Great highways get you into the area, but then leave those behind for two-lane, one-lane, and smaller roadways that wind their ways through the rolling, wooded hills and many rivers and streams. The town of Bedford itself still has its old historic fort from the mid-1700s and lots of old buildings that span the years and architectural styles. Bedford is also known for the Whiskey Rebellion (look it up — it’s a good story) and its healing water hot springs. We have always enjoyed coming to this area, so the 100th birthday party provided a great excuse. The party itself was a surprise for the birthday girl and it was great to get together with Deb’s family.
While there, we took some time to wander around the area. The first stop was Gravity Hill, about an hour’s drive from Bedford. This is one of those anti-gravity hills where you put your car in neutral and roll up the hill! There are a number of these hills around the country and, in fact, I grew up very near one in CT. These hills always have their associated ghost stories (generally involving parking couples, treacherous murder, and general mayhem) which I love to hear. Anyway, this one actually has a spray-painted start and stop line across the road (very convenient), so Deb threw caution to the wind and tried it while I filmed. Fun!
After our harrowing gravity defying car trip, we were off to visit the Bridges of Bedford County (wasn’t that a movie?). We saw seven of fourteen bridges, scattered around the county. The first was built in 1867 and most use a Burr Truss construction (yeah, I had to look that up!), which is a combination of an arch and multiple king post trusses. I guess many covered bridges use this design. We did this tour in a single afternoon, which meant scooting along pretty quickly, getting lost a few times, and Deb doing her best Rémy Julienne (look it up if you don’t know) imitation, flying through a covered bridge at a high rate of speed!
Anyway, we had a great time in the area and were ready to head off for our next part of the slam — Tidewater, VA!
This entry was posted in Pennsylvania, Travel, United States
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
