"And you're listening to Mega-Rock!"

Matt and I took a drive down to Pennsylvania yesterday. I noticed that Jenny and her boyfriend Aaron also took a drive there too.. but for different reasons. We just needed to get out of town for a few hours. I'm not all that familiar with PA. I've been to Philadelphia, Lancaster, Erie, Warren, Bradford and parts of Amish country before, but most of it was so long ago that I really don't remember much. I do remember endless rows of "Amish" stuff that was ultra-commercialized around the Lancaster area. Blar.

Anywho, we drove into Warren and got a map of PA since I handily left my AAA map at home. Matt has been around a good chunk of Western PA after living in Corry for a little bit, so we decided to head directly south. We went by this brick house that I initially thought was cool but couldn't figure out what the guy in army fatigues hanging out on the front porch was all about. Add several American flags to the picture too. Matt took a look and said, "Oh, skinheads." That reminded me that Warren did have a Ku Klux Klan branch at one time (Note: that link takes you to an Anti-Klan page.. I'm not one to propagate hate.) Soon after going by this house we ended up on Route 666. I'm not kidding! Matt took a picture of the sign, so maybe one day when he finishes that roll of film and develops it we can scan it into my computer and upload it here. Then again.. maybe not.

The drive was really cool since Route 666 takes you through the Allegheny National Forest (lots of green hills/mountains!). We stopped at this little shop area. I think it was called Tall Oaks. I bought a Christmas ornament and some apple chips. Matt bought a 2002 Wolf Calendar. It was a really cute area. The shops were divided into themes (Christmas, Woodlands, Spirit of the Woods, Sweethouse, and a store with mostly candles in it) and connected by trails in this wooded area. Really calm and beautiful.

As we drove on, we saw an advertisement on the side of a barn that I should have taken a picture of: "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco! The Best!" What a piece of Americana! It's amazing how the countryside really does look like old paintings sometimes. The approach to one town was perfect. A rolling pasture of cows before a large farmhouse and barn, a hill that had a huge old Catholic Church/School/Cemetery at the top. A bit spooky looking actually. The end of the line was Brooksville, PA. This is apparently the County Seat for Jefferson County. We ate at Gilbert's Restaurant. This is some sort of family diner place that was a step up from the usual greasy spoon. The cool thing was that I was able to get Cream Soda there. That's hard to find even in the grocery stores! Now, I must say that Brooksville is quite the happenin' place. It has several gas stations, restaurants and motels. I suppose it helps that it's right by I-80. Yeah, that's how far south we were from Jamestown (78 miles). But that was the end of the trip. We drove back, listening to Mega-Rock 105.5 FM, and collapsed at home.

It's amazing how big Jamestown seems after driving through cow country for awhile. I can't say it's due to the wide open spaces in Pennsylvania since the landscape is broken up by so many hills and forests, but that's what it is essentially.