Sunday pm in Elizabethtown PA

At first we thought it was just us, but as the day wore on, we realized we have been isolated from the throes of traffic, vacationers, and tourist in touristy areas for many years. We kept asking, where did all these people come from and why are they on the roads / in the museums / in the restaurants / and in general “in the way”? Thinking about it, we haven’t been out among the unwashed masses in years – probably at least 15 years. Between work and a desire to avoid crowds, we took our vacations in the off-season and going to less popular places.

Anyway, today was spent fighting traffic – really bad on the one-lane roads with frequent traffic lights. We started off taking a “back road” that followed the Susquehanna River south to Columbia, PA. Columbia has an interesting history. It fell one vote short in the US Congress of becoming the Capital of the USA. During the late 1800’s, it had many iron ore processing mills. Much of the traffic across the Susquehanna River came through Columbia – first on ferry service, later on various bridges built to replace the ferries. Today, it is almost a ghost town with population back to where it was in the late 1800’s. Many of the buildings remain as they were then, but with many of the new buildings being constructed attempt to recreate the style of the past. The first photo is of one of these new row-housest.

Another Columbia facet is that it is the home of the College of Horology. What in the world is that, we asked? It is the study of watch and clock repair. There is a museum of watches and clocks; but being Sunday morning it wasn’t open and we didn’t stick around to see it. One of the above photos was of a local watch repair business, complete with dragon adornments.

The next two photos are also of various home fronts and doors along Columbia streets.

We crossed the river headed south to York. Didn’t see much of “historic” York. Although it surrendered to the Confederacy in the Civil War, our route didn’t take in much of that. Instead we found ourselves in the modern industrial complex, including the Harley Davidson Manufacturing plant. See above for yours truly mounted on a trusty steed. (Only time in my life I’ve ever sat on a Harley.) Unfortunately, being a Sunday, we weren’t able to take the plant tour.

From York we headed southwest to visit Gettysburg. Here, we ran into major crowds. We had anticipated a leisurely drive through the battlefield; instead we ended up in the battlefield museum where everyone had their hand out – at least it seemed that way. We asked about the diorama – it was closed for restoration; but we could see a film (made by the History Channel). When we arrived at the entrance to the film, we were told it wouldn’t start for another 10 minutes and by-the-way we needed tickets (back at the place we’d gone originally to ask about the diorama!). By this time, we were tired (actually we were tired when we got there); it was another hour+ back to the camper; and the crowds weren’t thinning. So we threw in the towel and headed back.

Most of the drive back was on limited-access (US 15). But then we hit three traffic lights and traffic ground to a halt. We were not happy campers at that point.

Our conclusion was when we need to visit an historic site, we need to: a) read up ahead of time, b) arrive early in the day, and c) be rested when we arrive and plan to make it an entire day. You’d think we’d have learned these lessons when we were young, but I guess that’s part of growing old(er).

We are supposed to have semi-serious rain / thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow. At the moment the sky is clear and it’s in the mid-80’s. Not as cool as earlier nights in Virginia. Must be the altitude or lack of it.

Tomorrow, I will spend the day in Lancaster, PA, having some work done on the Saturn – work that should have been accomplished in Wytheville, VA, but wasn’t. Maybe I’ll complain to GM?