Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Today is the day we hike the Grand Canyon, well the Pennsylvania one that is.  It's the most glorious day --- bright, clear blue skies.  I barely have the words to describe the splendor I saw and the feelings this place evoked in me, but I'll try.

We had breakfast and chatted.   We stopped at some little hole in the wall to buy some water and supplies.  Smitty's advertised hunting licenses and cappuccinos.  We goofed that their slogan could be "one pump, no waiting" cuz they also sold gas.  Dunno what was funnier, us laughing at them or them laughing at us.  :p  I don't think they had ever seen a Volkswagen Beetle before.  They didn't understand how we all fit in plus 3 gallons of water.   By the time we were leaving to go on the trail, I was ready for lunch.  Bless Galahad's friend's heart, he could eat as often as I did.

So we stopped at another place to buy sandwiches since Smitty's apparently sold only Spam.  While we were there, we decided to eat and then pack a sandwich for the trail.  Lunch was followed up by peach pie.  =)  Now, we were ready to hike!

The 2 guys quickly decided we needed to leave the trail and hike down to the waterfalls.  Thankfully, Galahad held my hand on the steep inclines.  Towards the end of the day, his friend was holding my hand also to help pull me back up.  My body was just outright fatigued.  I was completely out of breath from lack of oxygen, and my muscles were screaming in pain.  I definitely had burned through my grilled ham & cheese plus the pie already.  It was time to break out the other sandwich.

I kept goofing that we were about to see pixies at any moment.  That's how magical this place felt.  It wouldn't have surprised me much if we had.  At the bottom of the canyon, there was a stream.  I stretched out on a sun-warmed rock and let my mind wander watching hawks circle above.  I saw an osprey get his lunch and fly away holding it.

I haven't even mentioned that all the leaves were changing colors, too.  I had no idea that some of these shades occurred in nature.  They definitely gave my hair some competition.  :p 

My hiking shoes broke about halfway back up the trail.  I had been goofing on Galahad cuz his top-shelf hiking shoes broke during one of our hurricane jaunts.  He called the company (that bought the company that made them) and gave them an earful.  They sold him a new pair for a fraction of the price, which he was breaking in on this trip.  I wonder if I can call Asolo and whine.

For dinner we decided to drive into the thriving metropolis of Wellsboro and try out Timeless Destination.  This has to be the quaintest town I've ever seen.  The main street is lined with gaslight lanterns.  No business here even takes American Express.  It was quite intriguing.  The food was scrumptious and we chatted with our waitress who was born & raised in Wellsboro.