Wednesday, October 13, 2004

The sun disappeared this morning behind a sky of haziness.  The mountains were still gorgeous to look at as the trees seemed to change colors before our very eyes.  I was crazy sore from our hike and asked if we could do a silly tourist thing.  They readily agreed and actually I think they enjoyed it more than I.  We took a ride on the Tioga Railroad.  I was starting to feel culture shock as we meandered our way through people's backyards and saw how the locals lived.  I can't even imagine what it must be like to live there. 

It is so completely foreign to what I know --- every modern convenience available to me in the blink of an eye.  Almost everyone we met was either local to the area or at the farthest, local to the state.  People looked at me just as peculiarly when I said I was from Florida.  I felt like I had either gone back in time or traveled to a foreign country, where everyone spoke English and drove Fords & Chevrolets, with a Dodge thrown in for color.  Little kids were pointing and laughing when they saw us driving around in the Bug.  I was starting to submerse myself in the culture and wondered if I could survive & thrive here if I had to (assuming I could survive the winters :p).

After the railway adventure, we drove a few towns over to see the Herb Lady.  Even though this next town was tiny, we couldn't find her place, so I called her up.  She gave me directions to get there and then let me know she wasn't open.  Wtf?  She suggested we come by tomorrow.  So I said, but we're here now, so she said, oh come by then.  Haha, so goofy.  Plus, her directions were to take a right at the light.  I asked which light, and she patiently explained to me that they only have the one traffic light.  :p  Her little shop was nice and we purchased a few teas that she had made.  She brewed up a couple for us to try and sat and chatted with us.  I was completely enthralled by the lifestyle there.  Galahad said it reminded him a little bit of Woodstock, NY before it got too commercial.

We had a late afternoon snack in Mansfield before returning to the same place we had lunch, the Wellsboro Diner.  We stopped there for more pie.  This became our new favorite place for meals and pie-breaks.  In fact, we had pumpkin pie as a dessert after apple pie.