Pennsylvania

So to carry on my review of our 2008 adventures and photography, in July, we took a short (1200 mile) 4-day driving tour around North-central Pennsylvania—The PA Wilds as they call it . We got the idea to go and see the Eastern Traditional Archery Rendezvous. The "Rendezvous" had demonstrations, competitions, and vendors all focusing around traditional archery—using the same longbows and recurves that may have been used 300 or a thousand years ago. The cross-section of humanity at the Rendezvous ranged from pickup truck-driving lifetime NRA members through Mennonites, across medieval reenactors (think renfest) and ending at dreadlock-wearing back-to-nature hippies. We shot bows. I stung my wrist a few times. I took no photos. We had fun. This first panoramic (above) was taken at Fort Leonard Harrison State Park along a beautifully steep little trail down into the Pine Creek canyon. They call this place "The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania." It is a very pretty park, but if you are going to visit, don't let that get into your head to much; it will only disappoint you.

On the way back, we drove around the Pennsylvania Elk Country Scenic Drive. This little woodland scene unfolded to us after we marsh-mucked across a highland wetland area. I like how the humid air gives a glowing effect to the light behind the trees. On our drive, we saw a dozen, or so, elk—mostly in people's front yards. The cutest scene was an elk leaning over a fence into a goat's pen with the goat on its hind legs trying to sniff at the elk's nose. One of our stops took us to the Kinzua Bridge. This 2,000 foot long 300 foot high iron bridge was built in 1882 and was, at the time, the highest bridge in the world. In 2003, an F1 tornado came through and knocked half of it down. The remains of the bridge lay like matchsticks in the bottom of the valley. I was rather dubious about visiting the site of a recently half-destroyed bridge, but I have to say that the historical information and the engineering detail that they provide about the bridge made the visit very interesting.