Scarface

The Appalachian Mountains are the scar that runs down the left hand side of the face of North America. That is to say the right hand side of the map, faces being viewed from the owners perspective.

The Appalachian range is actually mostly located in the US but extends into Canada, forming a zone from 100 to 300 mi (160 to 480 km) wide, running from Newfoundland to Central Alabama in the United States. The system is divided into a series of ranges, with the individual mountains averaging around 3,000 ft (910 m). The highest of the group is Mount Mitchell at 6,684 feet (2,037 m), which is the highest point in the United States east of the Mississippi River.

So, excitement plus there then!

Jen On The Trail

Jen. On The Trail.

The Blue Ridge Parkway through the Appalachians.

The Blue Ridge Parkway through the Appalachians.

On the rocks.

On the rocks.

SNAKE!!!!!!!

SNAKE!!!!!!! Red Tongued Snake.

Heading to the Cabin

Heading to the Cabin.

Back at The Cabin

Back at The Cabin

 

Football.

So it turns out the Amish simply don’t drive cars. They enjoy all the pleasures of life without the automotive maintenance.

Leaving the Amish area of Pennsylvania, with a couple of fresh Apple Dumplings from an enterprising Amish bakery called Fooks (the Fooks could sell books, but then I guess the Fooks are cooks at heart), we headed south into the killing fields of the Gettysburg region. This is the spot where the North and the South beat the living daylights out of each other so they could shake hands, have a few beers and live in peace. By the way they are still beating the living daylights out of each other, only now it’s called football. Go the Packers! Yay!

Sorry Dave, I just don’t get the football, you need to talk to Kirsty. Anyone who flies from Australia to the U.S. to watch your version of football knows more about the game than me. In fact pretty much anyone knows more about it than me. A quarter back is what you get when you buy a seventy-five cent soda and pay with a buck right? But I digress as usual.

We are out of the city again, for a while at least and although it’s good to get out of New York we both were a little sad to leave. New York really grows on you despite the noise and the crowds. There is never a dull moment in (rats, I’m going to say it, even though I don’t have a clue what it means) the Big Apple.

Tonight we are at Harrisonburg (not Harrisburg, which is just down the road). We are heading back to the Appalachians in the morning.

Covered Bridge

Covered Bridge

Around Harpers Ferry where the North and the South sorted out their differences.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Two Hundred Years in Four Hours or Schucplatting in public why not!

Emergency, emergency,  there’s a time warp happening, there’s a time warp happening………. no it’s alright we have driven into Amish country.

A few rules for Amish speak;

Sounds of “w” are pronounced as “v” as in “ve” for “we,” “b” is replaced by “p” as in “sop” for “sob,” hard “g” is replaced by “k” as in “dick” for “dig,” and “f” often substitutes for the sound of “v” in words like “liff” for “live.” But, wait, there’s more: “g” is substituted by “ch” as with “cheneration” for “generation,” “ch” can also substitute for the “j” sound, as a short “o” disappears so the “u” can replace it such as saying “cummin” for “common” as in “cummin sense,” “grudge” is more commonly pronounced as “crutch,” and “mouth” actually sounds a whole lot more like “mawth.”
It could actually,”make down wet” in the next few days. So we will keep an eye out for that.

The Amish Faith Actually Started In Switzerland: The church was created after Amish founder Jakob Ammann separated from a group of Swiss Anabaptists in the late 1600s. The Amish followed the teachings of the Mennonite faith, but split away from the Mennonites in the late 17th century because they felt the Mennonites weren’t disciplined enough. Even so, in the U.S. today, sects generally vary in dress and style of worship.

The Amish Have Their Own Language: It’s called Pennsylvania Dutch, owing to the fact that so many Amish settled in Pennsylvania and is an amalgam of German, Dutch and English.

You Can’t Just Join: There are around 180,000 members in the U.S. — and they’re not really looking to recruit. Members are born and raised into the faith — and they take very few converts.

Amish Women Aren’t Married In White: What non-Amish consider traditional, Amish consider downright weird. Women are married in blue or purple gowns, and don’t wear make up or jewelery.

Children In Amish Communities Typically Don’t Receive Higher Education: A 1972 Supreme Court (Wisconsin V. Yoder) ruling deemed that Amish families weren’t required to educate their children past the 8th grade, and were protected under the freedom of religion clause. Some families do choose, however, to pursue higher education. Most of the time, though, kids are required to help around the house and farm.

While They Don’t Own Cars, They Are Allowed To Ride In Them: The Amish generally don’t permit motorized automobiles in their communities, but they are allowed to accept rides from non-Amish people, whom they call Englishers.

Are they a peaceful and loving bunch of folk. Well maybe, or does their religion have the same inflexible principles as so many others. This legal battle just finished…..Conflicts between subgroups of Amish have resulted in instances of “beard cutting” attacks on members of the Amish community. Due to the cloistered nature of Amish lifestyle, they are often reluctant to bring complaints to local police who describe the attacks as “very rare”. In September 2012, a group of 16 Amish men and women from Bergholz, Ohio, were convicted on Federal hate-crime and conspiracy charges, including Samuel Mullet Snr., who did not participate in the five hair and beard-cutting attacks but was tried as the leader of the campaign. Samuel Mullet Sr. was sentenced to 15 years in prison on February 8, 2013. Fifteen others were given lighter sentences ranging from one year and one day to seven years. These convictions were overturned in August 2014.

Frustrated barbers or religious fanatics, you tell me.

Below: Jen snapped a few locals.

Amish Limo

Amish Limo

Back of Amish Limo

Back of Amish Limo

Saving for Amish Limo

Saving for an Amish Limo

Das is nicht for gerfingerpoken. Or don’t touch the glassware unless you have the cash to pay for it.

Schucplatting, for your next trivia session is a dance which involves slapping the bottom of ones foot while mincing about in a generally gay (that is, happy) sort of way.

The Space – Noise Continuum

Consider noise. Ear shattering, skull splitting, teenage girls watching “Friday the Thirteenth’ or “Halloween” type noise.

Now consider space. Squishy, sardine can, no room left, walls crashing in, can’t breath, kind of space.

If you can imagine the above then congratulations, you have saved yourself the trouble of taking the Statue of Liberty Cruise.

By luck alone we managed to miss the experience of being crammed on a small overloaded ferry and herded around Liberty and Ellis Islands and we are much happier for not having had the experience.

This is not the only experience we didn’t have, we also didn’t pay a couple of hundred bucks to go through airport like security to travel with another herd of people to the top of the Empire State building. Call me a cheap skate, and I know you will, however it was a joint decision not to be subjected to the same level of comfort and length of queue we could experience for two bucks fifty on the subway. For the record, the Chrysler Building leaves the Empire State building for dead in the architecture stakes.

So what did we do? Well we caught the Staten Island Ferry and saw Ms. Liberty for free. We visited Battery Park, China Town, Little Italy, Greenwich Village, Time Square, Grand Central Station, and a thousand sights in between. Picked up sushi for tea, navigated the overcrowded subway back to our new favourite place, The Bronx, with some of our new friends.

All this and didn’t get mugged once.

New York is a seriously big city. Lots of stuff here is bigger than anywhere else on the planet. It’s also noisy and crowded and demonstrates all the excesses and privations of what is arguably the richest country in the world. The economic boom years afforded enormous development opportunities for the USA and New York certainly took advantage of them. Like the rest of the developed world however (Australia included), the USA is losing it’s industry to overseas cheap manufacturers. Nearly everything is made off shore. There are increasing political rumblings here that China and other “cheap labour” economies, where currencies are held at an artificially low-level, are destroying the manufacturing capabilities of developed nations. Designed in the home country and made offshore may not work in  the long run.  Note to Self…lighten up, we’re all having fun right?

Anyway it’s picture time.

Self Explanatory

Self Explanatory

Break Dancer

Break Dancer

Mural In Little Italy

Mural In Little Italy

Grand Central

Grand Central

Forget the Empire State This is THE Building

Forget the Empire State. This is THE Building

 The Jolly Green Giant's Mum.

The Jolly Green Giant’s Mum.

Noodle Face

Noodle Face

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Jekyll, Hyde and Rabbit

Jekyll, Hyde and Rabbit

This guy is obviously a local.

Pick the locals.

Coffee at last!

A tiny coffee shop, with an inconspicuous sign saying “espresso”, on Park Avenue New York. Who would have thought it. Removed from the mediocrity of Starbuck’s “pumpkin, cinnamon, squirrel infusion, latte” and at $4.00 (that’s $5.00 au) a hit served in a tulip cup on whole milk. Woo Hoo!

Real Coffee. Real cups.

Real Coffee. Real cups. Real Muppets.

Chrysler Building.

Chrysler Building.

New York, "The Empire State" has It's own building.

New York, “The Empire State” has It’s own building.

Jen's squirrel

Jen’s squirrel.

Jen's Subway

Jen’s Subway.

Jen's Rasta Man

Jen’s Rasta Man. “Wasup doorkeep”

Great big raucous alien worms

The New York subway system mimics the city in many ways. It’s noisy, crowded, a little run down, a little grubby, and in need of some tender loving care. That said it still works, rattling, squealing and snaking beneath the streets like a giant alien worm.

So we took the 5 from 149th and 3rd downtown to Central Park North (see how we have blended right in to the Bronx), scoped the Met, the Guggenheim, the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, all the time drifting in and out of the park. We also tried the Knish and Giant Pretzel from the street vendors and pronounced them less than average.

One other thing we did was check out the Frick collection which, from what I can see, is a collection of very old photographs by novice photographers who, for reasons I will never understand, have achieved some notoriety. Mr. Frick, who lived in a very big house just off Fifth Avenue, collected hundreds of these pics plus other stuff over many years probably to impress his friends. Or maybe he just enjoyed early photographs.

Photography is banned in the Frick Museum so this is a small sample of what you would see if you took photos.

Theo Rousseau's the road to town definately shows promise.

Theo Rousseau’s the road to town definitely shows promise.

Tom Gainsborough's best friend.

Tom Gainsborough’s best friend.

Pierre Renoir's mum and kids.

Pierre Renoir’s mum and kids.

Pete Rubens. He needs to sharpen his game a little. I mean, look at the collar on this guy.

Pete Rubens. He needs to sharpen his game a little. I mean, look at the collar on this guy.

Joey Turner. He's big on boats and has clicked a beauty here.

Joey Turner. He’s big on boats and has clicked a beauty here.

Jimmy Whistler took this one . Not his Mum obviously.

Jimmy Whistler took this one . Not his Mum obviously.

Frank Boucher. I like this, good contrast depth of field etc.

Frank Boucher. I like this, good contrast depth of field etc.

Johnny Constable's church picture. The trees get in the way a bit, but not bad.

Johnny Constable’s church picture. The trees get in the way a bit, but not bad.

Tony van Dyck. Not a bad effort.

Tony van Dyck. Not a bad effort.

Claude (Oscar) Monet's offering. A little washed out perhaps?

Claude (Oscar) Monet’s offering. A little washed out perhaps?

Gio Bellini's whats the fuss about

Gio Bellini’s whats the fuss about

In conclusion, I’m with Gio on this, I don’t see what the fuss is about either.

Lyndal, if you ever see this blog you will notice that none of your famous early photographers used black and white film. Just saying that’s all!

Saint Peter

The morning was cold and lonely

City lights old and grey

The sun arose trying to smile

Gave it all away

The honky-tonk called a stranger

The stranger couldn’t pay the bill

Made a stand, raised his hand

Sang a song, no time to kill

Hey, St. Peter Before you ring your bell

Just been down in New York town

Done my time in hell

(Thanks to Vanda & Young)

A Day of firsts.

First first. We drove from Watkins Glen to New York City, another race track.

Second first. We booked in to swanky hotel in upmarket suburb called The Bronx. Just near Harlem.

Third first. We caught a bus to Central Park, New York for free. The bus driver probably took pity on us due to the glazed look in our eyes and because we had no clue what a “metro card” was. Also the bus driver probably thought we looked a bit out-of-place for the neighbourhood and perhaps we should be relocated.

Fourth first. We visited, from the outside only, many fancy pants shops on Madison and Fifth Avenues. We used the rest rooms in one of them. Very nice for whizzing, thank you flash shop whoever you were.

Fifth first. We navigated back to hotel via subway (the train not the sandwich purveyor ). Personally I did not care too much for the subway. I think I will put it in the flying category.

Sixth first. I discovered that I am neither a pessimist nor an optimist. I know this because I looked at the bottle of mighty fine Canadian sippin’ liquor pictured below and saw it as neither half full or half empty. I am a realist, Yukon Jack is about to bite the dust.

Jacks back! But not for long.

Jacks back! But not for long.

Tomorrow we’re back for more.

A day at the races.

(Note to self. Lighten up, it’s not Niagara Falls’ fault!)

travel_speedway_590

Watkins Glen International (nicknamed “The Glen”) is  located near Watkins Glen, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake, New York State. The circuit is known as the Mecca of North American road racing and is famous world-wide. Since 1948 thousands of races including formula one have been held at “The Glen”.

But that’s not why we are here is it. Were here to see the “Watkins Glen Ten Thousand” that is the gorge that has been cut through the shale over ten thousand years to produce the following result. Not quite as fast but very nice.

The Gorge

The Gorge

Autumn

Autumn

Waterfall

Waterfall

The Heart

The Heart

Shale Layers

Shale Layers

The Bridge

The Bridge

Niagara Falls Update

We left the Canadian side of Niagara falls this morning and headed back to the U.S. side. Shock horror the Americans have eclipsed the Canadians by actually being a lot more sympathetic to the poor old falls. Sure it’s still commercial, however they have managed to keep a bit more green space and have kept the casinos back a bit from the watery bits.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Niagara Falls

It’s always a bit sad when you have an image in your mind, cultivated over the years, of an iconic location and the reality turns out to be a little less than you expected. Niagara Falls to me is one of those places. I tried to block out the commercial side of the falls, that has no doubt always been there, and failed. The new high-rise hotels and casinos, the neon signs and the full-blown Vegas style amusement park on Falls Street, made it impossible to capture the feeling I was expecting. The falls are still magnificent as they have been for thousands of years. But a “Coney Island” theme park in the background….come on!

It’s symptomatic of the new commercial world I guess. Or maybe I’m naive expecting things to stay aesthetically pleasing. I just hope no one builds a casino at Yellowstone or Zion or any of the other “special places” in the U.S.

Casino Falls

Casino Falls

Forget the falls. Lets build  a fountain.

Forget the falls. Lets build a very average fountain.

War Memorial. The soldier faces the Mall not the falls.

War Memorial. The soldier faces the Mall not the Falls.

Pass.

Pass.

Enough Said

Enough Said

If you pick the angle and use trees to disguise the buildings, you can imagine the falls as they should be.

If you pick the angle and use trees to disguise the buildings, you can imagine the falls as they should be.

Better if you don't turn around.

Better if you don’t turn around.