New Berlin PA

I have some miscellaneous pictures and thoughts about the part of Pennsylvania we stayed in during the month of August.  We were parked in Yvonne's sister's driveway in New Berlin PA.

Here's the house from the back.  They are right next to a large grassy area behind a school no longer in use.  But, someone is maintaining the lawn and it's very nice.

This is the neighbor's back yard at the end of the cul-de-sac.  It's not really large in comparison to 

some around here.

This is the view the other direction - the other side of the valley this town is in.  See how green it is around here.

The house across the cul-de-sac has been for sale for 2 years.  Nice place; swimming pool in the back.

Speaking of pools, we were amazed how many folks around here have pools in the back yard..  And, see that white fence around the back yard?  I saw so many just like it; some contractor really scored.

Here's a pretty cardinal at the back yard feeder.  We don't see those in Arizona, although folks say they're around.  Must be the food Yvonne uses doesn't attract them.

Steve and Sherry's cat wasn't around, so Jill decided the kitty bed was pretty comfy.

New Berlin is pronounced New Brrlun with the accent on the Brr. Doesn't sound like any city in Germany.  It very interesting in that there are two distinct sides to it.  The old, historic town and some new sections.  The neighborhoods downtown look like this.

And then, there are neighborhoods like the one we were in, that look like Cedar Hills in Oregon where we used to live.

A great aspect of the small town was belief that your neighbors are honest.  Here's a product stand that just uses the honor system.  And it's nice stuff, too.

For some reason, they call this area the Buffalo Valley.  Were buffalo every in this part of the country?  There's a gazebo with a ceramic buffalo that has pictures of different buildings in town painted on it.

While we. were there, they had what they call New Berlin Day.  It's a one-day festival, mostly a giant what I would call a "Saturday Market.  There were dozens and dozens of booths, music, food and fun.

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Almost every street in town was closed.  Here is the main street through town.

Cars were parked in every field around.

I didn't get any pictures of the Firehouse yard where the bands and food booths were set up.  Right after lunch, everyone pretty much disappeared.

The next morning, you couldn't even tell there had been an event, the streets were so cleaned up.

OUR TIME IN PA

Here are pictures and thoughts of our time in PA, August 2015

Our parking site at Steve and Sherry's.  

The first night here, Sherry made her famous raviolis.  Chuck and Nora and Deb came over.   You most likely saw these pictures on our Facebook Page, but here they are again for posterity.

We were invited to dinner at Mary Ann's daughter Tracy's home in Lewisburg for dinner.  Thier house is about 200 years old, and we found it fascinating.  They've stripped some walls, ceiling and floor down to the original.  Really neat.

The dinner was awesome.  I didn't get enough pictures of everyone, but here's a pic of some photos of Tracy and Ted's wonderful sons. From the left, Alex, Andrew (Drew) and Aaron.

Deb organized a get-together (family reunion) at Indian Park in Montoursville.  Great turnout and cooperative weather.  Not hot and humid, which is what Yvonne and I were fearing.  I'm sure we'll see some sticky weather while we're here.

Here's our pavilion.  We didn't need a roof that day; no hot sun, no rain.

From the left, Aunt Toot, Uncle Rich, Uncle Dick, Susan and Aunt Jeanne.

Here's Chuck, Roger and Nora.  Steve and Sherry and Kay in the background.



Come on, Kay, try to have some fun!



This is Alanna, Melissa, Ashley, Mom Tina, and Christina.

Aunt Jeanne's Roger and his Aunt Toot.

Nora, with her back to us, Deb and Aunt Jeanne, Susan and Chuck in the background.

Steve and Karen, with Barb and Don.

Yvonne's 50th High School Reunion was this weekend.  We attended the Friday night mixer at the BrewPub.  We met MaryAnn and Jim at Lewisburg and rode up with them.  I didn't get a lot of pictures, knowing hardly anyone there, but Yvonne did get to talk with some old school friends.

Here are Yvonne and Ruth Ann, friends since little kids.

Here are cousins Yvonne and Mary Ann.

Jim and Mary Ann.

Yvonne and her special friend, Donna Ochs.

Some Thoughts From The Road To PA

A few interesting thoughts (to me, anyway) from the road.

We noticed in Oklahoma that the cows were smart enough to stay cool.  Wherever we saw a pond in the farmer's field, the cows would be standing in it.  Can't blame them:  it's been scorching hot every day through TX, OK, AR and TN.

Another thing we like was the fact that, since the wind seemed constant across OK and AR, they had installed hundreds of windmills to generate electricity.  Only place we've seem them more densely situated was in Coachella Valley by Palm Springs.

We got a site a a park in Little Rock which was right on the Arkansas River.  It was a pretty stark, wide open spot, but if you walked across the park a little ways, you got a great view of the river and the city skyline.

So, I went on Google to find the best Thai Restaurant in town and was told it was the Bangkok Thai Cuisine over on Clinton Ave, across the river.  So, off we went, and here is what we found.

Not only was it cafeteria style (not really a problem), but they were closed.  So, we went down the street and had fried catfish, really good.

The next day, we drove past Memphis and got a shot of that skyline.  We've toured both Memphis and Nashville before so we're just driving by this trip.

We got to Jackson TN and the park turned out to be 14 sites right beside each other on a large paved area.  As you can see, below.  But, they were full hookups, with WiFi available, so, it was great for an overnighter.



The other interesting thing about the park is the fact that it's also a Utility Trailer Sales business.  They had trailers for sale parked all around us.  They were very nice trailers.

We are now at The Bean Pot Campground in Crossville TN.  Our site is on Lima Bean Way and it is the best site we've had so far on the trip.  Trees, shade, grass, and only 81 degrees with perfectly blue skies.  Ahhhhh.