On the road again

This is Ridgway, PA. The next leg of our trip was from Carlisle, PA to Bradford, PA. Cameron, our granddaughter, is in her sophomore year at the University of Pittsburgh, Bradford Campus. The campus is about 250 miles from Carlisle, and the drive is beautiful. It goes through the Allegheny National Forest and is mostly on nice two-lane highways with little traffic. I really got a chance to bond with driving Penny on this trip, as it didn't have the competitive nature of driving on a busy, truck-filled interstate. Bob and I have a habit of starting our drives promising we will stop soon for breakfast and then waiting until we are starving, and this trip was no exception. I think I get that from my father, who hated to stop when on a road trip. He was deeply distressed to discover that girls (my mom, sister Lynn and I) could not be expected to pee in a cup and thereby avoid any rest stops. So once the hangry started to kick in, Bob and I stopped in Ridgway. We were struck by the courthouse, which seemed to rise out of the trees, and when Bob got out to take a picture, he spotted the Brew Bank Brewing Company Restaurant. As the name implies, the restaurant/brewery was in an old converted bank.

As is so often the case in small towns, the people are incredibly nice and interested in visitors. Our waitress convinced us to split a dark beer with notes of chocolate and coffee (we told her we were driving and couldn't drink, but we decided to stay awhile once she described the beer) and had an amazing poblano cheese soup. After filling our bellies and stretching our legs, we continued on to Bradford.

One of my first memories of Cameron is at a beach house in Nags Head, NC. She was at the crawling stage, and was sitting on top of a granite countertop about 3 feet off the floor. A tile floor. Her mom, Jamie, told me not to worry, that Cameron would not go too close to the edge, and although my heart was in my mouth, it was obvious that this kid could take care of herself. Cameron has always seemed confident, in charge and someone who knows her own mind to me. A few years ago, we took Cameron and her brother Brandon to Pittsburgh to see the Steelers play, and Cameron suggested we go to the Warhol museum and the Phipps conservatory Botanical Gardens and arboretum. She has an eye for art and those were the best parts of the trip.

After an Italian dinner in Bradford, Cameron showed us around the Bradford campus. It is a beautiful college set among mountains and trees in a valley. Cameron told us that currently the campus has only around 500 kids, as many opted to study virtually during the virus, but they are lucky to have very few cases in the Bradford area. Certainly, the campus seemed almost empty on this Sunday night. At the end of her sophomore year, she will have the option to transfer to the Pittsburgh campus, and she has some additional ideas she is pondering. Then it was off to the hotel.

Upon arrival, we were once again surrounded by car guys. We literally cannot go anywhere that Bob doesn't have an audience for Penny. I took this picture from our hotel window, and Bob spent the next half hour talking cars with these guys, who were part of a road crew staying at the hotel. Around midnight, Bob got up to use the bathroom and looked out the window to check on Penny, who was again (or perhaps still) surrounded by guys looking at her. Bob clicked the lights with the key fob, and they gradually wandered off.

Tomorrow we head to Butler PA to visit Bob's son, Ken, and many of the other Bray's.