Grand Canyon of PA

Great day in upstate New York; upper 50's/low 60's and lots of sunshine! The "Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania" had been recommended as a beautiful place to hike and see. Originally I had planned to visit last weekend (end of peak for the color change) but couldn't.

There are two state parks: Leonard Harrison State Park ("east rim") and Colton Point State Park "west rim") as well as Tioga State Forest (Pine Creek Gorge Natural Area). I ended up at Colton Point today. A local vendor was selling maple goodies. After hiking, a cup of hot cinnamon maple coffee was fantastic. I am still not used to wearing a hat and fleece jacket in October so I was not dressed quite warmly enough for my hike!

The drive to the park was also very nice. The town of Wellsboro is quite wonderful. It is the type town someone could easily live in and everything is within walking distance. I stopped on the way back and walked around a little. On December 6th is "Dickens of a Christmas Celebration" so I will definitely return to see the beginning of Christmas season!

Heart - Best Teppan in Hamamatsu

This week I realized I had been neglect in communicating with my friends in Japan. One couple and group in particular -- those at Heart, Teppan restaurant in Hamamatsu. They were all wonderful to me during my stay. Fantastic food and an overall fun place to eat. Here is their website; http://www.jonetsu-teppan.jp . Please visit if you are ever in Hamamatsu. The menu is in Japanese but everyone will help you to choose some food that you will really like! The photos are from my last visit to Teppan.

Welsh Caves in Alabama

Visited Desoto State Park in Alabama to see the Welsh Caves. Legend has it that Welsh prince Medoc visited America hundreds of years before Columbus. Northern Alabama was one of the places he visited after landing in Mobile Bay. (The website: http://www.desotostatepark.com then go to "legends".) After reading a little about the legend, even the part that Medoc was part of the "King Arthur" legacy, I decided it was something to see.

The hike to the drop off was about 1/2 mile. You need to drop down about 5-7 ft to reach a 2 ft-4ft ledge. The 4 ft ledge is at the beginning then the ledge is about 2 ft wide. The drop-off to the valley is ~ 350 feet. It was fairly easy to get to the first 3 caves, not too bad to get to the 4th cave, but to get to the 5th cave, you will need repelling gear or to do rock climbing.

It was easy to see the columns that had been made similar to those in castles/cathedrals in the 12th century. History has descriptions of the actual walls at the cliff side of the caves but they did not exist any longer. You could see the square shaped rocks that had been hauled away or fallen from the "caves".

The views were great!

Driving Adventures

Or should I call it "Poor Timing/Good Timing"?

Poor timing - Delayed leaving the beach as long as possible on Wednesday. So much so that I hit Atlanta as rush hour was starting. Normally would not have been an issue but the first rain storm of the year, it appears, also started. You would have thought people had not seen rain for years -- well it was the biggest rain in 5-6 years based on the radio announcer. Accidents right and left, roads leading to the interstate were shut-down due to flooding, standing water on the road - glad I drove a high standing car, and people just stopping right in the middle of the road! Reminded me a little of a typhoon I was in - but this lasted 20 minutes rather than 8 hours! No big issues just amusement - Atlanta rush hour has nothing on everyday traffic in Taiwan or Japan.

Good timing - Have you ever noticed that some people have no clue what is acceptable behavior for a driver? When I stopped to get a coke in GA, the person in the truck next to me was sitting there downing a Budweiser! Something about him gave me the creeps so I left (driving not walking) and went to the place next door. As the waitress was getting my coke, I warned her and her co-worker about the guy - silver Mitsubishi pickup truck, had opened his second beer in the few seconds between when I pulled in and when I left, and to take care when they left. On my way back to my car, the guy had pulled around and was telling one of the waitresses (who had to take the trash out) how "fine" she was and asking her to get closer so he could talk to her better. She looked at me and said "thanks". When he left, he was headed into town/away from the interstate. I can only hope he did not hurt anyone with his driving.

Otherwise, made it to my destination with no problems and no speeding tickets!!

Myrtle Beach & the Sea Captain's House

The beach was wonderful. Great seeing the surf and sand again. My skin now looks like most US people do at the end of winter; pale but not ghostly!

Found another interesting restaurant with a unique history (www.seacaptains.com). The Sea Captain's House truly understands customer service and it showed. Food was good/slightly above average but the view was great and the service fantastic.

Beaches

Ended up at the beach. Guess it was hearing about the beach and the table of seafood! Weather today was great (88F) and suppose to be beautiful tomorrow also. Some benefits related to going to the beach during off-season .... nice room for $57/night including all taxes - right on the beach too! Tried a local seafood shack for dinner; steamed oysters, clams, and shrimp. Don't know if the prices are good or not (30cents each for shrimp and oysters; clams 40cents). They tasted good!

Starting to see the "gas shortage" too. Was okay until I got to NC then some stations only had one grade; in SC, there was a line of ~ 10 cars at the one station that had 3 grades.

Bama Football

Agghh - What a football game! Those friends that are Kentucky fans are probably a little happy - would be happier if you had 3 more points or should I say 4. Really makes you wonder how far Bama will fall in the polls ..... (VaTech - you did good too.)