Sunday, April 17, 2011

It's Spring in Philadelphia

Friday we took a quick trip down to Philadelphia for a Parkinson's seminar. It was a chance to get away (just overnight, but still . . .) and to escape our dreary, wet, cold weather.

Strange but every time we take the northern spur of the PA Turnpike, the weather is different on one side of the Lehigh Tunnel than it is on the other. I know the tunnel goes through a mountain ridge, but it's like entering a new region entirely. This time it was early, early spring on the northern side of the tunnel, more like mud season, and definitely spring on the southern side.

What an encouraging sight - blooming dogwood, magnolia, crabapple and other trees. Daffodils everywhere, along with forsythia, tulips, hyacinth, a few crocuses left, lilac, and other flowers. The grass is a lot greener in Philadelphia even though it was chilly and quite windy Friday and Saturday.

Speaking of Saturday, we hated to come out on the north side of the tunnel on our way home. Sure enough, rain and heavy gusts of wind greeted us and lasted all the way to our house. Last night I thought the roof would blow away the wind was so hard. Couldn't get the cat to come in though. I guess she made her way across the street to the barn. This morning she looks a little mussed up; the wind-blown casual look you know.

Good news for those who travel Route I-81 in northeastern Pennsylvania! Bingham's at the Lenox exit is just about ready to reopen. (An arson fire last year burned the old restaurant to the ground.) We saw cooks and waitresses stopping in to get their schedules as a crew was getting ready to pave the parking lot Friday. If you've never stopped in, Bingham's has a wonderful menu with meals from broiled seafood to comfort foods like mac 'n cheese, but most people love the place for it's home baked goods: especially breads and pies. They have the best, probably most fattening, homemade granola in the world. End of commercial.

3 comments:

  1. We've had great spring-like weather, but it's been so windy, the blooms have been blown off of a lot of our plants. I don't think they'll be their prettiest this year.

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  2. I don´t mind your commercial, I just mind that it is not exactly around the MY corner :)

    But at least we have godt our share of spring flowers now after a beastly cold February.

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  3. Kathy and Dorte, Going to Philadelphia sometimes seems to us like a trip to another planet. From the country to a huge, busy city in such a short time is like boarding a plane in Buffalo in subzero weather and getting off in Miami on a warm sunny day.

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