Day Three- PA/WV/OH

We were out the door by the early time of 9:30 am this morning. After a couple of cups of coffee and Tiki on The Today Show, we were ready to hit the open roads. Because we couldn't make it to our campsite, we had about an hour drive to the rafting outfitter at Ohiopyle State Park.

We forgot to mention that we were initially going to raft the Cheat River in West Virginia on this trip, but they didn't have any trips out on Thursday so we couldn't do that one. There was a women back in Lancaster that overheard Jessica's convo with the rafting people and suggested we try Ohiopyle. So here we are! Learning cool new sites from strange new people :)

Ohiopyle State Park Sign

When we arrived at the rafting place, the women behind the desk became very interested when we told them we were on a road trip. One of the girls even said she did a roadtrip, just her and her dog, from Washington State to West Virginia. Thankfully, Orit and Jessica are in better company.

Both of us were pretty excited about the rafting until at about 11:30 (we were supposed to put in the river around 11:15am) a caravan of about 5 buses rolled up carrying ~70 adolescent, obnoxious boys from a Baltimore Middle School. True to form, they were a bunch of wild bannchis all day jumping from raft to raft while going down the river.

Nonetheless, we had loads of fun. We teamed up with a couple from Pittsburgh. They were an old young couple. The guy was muscular and very outdoorsy, but the girl looked like she had never seen a tree before. Once we got in the water, Jessica was wondering why we weren't moving that fast. We turned around and there was this girl starting at the water with no paddle in hand. Her boyfriend said that she wouldn't be paddling, so from there on out we were carrying this girl downriver. It kind of made us mad.

After lunch on the rocks, we came to our only Class IV rapids on the trip, Dimple Rapids. It was an intense rapid with a rock right in the middle of it. You had to hang a sharp right coming down the left side of the river to avoid it. Needless to say, we made friends with that rock and totally flipped the boat. When you have this one girl not paddling and the guy in the back not knowing how to steer, major 'flippage' is inevitable :) Jessica now has a total of 6 bruises on top of the ugly ankle. But to our secret happiness, the prissy girl fell out and got her first taste of river water, and we were there to witness it!

After an all day river adventure, we were determined to reach West Virginia even if it was just for supper. We were really close and we wanted to add one more state to our list!

West Virginia Welcome Sign

From there, we had a good 3.5 hour drive to our hotel right outside of Columbus. The crossover into Ohio was a really cool tunnel and a bridge into Ohio. The interstate to Columbus was fairly uneventful. But while continually looking out for deer, Jessica spotted a frog. We arrived at hotel in Ohio around 10:30 pm.

Just so you aren't bored from no rafting pics, we added some pictures of the strange things we have come across so far on the trip.

A Shirtless Bicycler on a Major Highway

Orit thought the ram was loose in Princeton

Jessica asked for white gravy and mashed potatoes and this is what she got!

More strange things to come! We are off to Indiana today. See you tomorrow!

Day Two- PA

Believing we were going to wake up early was optimistic. Believing we were going to get out of the hotel on time -- early -- in order to make three stops was VERY optimistic.

Jessica and Orit at breakfast.

We were having way too much fun working on the blog and figuring out our plans for the next few days that we weren't motivated to rush. In addition to that, we had such interesting interactions with some other guests. First two couples who said they had been watching us both on our computers wanted to take our picture. I guess the sight of two girls sitting in front of their laptops and on their cellphones was CUTE! We both felt like an odd roadside attraction! After they took a picture of us, we asked that they take one with my camera phone but this was the best the gentleman could do -- after four tries.

Our next encounter involved a woman who was eavesdropping on Jessica's conversation with the whitewater rafting outfit. As Jessica left the room she began asking Orit more questions about our trip. As soon as she heard Orit was from New York, she began talking about September 11th, which Orit found somewhat shocking.

Packed up and ready to leave we headed off to Amish country for a famous horse and buggy ride. The first issue was finding an ATM issue. Jessica (a vegetarian) was skeptical of the whole thing because of the treatment of the horses and Orit was worried about the horses trotting on the hard pavement and the cars/trucks passing alongside us on the busy route. It started off with all smiles and we enjoyed our deep conversation about the Amish community and farming with our driver. He had 7 daughters, 4 sons and 40 grandchildren, and the average family farm is only 50 acres!

Jessica in the buggy.

Farmer spraying his field.

After all this we realized that time was not on our side and we decided to skip Hershey. Instead we headed directly to Gettysburg but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to stop for lunch at the Country Corner restaurant on the Lincoln Highway.

Jessica and the Country Corner menu.

As we approached Gettysburg, we were really surprised at the high-level of commercialization of the area. It was more reminiscent of the Jersey Shore than a historically signficant site. We walked through the cemetery and the visitors' center where we bought a 2 hour cd auto tour. Due to a lack of time, we listened to the majority of the cd but selectively stopped at sites. In this small town there are over 1700 monuments! Enough was enough.

Soldier Memorial

Georgia's Confederate Soldier Memorial
Incredible Quote


Pennsylvania Memorial

With Ohio on our minds, we couldn't leave Pennsylvania without stopping at the famous Rita's. Jessica spoke so highly over their "water-ice" coupled with "gelati." We were so happy to find one before getting back on the interstate.

Orit at Rita's.

Taking 30 West (Lincoln Highway again) through the mountains took a lot of time, but the views were worth it. There was no way we could make it to the camp site near the white water rafting outfit in time to set up the tent before dark so we decided to get off the interstate in Somerset, PA and find a hotel. Luckily there were a number of hotels to choose from and Super 8's slogan, "take a right and spend a night" won us over. We're going to set out in the morning for white water rafting (Class III and IV rapids baby!!).

Next time we post we will be in Columbus, Ohio!

Oh, and no need to worry or comment about the foot anymore! Jessica ran a marathon today :)

Day One- NY/NJ/PA

Jessica Elephantitis: stairs + moving out without Orit = sprained ankle
Yes, this is how we started our trip. Moving Jessica out of her apartment, 3 floors up, was not the best thing, but we both survived, with a few bruises!

Jessica's Sprained Ankle

After getting kicked out of the Fleetwood post office (the mail lady refused to lift one more of Jessica's boxes), we went over to Bronxville where Jessica was almost grossly overcharged for shipping. A total of four hundred dollars later in shipping charges, we were on our way!! The car is completely packed but we can still see out the windows (no need to worry dad!).

Started off at 11:30am and drove to NYMC, Jessica's grad school. Orit got a chance to meet the famous Dr. Visintainer and saw the campus.

Jessica: "Pulling out of the parking lot of NYMC was actually quite depressing. It finally felt weird to be leaving!!! Dr. Visintainer walked us out to our car and almost made me cry!!"

We crossed over the Tapan Zee Bridge and drove down the Palisades Parkway making a quick stop at the beautiful overlook of the Hudson River.

At the Palisades/Hudson River Overlook

We got off the interstate and made our way along the Lincoln Highway -- the oldest highway in the country. This was a slow route that gave us a tour of Edison, Highland Park, and Princeton. We stopped in Princeton admiring the campus and neighborhood. We loved it there. During our walk around the campus we observed some intriguing architecture but were somewhat surprised at how quiet the campus was -- there didn't seem to be many students around. They were probably on their way back from anti-war protests on Memorial Day heeding the calls from John Edwards :)

Princeton Campus

Then, it was back onto the interstate with the goal of getting to Valley Forge before sundown. This is Jessica's old stomping ground when she worked at GSK. We drove into the park -- Jessica took over the driving. You have no idea what we went through in order to take this picture. All we will say is it involves a park ranger on a power-trip.

Valley Forge

After Valley Forge, we drove down towards Lancaster. Downtown Lancaster resembled the Bronx. And, our suspicions intensified when we passed by the prison. When the prison is the nicest building in town, you know there is a problem.

Lancaster Prison

After some searching we found a place to stay -- Country Inn, which provided us with the most important amenity -- wireless internet. Somehow we've got to figure out the rest of our plans and post this great blog of ours. :)

Why we are taking this roadtrip...

Jessica and Orit just graduated!!!! Orit got her B.S. in Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech. Jessica got her M.P.H. in Epidemiology from New York Medical College. What better way to celebrate than a cross-country road trip? Jessica's fiance, John, out in California has a little to do with it too :)

Mrs. Sklar, Orit, and Ilan

Dr. Visintainer, Jessica, John and Mr. Smith