Wednesday, October 9

My day finally came. 🙂 If you read my blog, you may remember that our 2018 Christmas gifts to each other were road trips. I gave Cerwin an “all-interstate” trip – choosing Bryce Canyon, Utah. He planned the trip to make sure he got his fill of interstates. 🙂

He gave me an “all-back-road trip” – choosing a visit to my brother Clair and sister-in-law Kate. They live in a mountainous/country setting west of State College. I chose the route to make sure I got my fill of new roads and back roads. 🙂

First, I made early lunch reservations at a restaurant in Hershey, PA. A place where we have never been. Along the way we drove by the old Hershey Hospital (above) where I was born 75 1/2 years ago. I am never sure which building it is because of changes over the years – and it is no longer a hospital. I tried looking online for a photo of the original, but could not find it. It seems the hospital may have been in two different locations before becoming Hershey Medical.

Our GPS eventually took us to The Mill, but we made a wrong turn a time or two due to one-way, divided streets.

In 1880 it was known as The Curry Feed Mill. The original building was destroyed by a fire in 1914, rebuilt and reopened in 1915. The Curry’s business produced and sold flour, grain, feed, coal and heating oil until August 1976 when Mr. Curry closed the mill. It was used as a warehouse until the current owners bought it in 2012 and restored it into a beautiful, three-story restaurant. A train track goes right by the building – just a few feet away. A train went by while we were having lunch.

We were the first customers when the doors opened at 11 am and were seated on the main (2nd floor). Notice the steps to the other two floors.

Our window view

I enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee while I waited for lunch.

This wrap – called Autumn Wrap – included shredded chicken, grapes, red onion, celery, apples, and cashews. The seasoning was something similar to curry. It was delicious!

Cerwin prefers a taste with which he is comfortable, so ordered a hamburger and French fries. 🙂 The meal was called a Mill Burger and included brioche, aged cheddar, bacon, leaf lettuce, tomato, and black pepper.

We left through the downstairs to see the first floor.

This room was not yet set up for the day. It appeared to be a sports bar. I expect the third floor is for banquets and larger groups.

I liked the stone bench outside the first floor door.

Cerwin asked me to sit on it so he could get a picture. 🙂

After stopping to enjoy this pretty flower, we were on our way.

From this point on I made Cerwin a bit “nervous’ with my directions. 🙂 First I put Boyd Big Tree Conservation on Fishing Creek Valley Road in the GPS.

After driving through a beautiful forest, then getting on RT 322 for a bit, we crossed the Susquehanna River at Duncannon.

Then after turning west on RT 274, we traveled to Spring Run where we picked up RT 522 to Orbisonia, then RT 994 to Entriken to Rt 26 to an area west of Huntington. I had never heard of some of the towns we drove through – and loved every minute.

Cerwin said this was Bloomfield. At this point he began enjoying familiar territory from his propane-hauling days.

I loved the beautiful farmland.

This drive through many mountains and a lot of farmland made my soul smile.

We followed a slow-moving tractor and wagon down a steep mountain road.

Raystown Lake

The farther north we traveled the more we saw signs of changing leaves.

We were pleased to see a whitetail deer beside the road several miles before arriving at Clair and Kates.

Deer are a familiar sight in Clair and Kate’s beautiful community. We saw this one right in front of our RAV4 while entering their street – silhouetted by the evening sun.

We saw a few more before arriving at their house.

A young buck

After getting our things situated in their beautiful basement bedroom and sitting room, we enjoyed the view while Clair made supper – grilled chicken, green beans and potatoes.

They enjoyed looking at our marked map to see the route I had chosen – wondering how I could turn a two hour-plus drive into five hours. 🙂

Kate kindly left me have the chair facing their backyard and wooded area so I could see the deer.

By dusk we enjoyed seeing a few more deer in front of their house. (That’s our RAV4 in their driveway.) The reflections are because I took this picture through the front door window.

They are so used to people that I could stand on the porch and tell her how pretty she was without alarming her.

She must have liked my sweet-talking because she was still there when I went back into the house.

We had a great evening watching a country music documentary. I love learning about people, their history/story on how they become singers, speakers, or musicians.

More on our visit in my next post.