Day 6: Pennsylvania

It was time to head back north to pick up Julia’s for our meeting in the french consulate in Boston. I wanted to take a different route than the one I used to get to Baltimore, so following my cousin’s advice, I started driving towards the finger lakes in NY.

In Pennsylvania, I drove along the Susquehanna river. I saw some Amish women having a picnic on the river bank.

I thought it would be nice to have my own lunch on the river bank, but had no food. I then passed an Amish farmer’s market, and then a general store. I started driving back, picking up some bread, cheese and salami in the general store, vegetables at the farmer’s market and looked for a place to eat, not before accidentally stepping into an auction of produce.

 

I stopped in a parking area on the river bank, made some Israeli salad, and my lunch was ready.

I kept on driving, and found myself in “Reptiland”. I had to go in and check it out. It’s a small zoo dedicated, of course, to reptiles. They had a couple of crocodiles, tons of lizards and snakes, a butterfly garden where you hang out with a bunch of butterflies flying all around you, and the ugliest animal I’ve ever seen - an Alligator Snapping Turtle:

In the back, they had some robotic, full scale dinosaurs. One was even squirting water out of its mouth.

Because I got distracted from my course so much, I reached the finger lakes much later than I planned to. I stopped at Taughannock falls.

I then took a walk on a trail. In Israel, when you walk along a marked trail and that trail splits into two different trails, those are marked in different colors. Here, they both have the same color, making it impossible for you to know whether or not you’re walking in circles. Also, I lost the trail markings after a few minutes. Just as I realized that - I saw a deer. Now - my instinct told me to follow the deer, but then the voice of reason spoke to me - I will not fall for that, I’ve watched too many movies. When you’re lost, the last thing you should do is follow the deer. It’s a bait, luring you deeper into the forest, getting you even more lost, and turning you into the perfect victim for the Taughannock witch, or the Taughannock chainsaw murderer. I turned back and found the trail.

After walking for way too long, I found myself in an open field, with two shacks. One of them had a creepy drawing of a man on it. I assumed this is where the  Taughannock chainsaw murderer lives, and adding to the equation the fact that it was getting dark and that I have lost the trail markings once again, I started walking much faster.

Finally, I found the trail, and just as the sun was setting and I was positive I had been walking in circles, I found myself back at the car. I was saved!

I drove forever looking for a motel. When I finally found one, the office was close. So was next one. The third motel I found, in East Springfield NY, had a sign on the door of the office with a phone number. The dude on the other side of the phone told me to just go into room 8. The door was open and the key was on the table.