Pennsylvania 6-5000!

Oops, we seem to be experiencing a bit of a posting lag, but that's only because we are so busy sightseeing!

Taking the drive from Washington to Pittsburgh was surprisingly beautiful, courtesy of the wonder of fall-heading-into-winter. The farm country we rolled through is just spectacular this time of year, combining rolling hills with the autumnal parade. If we’d made this trip a couple of weeks later, we would have missed a lot of this, judging from the rate at which the leaves are falling.

Pittsburgh itself was expected (by us, at least) to be much like the weather coming in -- cold and grey and rainy. It has quite surprised us so far. More on that (and of course pictures to prove it) later.

While I’m at it, here's a quick update on our trusty transport, the Ford Winstar, after 1800+ miles: no problems whatsoever (yay!). We've been a bit nervous at times crossing the Appalachians and negotiating the rather steep streets of Pittsburgh with an overloaded van, but so far nothin’. We've even gotten the mileage up -- from 14.6 (mostly city) when we started to just shy of 20 mpg. Not bad at all -- I just wish the gas prices weren’t going up commensurate with our direction and mileage! I think we filled up that first tank for $2.62/gal at Costco in Altamonte Springs -- here in PA it’s hard to find gas less than $2.85/gal.

By the way, we now know for sure that the heater works -- we found that out when the weather turned a bit nippy on our second day in DC. We’re wearing sweaters and/or coats every day now. Soon we’ll have to break out the long underwear! :)

So far, we’ve been delighted with how well things are working out. Our days alternate between driving, resting and sightseeing, and considered how little “day planning” we did for our day-to-day activities, we’ve been utterly amazed at the sights we’ve seen, the food we’ve et, and the fun we’ve had. Let's hope it all holds up as we turn westward -- and headlong into winter!