Through the Interface

In the last post I shared some experiences from the first half of our two-week trip to the United States. Now we'll look at the second half.

After leaving Bethany Beach we headed northwards along the coast, stopping at a few outlets along the way. Shopping in Delaware is presumably a thing because of the lack of sales tax.

I will say that from this trip - and my son's stay in US generally - it's obvious that prices have gone up a huge amount over the last few years. Switzerland used to feel really expensive when compared with the US, but it's far from being the case now. So we shopped, but not until we dropped. Or maybe we just dropped sooner.

We crossed another bridge at St Georges…

… before stopping in Wilmington to refuel both the car and the kids: it was our last chance before leaving Delaware for Pennsylvania, and I'd been careful to check average gas prices per state: for our trip it made sense to fill the car in Delaware and Virginia (before returning it full to the rental company) rather than Pennsylvania and Maryland (which cost >10% more). Petrol is still cheap in most of the US compared with Europe, so this optimization probably wasn't worth the effort I put into it, but hey. 🙂

Our destination in Pennsylvania was New Holland, Lancaster County, in Amish country. I'd stumbled on this possibility while researching places to stay that weren't too far from Connecticut: Duncan, an old friend of mine from University, lives with his family in East Hartford and we wanted to find a place we could all drive to.

I'd excluded NYC quite quickly: because of the Airbnb ban there or perhaps just the seasonal demand, the listings were either a) really expensive or b) really crappy or c) both. So we quickly shifted our attention to Philadelphia and its surroundings, which led me to Lancaster County, where we found a nice house that could accommodate the ten of us. The fact it was listed as being "in the heart of Amish country" just made it more appealing.

It was lovely seeing Duncan again, as ever. We met during our first week at University and have stayed firm friends ever since.

Prior to this trip I'd learned everything I knew about the Amish from the 1985 film Witness with Harrison Ford. Which by the way we watched with the kids which still in Delaware… you know, for research. It's still a great movie.

During the few days we were in New Holland we had minimal actual contact with Amish people - we weren't about to go and acost anyone - but we did buy some Amish produce at the Lancaster Central Market...

… as well as at the Stoltzfus Deli in Intercourse. Yes, there's a town called Intercourse. I'm very happy some enterprising person in that town realised the value of this as a brand.

We also went and visited the Amish Farm and House in Lancaster, which is dedicated to educating the curious about Amish ways.

While I the region I took the opportunity to read up on the history of the Amish and the various levels of practice. While I can't claim to be any kind of expert, the feeling I got about their approach to life is generally positive: I can see they value community and family above personal vanity, something that's all too relevant in these days of social media and the narcissism it both drives and feeds.

The Amish migrated to Pennsylvania from Alsace and Switzerland in the 18th and 19th centuries, and I definitely feel a resonance with the Swiss attitudes of today: the Swiss don't like excessive ostentation (showing off status or wealth), for instance. I know this is a long way from not having shirts with buttons, but there's a familiarity to it, somehow.

Birthrates in developed countries have plummeted in recent decades, so the fact the Amish are growing - and creating new communities every day - is actually reassuring to me. It's another path for humanity to flourish.

Given the risks of technological evolution - especially in the context of AI - I also love the fact that a community such as the Amish, with their relatively rudimentary technological needs, exists. Should a global catastrophe impact humanity - rendering the majority of the population useless, given our dependence on technology resulting from a highly optimized global supply chain - then the Amish would be there to lead us back on track. I hope it never happens, but still.

I just loved seeing horse-drawn buggies wherever we went in the area.

I did my best to take photos discreetly - I'm not sure how well I managed.

The horses were so well trained: they coped with sharing the road with 18-wheelers… really quite impressive.

I was actually surprised at how standardised the buggies - at least the ones in Lancaster County - seemed to be. They all had warning triangles at the back and dynamo-powered turn signals/indicators.

We even passed what I assume was a buggy dealership.

There were a few different configurations on the road. This one was open to the elements, for instance.

We also saw lots of people walking and using scooters.

Aside from learning about the Amish, we enjoyed a nice hike up to the Money Rocks. A strange name for a natural feature in Amish country, but hey. 

We also had a lovely pub lunch in the delightful town of Lititz.

We were sad to leave the region. As we drove back south to Maryland, we tried to see how often we came across Amish farms. The best indicator we found was a full clothesline - it was clearly an ideal day to do laundry, as it was sunny and windy - and it seemed like quite an obvious sign that the farm was run by an Amish family.

We saw many such farms right to the Pennsylvania border - around the township called Little Britain - and while it seems there are a small number of Amish in Maryland, we didn't see any after we'd entered the state.

Our last Airbnb on this trip was in Port Deposit, a historic town on the Susquehanna River that's 15 minutes from the Pennsylvania border and an hour or so north of Baltimore.

We arrived here on December 30th, and had already planned on celebrating New Year's Eve with dinner at the Backfin Blues Bar & Grill and drinks afterwards at the Granite Run Taproom.

It was a really peaceful place…

… other than when the cargo trains pass through, complying with the federal regulation to sound their horns whenever they're about to go through a crossing. Even in towns. And even in the middle of the night.

 

 

I'm not complaining, though: it was very clear from the Airbnb listing that these cargo trains would pass through - and regularly during the night - so I had advance notice. I just didn't know how it would affect the various members of the family. Ear plugs were provided by our gracious host, but in the end no-one used them and everyone slept very well. I woke up for each train during the first night, but actually found it quite charming. And I didn't hear them at all during the next two nights.

The weather had been very decent throughout our trip, but on New Year's Eve it poured with rain. Luckily we weren't far from the restaurant we'd booked - and it only rained through the meal - so it really didn't affect things.

And dinner was surprisingly delicious. We each had something different and everyone loved their meal.

Another memorable meal was as we passed through Havre de Grace, where we decided to stop to have hibachi. This was really a lot of fun.

Afterwards we stopped by the Conowingo Dam and enjoyed the view of the gulls feeding.

Another time we passed by someone was fishing there.

There was a large number of bald eagles flying overhead whenever we came by. My best attempt at photographing them with my phone was at 30X, and they're barely recognisable. People with proper equipment were trying hard to capture clearer photos of them, of course.

This location was also a favourite spot of another type of carnivorous bird.

To see so many vultures sitting in the nearby trees was beyond creepy. I wonder if Alfred Hitchcock ever came through here?

Here's a view from the top of the dam.

We also stopped on the Port Deposit side - ostensibly to see if we could get closer to the bald eagles - and found it very peaceful.

On January 2nd we made our way southwards, once again. Our eldest wanted to show his siblings where he was lodging in Baltimore, and we stopped there briefly before heading out to breakfast.

Baltimore can be a bit sketchy.

But Pete's Grill is a great place to get breakfast that's a short walk from our son's digs.

Once properly fuelled we header across to the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus.

We also spent some time visiting the Baltimore Museum of Art.

After this we headed towards DC. We'd booked a surprisingly comfortable (and affordable) studio in the SpringHill Suites at Fairfax.

Our flight home was only at 5:30pm on the 3rd, so the plan was to stay near the airport and visit one last Smithsonian location before dropping the rental car and flying out.

So it was that on the morning of January 3rd, we found ourselves at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air & Space Museum.

This place is bonkers. The site as you arrive is of an SR-71 Blackbird - the fastest manned aircraft ever flown - and the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Being a child of the 80s (yes, I know, born in the 70s ;-), this was a dream come true.

The Space Shuttle Discovery was also an incredible treat.

We joined a tour that went through the whole center, but a lot of time was spent in the Space Hangar, as you'd expect.

It was so amazing to see it from right beneath it.

I mean who didn't have a toy space shuttle as a kid? With opening bay doors?

There were lots of other historically important planes here, too, including the B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the Enola Gay.

It was clearly very sobering to see, however impressive.Many other WWII planes were on display, of course, including several with that symbol.

And in many ways the "pièce de résistance" was the Concorde. As it's French and all that.

By the time we left and dropped our car back it had started to snow. Presumably the beginning of the cold front hitting the US right now.

I'd love to say the return flight was uneventful, and in many ways it was once it actually took off. There was just the small matter of a mechanical problem forcing us to wait for an alternate plane to be taken out of the hangar and prepared for flight. We ended up leaving 4 hours late.

Eventually we made it home, where our kids could meet their friends and we could relax after a fun-packed fortnight. It really was a brilliant holiday, and I'm very glad everything basically went to plan. Now it's time to get back to work!