We left Philadelphia on our return trip west today. Long trip, short blog.
But we did see a few interesting sights, including this advertisement for a wooden pillow from the Ephrata Cloister. Looks like Forrest's idea of selling stonepillows is not so far-fetched!
Almost all of our trip was along I-76, which happens to be a toll road. $20.25 will buy you a diagonal trip across Pennsylvania on a poorly paved, constantly maintained (road construction) road that is choked with truck traffic. And you get the privilege of being held captive to limited stops in "service areas" with overpriced food and gas. We were not impressed. Tomorrow we get to repeat on I-80 through Ohio! But the price is only half of Pennsylvania's.
Pennsylvania is one of four states that generate most of the electricity from Nuclear Power in the United States. These cooling towers are from the Peach Bottom site at 3 Mile Island.
Getting out of the hills was made easier by a series of tunnels, one of which was almost two miles long (with a short break in the middle, between mountains). We felt like we were on the Metro again, only less crowded!
A little turnpike history for your own perusal. It feels like an old highway, too!
We finally reached Ohio, which meant exiting one toll road, paying the fee, and entering another toll road, which we paid to get off later. We like the service plazas better, though, and the gas is cheaper. Speaking of gas, after a 4000 mile experiment, Forrest can definitively say it is cheaper to run on 89 octane than 87 octane. The gain from gas mileage is better than the increased cost. Thanks to our friend Lance Avery for suggesting this possibility to Forrest. By the way, the difference in price would have to exceed 20 cents to make it cheaper to go with 87 octane.
You can't see it very well, but Sherry took this picture of an empty Cobalt and G5 plant (Chevy) North of Youngstown, Ohio. It evokes the tragic story of dependency that is destroying lives and careers in our heartland. Oh, and now we all share in the ownership of this juicy piece of real estate.
We arrived at our new hotel in time for some swimming and hot-tubbing. The boys didn't like the Crowne Plaza pool at the high rise in Philly, because the bottom was dirty. Ian discovered a couple saturated wet-ones floating around, also.
In general, Forrest has noted that high-rise hotels usually are worse than hotels in the burbs. The Crowne Plaza had a few issues. Specifically:
$99 for three nights parking, plus attendant and valet tips
A phone with message light blinking, even with no message
Two towels in the bathroom instead of four, even the second night
A toilet that overflows when stopped up--first time this trip
Dirty pool
"Rooftop pool and loungers"--in perpetual shade between tall buildings
No breakfast
Very noisy streets down below the window--should have known when they provided a sleep mask and EAR PLUGS (one set only)
No hot tub
Laundry facility dryers don't dry (yes, we had a chinese laundry all over our room for a day with drip-dry underwear available for the maid to inspect)
Tonight we are at the Wingate Inn, a very nice place with everything the crown plaza doesn't have for $67 a night. Plus, Sherry says they have the second-best laundry. Her best laundry award is reserved for the Staybridge Inn and Suites in Memphis, the only redeeming quality of the Hotel from Hell (hey, everybody's got to have something).
More tomorrow!
More tomorrow!
