Smalltown Pennsylvania

June is always a big month for my family. My little sister was born on June 10th, my grandmother was born on June 9th, she and her husband were married back in 1947 (? I think?) on June 11th. Not to mention that my great-grandmother (my mother's mother's mother) was also born in June. Well, whether or not I have all the dates exactly right, the fact remains that many of my important people have and have had many important events during June.

This particular June, June 2005, my dear grandma Danielson turned 80. Betty June Danielson. Yeah, no kidding. :-) Given that her husband just passed away in February of 2004, that her mother passed away during the fall of 2003 ( ! ) at the age of 106, it seemed fitting that the family have a great big bash to celebrate her landmark birthday. As my mother said to her cousins, "we've only seen each other at funerals lately. Why don't you all come over for Mom's birthday?"

Thus, the third week of June found Karen and myself in our trusty Honda CRV, tooling along the long road that is Interstate 80 to make 600 miles between Milford and Mendham go away. This time, however, we decided that we'd make a few forays into rural Pennsylvania along the way. As a matter of fact, most of PA both going and coming back was on little two lane highways. Having done my stint at college here at The University of Michigan Ann Arbor, I got well acquainted with doing the back and forth commute along Route 80. So well acquainted, in fact, that I would be just as happy to never drive its wide bitumen again.

Sadly, our overwhelming impression of PA during this time was of grand cities and lovely little well appointed towns whose industry had left them gathering dust, rust and the grime of history.


Grand old rail stations, steel mills, hotels, oil fields........and vacant main streets. I found myself not envying the governor of Pennsylvania. In the beginning, we were intrigued by the images and quaint feeling of the towns. For my part, one of my favorite photographic subjects is industrial decay of just about any description. By the end, however, it seemed that all the small towns were blurring together. Not to mention the highly suspicious townsfolk giving us the "stranger" look at every opportunity.


Didn't anybody tell the guy(s) who planned the roads in the Allegheny Mountains that 666 is the number of the beast? Gee whiz........


Logging is an industry that is very much alive along Route 666.


I don't know if you can make out the sign in front of this trailer...slightly left of center in this photo...it says "Ma and Pa's Hid-a-way". Out in the middle of nowhere on Route 666.

We actually spent a fair amount of time in this "slightly larger" small town. There was lots of rail related decay to photograph, and a large municipal/school-like building that looked like it had been blown up. It wasn't until last week's Newsweek came out with the article about Methamphetamine that I finally put the puzzle pieces together: we were driving through "Meth Valley" at this point. No wonder everyone looks jobless, homeless and desperate!

The good news is that often you'll find yourself coming around a curve in the road to find a fantastic pastoral vista like this one. I know the resolution isn't that great, but can you make out the sunlight dappling the land near the farm buildings? Pretty cool.

Right, so Pennsylvania has its own Grand Canyon. Somewhat different effect than the better known and more visited version in the US southwest, but there you have it. We actually camped for the first time as a couple at the national park here, and it was quite nice. Next time you see Karen, ask her about sleeping with the Black Bears!

This is sunset at the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon.

Same vantage point, but early in the morning, after camping.

On the path down to the river at the floor of the canyon...same sunrise.

Coming back up the path. It's a bit dark, but you can see the path we were on at the bottom of the above picture.

I love this - it's like the heavens parted and displayed The Answer for us. Ah, if only.

And I'll leave you with this thought. Yes, Virginia, they do have tornados in Pennsylvania! Do they ever. This used to be an old trestle bridge for a leg of rail that is no longer in use. Well, obviously, now, after this....but it was a National Park before the twister came through and took out hundreds of acres of forest, along with this lovely old bridge.

Stay tuned, there is more to come!