Thurs 9/8 – 3654 steps
Song: Woodstock by Joni Mitchell. It was covered by Matthews Southern Comfort which was one of the first seven singles I ever owned.
We woke up early for David to cycle, but it was raining, so we went back to sleep. We had brunch at a diner in White Haven. I did some more research for the chefs at home and had something called Scrapple. It is a Pennyslvania Dutch dish also known as Pannhaas. It is made from pork scraps which are combined with cornmeal and flour and then fried. I was expecting something like a croquette, but it was a bit like a slice of fried pate, very tasty but not sure if I enjoy the texture.
We went via Scranton to the Houdini museum, about an hour North. We had tickets to see a presentation at 1pm. The museum is in an old house in Scranton and is in desperate need of some work. It is jammed packed with memorabilia that needs to be better displayed. We learnt about the life of Houdini and his remarkable achievements. The museum is run by 2 magicians, Bravo the Great and Dorothy Dietrichs. After the tour, they do a magic show. He is long past his prime, but she is still good and has a wonderful sense of humour. She was one of the few female magicians who made it to the top and achieved fame by the ‘magic’ of catching a bullet in her mouth. We were shown videos of this feat. The presentations were a little drawn out and we were there for longer than expected. All in all it was entertaining, but also little bit sad. I was quite surprised by the number of people there. Not sure if it would warrant a greater detour.
We headed off to New York state to the Woodstock/Saugerties KOA, which as I should have learnt by now is far from Saugerties and very far from Woodstock. There are so many trees all along the route. I am sure that some people in this part of the world cannot begin to understand the concern about deforestation. I also learnt that the festival did not take place in Woodstock, but actually in Bethel. I was not too perturbed by not going to the real place as I think I have read up enough about that era and that festival. Also, this way I wasn’t disillusioned as in Haight-Ashbury.
I cooked our pies in the airfryer. The pastry was very good, but there was not much meat in the filling. More like Cornish pasties, potato and vegetables.
Chuckle of the day: A guest asked where the rest room was and Dorothy, with a straight face, launched into a lengthy description starting with go into the carpark. When the confused lady politely asked if was indoor one, Dorothy replied “Oh, do want the inside one, Right behind you.” The lady didn’t get it. It was very funny, but I guess you had to be there.
What I learnt: The doves and rabbits in hats and scarves etc have always worried me. Dorothy even managed to bring out a poodle and even though the dog did not bark, the doves did not fly and the bunny did not hop, they all looked pretty real to me. In the USA, apparently, the animals have to be registered and their living conditions inspected annually, which makes me feel better. However, I was told that by a magician, and considering that they are open about the fact that they are simply deceiving you, maybe it is not true.
Kim's journey 