One of the things that I miss the most about where I grew up in Pennsylvania are the views. One that always sticks out to me is the view I see from my childhood church, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. On a bright day, you can see for miles and miles as the church is perched up on a hill overlooking the valley. There is an old monastery building that is at least 5-10 miles away from the church, but you can see the building very clearly from the church.
When I take Mom down to Lancaster, you get another round of wonderful views. The vast farmland. Rolling hills. Certain times of the year you can see beautiful colors in the foliage. It is hard not to want to just stop and stare and take pictures of the views but when you are driving, that can be a little hard to do.
There really is something special about Lancaster. Or, at least, the towns you encounter on the way. See, Mom and I never make it into the town of Lancaster itself. She just wants to go to Shady Maple Smorgasbord, then hop over to Good’s Department Store and finish off at the Shady Maple Market. If we stay overnight, she stays at the Bird-in-Hand Country Inn. It has been a longtime favorite of hers to go there. They also have a market nearby that she enjoys going to. She likes to see a place she calls the “Amish Wal-Mart.” It is a nice little store with different household items, gifts, clothes, and toys, but no electricity in the store aside from the cash registers. No electric lights in the store. Another place she likes to go to, and one that I am particularly fond of going to, is a countryside road stand/market that offers up wonderful homemade pretzels and birch beer. When the pretzels are fresh out of the oven, they melt in your mouth. So good!! But, again, from both places, you can look out over the landscape and find yourself lost in the wonder of the land.
Another view I enjoy comes with a little roller coaster ride with it. There is a hill that is steep, and if you are not careful, you can really go fast down the hill that ends up with a sharp curve. Once you are past that curve, it takes you to where my Aunt Beatty and my Uncle Craig used to live until they passed away.
Another view I enjoy is the view from the cemetery. My mother’s parents, grandmother, uncle, premature twins, her sister Beatty, and some of her family, and many other people that I have known from church are buried there. But again. The countryside view!
I enjoyed one night playing miniature golf with some of the church members and again, as I sat there, admiring the view of where the venue was located, I was struck by the beauty of the land. There was something about being in that Northampton air that I knew I was going to miss very deeply.
I must mention the views I see when I go up to Devil’s Potato Patch. It is my place where I enjoy going to and just sit in the quiet. Although, it is not so quiet anymore with all the trucks and cars going by. Going up the Blue Mountains to where the patch is located, you travel up a winding road that eventually brings you to where the patch is. Just down the road is where the Appalachian Trail passes through. Keep driving and you will end up in Palmerton if you know which roads to take. Here again. The views of the countryside that I was so familiar with as a child into my teenage years. It has changed over time. But the memories of what I would see remain. The house on the slate hill that I always thought was a haunted house has come to be a dream house to me. I could never afford it as there is so much work that needs to be done to keep it up. It is a beautiful house that was built in the 1880’s by a general from the Civil War.
Driving the roads that I am so used to seeing gives me such a peace in my soul. I really cannot explain it. It is familiar. It is where I grew up. I call it, Home. I did not even want to listen to music while I was driving around the area. I wanted to soak it all in. So many roads that I can recall as far back as my kindergarten bus riding days. I can still remember where some of the kids I went to school with lived at the time. I find it hard to get lost in those roads because I know where most of them will bring me out to. And that is without using GPS!
Then you have the views of the city. Where Mom lives is more suburban than the town itself. The main part of Allentown has plenty of neighborhoods with row homes. The streets get crowded as both sides of the street have parked cars in many areas. People walking. People congregating. Allentown does not feel like a big city like Birmingham. I feel like it has just enough small town to make it enjoyable for me to drive around in.
My Dad loved the ocean, and it was his wish to retire there. Sadly, he did not get that wish as he was pulled back to PA to live out his days. I love the mountains and the countryside of PA. I might be romanticizing it too much, but I find it to be majestic. It is the kind of views that I just do not get to experience here in Alabama. I will always have that emotional attachment to PA. It is my Home. Always has been. Always will be.
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