John & Anne Wiley

2011/04/25

Up River

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,MeriTimes Adventure,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 03:13

We got an uncharacteristically early start this morning, and were rewarded by a pair of cardinals next to the street.

7440 Cardinal Point

7440 Cardinal Point

Life flows downstream when we’re not fighting it perhaps. The troubles of our ancestors flow down to us, and we can choose to wear ourselves out or play like otters. Today we talked about our mutual desire to play more with “frustrating” things. In quotes because in my heart I doubt that anything can frustrate me if I choose instead to enjoy it. So when Dex acted up during our drive today, I took a breath and smiled. Suddenly everything was fun again. I thought of the anger and frustration response learned from my Dad, and how much anger his Dad had taken on in turn from being orphaned out by his Dad. Excellent preparation then for exploring a hollow along a creek, where some of my more distant ancestors most likely lived, worked, hunted, hiked, courted, built homes and families, and left behind impressions of their times.

7504 Ancestral Creek

7504 Ancestral Creek

We pulled into Foxburg for the night and scored a wonderful off-season hotel room with a balcony over the Allegheny, featuring these two views.

7542 Up River

7542 Up River

7520 Down River

7520 Down River

After dinner we went for a long walk, first on a paved path along the left bank of this photo where Anne spotted an expressive rock face.

7577 Rock Face

7577 Rock Face

The paved path was probably on an old railroad because it still sported several old telephone poles amid the smooth slabs of massive boulders.

7599 Pole & Boulder

7599 Pole & Boulder

Then we climbed the steep slope with scattered loose shale and slippery matted leaves, to reach an old abandoned road bed where we followed a deer trail that found sure footing over the many mud and rock slides that had conspired with volunteer trees to obliterate the road. It went up and down with the terrain, so we imagined it had been there for at least a century and probably several. On the way up we passed an even bigger boulder adorned with an open heart etched into the mostly smooth vertical side somehow by eons of trickling water. How many people have paused here on a “honeymoon” journey of discovery?

7634 The Open Heart

7634 The Open Heart

2011/04/24

Ground School

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,MeriTimes Adventure,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 15:53

Today we’re exploring in a rental car. A few years ago we discovered I’m not me. Anne had hired an exceptional genealogist for my birthday, to research my paternal grandfather’s ancestry because he’d been placed in an orphanage at age 8 along with his two sisters when his mother died. Turns out he’d changed his name for reasons we can only guess at, but our expert had been able to uncover the facts leading us back to the 1740s just North of Pittsburgh. So today we begin a short ground tour learning more, photographing terrain & tombstones.

Yesterday we found what remains of the nice home in Pittsburgh where my grandfather’s older sister had worked as an escape from the orphanage.

7340 Attic Escape

7340 Attic Escape

She probably lived in that attic room, and it must have seemed heavenly after her time in the orphanage. Then with some help from Abby (our phone’s GPS) and a lot of help from Louise, we found the actual orphanage.

7365 Gramps' Orphanage

7365 Gramps' Orphanage

Turns out it had burned down, but in the center of this snap you might make out the bell they’ve placed as a memorial. After a fascinating guided tour of Wheeler we paused at Suzie’s magnificent farm.

7394 Paradise Found & Lost

7394 Paradise Found & Lost

Beautiful as it is, the WV mining laws have allowed many negative impacts on the quality of air, water, and sound here that remind us how precious is what we have inherited from ancestors and how we pass it on to descendants. Even with all the mining mayhem, it’s a relaxing place to Be.

As a promise of today’s discoveries we were treated to a gentle sunset drive back to Pittsburgh.

7427 Pitts Sunset

7427 Pitts Sunset

2011/04/23

Rainy Pitt Day

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,MeriTimes Adventure,People,Random — John @ 05:06

Friday was a lovely gray drizzle day, perfect for exploring Pittsburgh. We had a deluxe tour guided by local history buffs Louise and Suzie that started with a scenic drive to U.Pitt.

7274 U. Pitt

7274 U. Pitt

Since the Heinz chapel across the street was open, we went in for a look at the remarkable stained glass and neo-gothic architecture.

7276 Heinz

7276 Heinz

Back in U.P. we toured many of the national classrooms, each adopted by a nationality that had designed and furnished the interior in the theme of their country. My favorites were the Sweden room because it smelled faintly of reindeer, and the festive Hungarian room that made me feel like doing an ethnic dance. We were lucky to visit on a holiday, because only a few of the rooms had classes in session. The whole campus has the air of Hogwarts mingled with a gothic cathedral, as you can see from this small slice of the columnar common room.

7302 Church of Learning

7302 Church of Learning

Next was lunch at the Frick Museum, followed by a tour of the main house. No photos were allowed inside or I’d treat you to a snap of a massive servant enunciator panel that strongly evokes Upstairs Downstairs. We saw one in the kitchen and another in Mrs. Frick’s bathroom where she could track all comings and goings in the elegant mansion.

7306 Frick Mans

7306 Frick Mans

Then we drove across a bridge and up Mount Washington for this view of the skyline shrouded in mist and rain.

7336 Rainy Pittsburgh Skyline

7336 Rainy Pittsburgh Skyline

It was a grand day with great people, and the perfect way to begin some days without flying. We have no internet, and since I’m posting this from my Droid X phone it’s probably full of typos. Oh well. 🙂

2011/04/22

In Penn Inn

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,MeriTimes Adventure,Random — John @ 00:35

We’re tired.

We’re happy.

We’re enjoying the idea of a rainy day in Pittsburgh. Cool when we arrived at the airport, and the flight from Land ‘o Lincoln was fast with winds ahead of the storm pushing us along in clear air.

Approaching the city we were fascinated by the tall plume of a power plant, so as we passed nearly overhead I snapped this. For us it evokes the memory of the tall plume but for you it probably just looks like a puff of steam atop the stack.

7271 Old Energy

7271 Old Energy

It all looks so “last millennium” and leaves a gray pall hanging over entire states, so during the flight I got to dreaming about what our country will look like when we finally move on to clean energy.

Well, we’ll probably post more interesting stuff later, but haven’t looked at today’s harvest yet so maybe nothing else came out. 🙂

2011/04/21

Abe & Ob

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,MeriTimes Adventure,People,Random — John @ 04:27

We hoped to reach Dayton tonight, but ended up in Springfield, IL. We were talking over a delicious meal at Maldaner’s a couple of blocks from our modest room. On the tenth floor of the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel (very nice, but of course not at all expensive as it sounds or broke aviators would stay elsewhere), with this view from our room.

7225 Old & New

7225 Old & New

On the left, new Capitol building and old on the right. We walked past both after dinner, and imagined Abe & Ob(ama) at the old one in particular.

We had a magical first stop in Decatur, AR and maybe Anne will tell you about it. Then we flew over to Joplin, MO for a look so as to complete our glimpse of the Route 66 hotspots (I chose one of the old hotels in the aerially nondescript town as the place where the song was written). When we passed St. Louis it overwhelmed both of us with what an inviting city it is.

7193 Meet Me In St. Louis

7193 Meet Me In St. Louis

We talked several times during our flyby, about landing for the night to explore a bit. Storms are coming though, and we’d like to be in PA when they arrive to ground us for a few days. So tomorrow if weather and whimsy permit we’ll arrive in PA. Dayton still beckons too, so we’ll see.

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