Friends, we have made it to Friday. Not just any Friday, mind you, but the start of Memorial Day weekend.
Take sometime this weekend to go for a ride, visit a small business that’s new to you, explore a hiking trail or do some other thing that makes your heart feel good.
Life isn’t meant to be survived. It isn’t meant to be spent on a dull treadmill. It’s meant to bring you joy and learning, new horizons and fresh opportunities
This is a good day to start acting like it.
What are you waiting for? The door is open. Go explore now!
Twenty years ago, I sat in the passenger seat of a car and pointed to a fantastic old stone tavern visible from the Pennsylvania Turnpike. My statement that it looked like a neat place to stop fell on deaf ears as my now ex-husband barreled on toward our destination.
Fast forward to my most recent trip to see my Pittsburgh friend. We were headed to historic Bedford for a day and she wondered if I would be interested in a meal at the historic Jean Bonnet Tavern?
Yes, it was the tavern I had seen so many years ago!
Oh, the value of spending this life with the right people.
So, after a day of wandering around Bedford, sampling candy and perusing antiques, we headed straight to the Jean Bonnet Tavern for an absolute feast.
This place was built in 1762 and is located on what we now call the Lincoln Highway. Back then, it was called Forbes Road and was the only east-west road from eastern Pennsylvania to the Ohio Country. Countless settlers and travelers passed through here. The tavern and inn was built as a safe haven for those weary folks who needed a place to lay their heads and have a good meal before continuing on their treacherous journey.
It was also believed to be a gathering place for the farmers involved in the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion.
This building is large and stone with big white porches and moody lighting inside.
You enter the restaurant through a wooden door into a room with a large stone fireplace. When you are seated, a hostess will set the mood by lighting a taper candle in a pewter candlestick. Those approximate two foot thick stone walls are decorated with coverlets. The food is good and the portions large.
There were other people in our dining room but for a few short minutes, there was no one in my field of vision. I could hear the clink of glasses and silverware but could see no one else. Flickering candlelight and simple decor harkened to Colonial days in a way that excited my imagination.
For a brief and shining moment, I was a time traveler. Was it 2026 or was it 1776? Who knew? Maybe George Washington’s Army was encamped right outside. Maybe a lengthy journey on horseback laid ahead of me the next day. Time had no meaning here.
This is not just a place to eat. It’s a place of experience. You can stay there too and I’m kind of hoping I get to do that someday because it looks nice.
Friends, this is why we travel. We go places for these glimmering, golden moments when we experience something so special we know the moment was all our own.
I am truly fortunate to have a couple of great friends to travel with to interesting places. My Pittsburgh friend is a born planner and has a knack for knowing exactly the kind of places I will like.
So when she said we would start our day in Bedford, Pennsylvania at the National Museum Of The American Coverlet, my knee jerk reaction was “hmm…. Ok.” And then my brain immediately reminded me that she has never taken me any place I didn’t like.
I’m so glad we went.
The National Museum of the American Coverlet is the first independent, year-round institution devoted to historic American woven coverlets. It is located in the former Common School which dates to 1859. The museum is located in the downstairs of this fantastic old building and they have done an exceptional job of working around some of the unique qualities of this building while still having gallery space for their rotating collection of historic coverlets.
What is a coverlet?
According to their website “Coverlets are woven bedcovers, used as the topmost covering on a bed. The weaver worked on a loom to construct the textile itself one row at a time, and the pattern was woven in as part of the process.”
This museum focuses on antique American woven coverlets and the collection ranges from 1771 to 1889. The coverlets come from all over the country and are in incredible condition especially given their age.
The current exhibit celebrates America’s 250th and I’m so glad we got to see it!
For all that my pal and I have in common, I’m always interested in the different ways we tend to view the world. We seem to take turns being detail people and being big picture people, depending on our moods and where we are.
In this museum, I was fascinated by the overall impact of the coverlets in this space. My friend sews, quilts, and does needlepoint. and was drawn in by the beauty of the smallest details on these coverlets. And the details are magnificent.
Want to learn more? Visit their website Admission is just $10 for adults. It’s a great place to start on your trip to Bedford!
With the rise of automobile travel in the early part of the 20th century, so came the rise of novelty architecture and attempts to attract motorists into businesses along the road. Travelers through Bedford, Pennsylvania may notice this giant coffee pot which is a remnant of that era.
Built in 1927, this coffee pot was a gimmick to draw customers to a service station and restaurant owned by David Bert Koontz. According to a historic marker next to the coffee pot, the early menu included hamburgers, ice cream and Coca Cola. Not only did this quick fare appeal to motorists on the Lincoln Highway, Greyhound passengers took advantage as well when they stopped at the bus depot next door.
It was actually built in another location than its current one but was purchased by the Bedford County Fair Association, relocated to the county fairgrounds, and restored for future generations to enjoy. That was in 2004.
At 18 feet high and 22 feet in diameter, it’s hard to miss and a real treat for us vintage roadside junkies who pretty much live for this kind of thing.
You can’t go inside anymore but it’s free to walk around outside. Here’s a fun fact: if you filled it with coffee, it would hold 819,000 8 ounce cups of coffee!
While it doesn’t serve coffee, it does serve a great lesson in roadside history and the value of creative marketing during the early days of car travel.
I’m home after a few days of adventures with my Pittsburgh pal. She gives me the insider tour of her city and, this time, we also took a day trip over to historic Bedford, Pennsylvania.
This was my first real adventure of the year and it didn’t come a moment too soon. I was feeling restless, deprived, and yearning for something more interesting than my own four walls. I have a good life but it’s better when I step away occasionally to see what else the world has to offer.
We did a book crawl, ate at a historic tavern, and looked at art and historic buildings. We shopped, contemplated the sacrifices made by our veterans, and browsed a middle eastern food market near her home.
It is never lost on me how different her life is from mine because of where we live.
There are about three dozen independent bookstores in the Pittsburgh area. There are radio stations that play more than top forty country and pop music. I listened to some jazz radio while in the area and was sad to lose the station as I traveled away from the city. There are markets and restaurants that cater to ethnic cuisines and her very nice neighborhood of tree lined streets is filled with people who have come from afar. There are more jobs, more money, more educational opportunities, more museums, more of everything really.
The contrast between urban and rural is surprising sometimes.
Yet, where I live is beautiful. We have a shared sense of community that comes from everyone attending the same high school, shopping at the same grocery store, and being so small we tend to know each other.
Where I live in the country, there are no sidewalks or streetlights. There’s also no traffic unless you count school buses, farm equipment, and the occasional road construction.
I can hear a variety of birds and frogs in my yard and my closest neighbors are far enough away I don’t really hear them.
Quality of life is awfully good in many ways here but it’s also nice to leave and to have different experiences.
At one point, I stood before a mirror in the ladies room at Bedford Candy. My hair was a mess and I had the wild eyed look of someone who was so busy running around and looking at stuff that time didn’t matter.
It’s true, I spent almost the entire trip without any idea what day it was or what time it was. I was in my element and didn’t give a gosh darn what the clock said.
I have missed that version of myself. Planning and schedules have nearly crowded her out.
Yet, all good things must end. I’m home safe. The people in my life are thrilled to have me back. My little house panther couldn’t be happier. I keep catching him staring at me like he just wants to make sure I’m really here.
I am really here, a country mouse tucked away in my country house with a few stories to share and a mess to clean up. Not only do I need to unpack, there are groceries and fun purchases that still need to be put away today.
For now though, I can take my time, enjoy my little cat’s company, and savor the memories of experiences that helped me remember who I am.
Last night I stood in the middle of the living room, holding a precarious stack of books and despairing over what to read next.
I was paralyzed with indecision.
Have you ever struggled in this way when faced with too many choices?
I consistently struggle in three main areas:
Books
Getting rid of things that I might need someday
Choosing a travel destination
When it comes to books, there literally are too many interesting books being released every year on top of all the things written in the past to ever feel like there’s enough time.
Issues with letting go of things seem to be genetic and related to my Appalachian roots where holding on to stuff has been an economic decision. My ancestors knew the value of a dollar, of a thing, and of having a stash of stuff for when you need it. Packrattery is a survival mechanism.
And travel decisions are hard because, like books, there are finite resources (time + money) and an infinite amount of places to go. How do we begin to choose?
These areas have felt like an uphill battle for some time now.
When it comes to travel, I typically take longer trips with adventure pals and shorter trips with my fella. Life circumstances for my adventure pals have made it harder for them to go on those longer journeys. And honestly, I’ve just been lazy about getting some shorter trips on the calendar. I used to have adventure ideas in my back pocket every week. I need to get back to those roots but am often torn by the multitude of places to visit and other life things to do.
But I digress.
Back to that stack of books last night,
I am not an especially fast reader but I am a devoted one. I watch little tv and carry a book nearly everywhere including to the dentist’s office yesterday. Most nights I fall asleep with a book in my hands and wake up to the thunk of it falling on me.
How my face isn’t black and blue is beyond me.
When I finish a book, I pick up another, switching genres to keep things interesting and prevent any ruts from forming.
I like the feel of a physical book in my hands and the smell of a book is one of my very favorite things. If you ever see me smelling a book, keep moving. There’s nothing to see here.
I did finally choose something and I have high hopes for it. All the same, I had reservations when walking away from that stack I had pulled. By itself, that stack represents about a month of reading. We are already about a third of the way through the year. When will I get to them and all the others?
Clearly, there needs to be more reading hours in my day along with more time to travel. And perhaps some time for therapy because I do sound like something of a basket case.
This I know.
We are the culmination of our habits. If we want to do more of something we need to prioritize it and build our habits around that thing.
What do you wish to do more of? Does indecision ever interfere? Please tell me not the only one!
