Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Harrisburg

One of my all-time favorite people lives in (or maybe just moved from) Ohio so we decided to get together before she left!
We planned out the details and I bought my train ticket and the next morning I was on my way. The train ride was so beautiful. Pennsylvania countryside is breathtaking. Amish farms and buggies and people everywhere. I loved it. I think I could be Amish.
Due to unforeseen circumstances my friend ended up not being able to come which left me in Pennsylvania for the day. We chose what I thought was a hoppin' little town (Harrisburg) to meet. It was a lie. Harrisburg is so NOT hoppin'. Maybe with a couple people it is fun, but one person wandering without a car is maybe not my best idea.
I got off the train and wandered down to the visitor's center. I passed it three times before I finally found it. It was on the second floor of a law firm (where else would you put a visitor center?). I entered the building which appeared to have been abandoned. I thought nothing of it and took the elevator up to the second floor. I got off the elevator and all the lights were off. In the middle of a weekday. Yup. Abandoned.
I found a light switch, flipped it, and then wandered around the floor until I found the door to the visitor's center. I grabbed the door handle and pulled and it was locked, so that was a major bust.
I wandered back outside and Googled things to do in Harrisburg. It said there was a little island in the river that was easy to walk to and had fun things like mini golf, boat rides, horse-drawn carriages, baseball, everything!
And....


I walked across the bridge and it was just another ghost town. No people, no golf, no horses, nothing. I wandered around there for a bit and walked down to the river bank. But then I was hungry so I Googled yummy places to eat and I found like a million! I was so excited!
And then I took myself on a walking tour of every closed restaurant in Harrisburg. Seriously, guys. I went to 7 or 8 places and every single one was closed. And then I was hangry. But somewhere in my depressing tour I found a vintage jewelry store and bought the cutest earrings in the world.
So I walked into the first place I could find that sold food and bought a sandwich. The nice gentleman asked if I wanted a half or a whole. After I distinctly told him half he gave me a sandwich the length of my arm. Come to find out a "whole" sandwich is the length of an extra long baguette.
I took my sandwich and walked to the state capitol building. I sat on the stairs and ate my sandwich and drank in the lovely weather.
Then I wandered over to the Strawberry Square which is supposed to be some kind of mall.  But it was Dress Barn and fast food. And they closed at 6 whatever that is about.
So right as I was being kicked out of the "mall" I decided to just head back to the train station. The train ride back was great because I stole a seat in the quiet car.
Overall it was a day with great weather, beautiful scenery, and the weirdest experience of my life.
 
 
There were churches on almost every corner. I walked past 20 or so churches. 
 
 



2 comments:

Lys said...

Look at all that wheat just growing in the middle of the street! Seems like that wheat is the liveliest part of this city.

TJ said...

This will always be a fun story to tell. It will get better with age. Glad you can laugh at stuff.