Day 27 - Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Thanks to my wonderful hostess, Melinda, for a great long weekend in the Big Apple - we had a blast! Said farewell to the city this morning, and headed north to visit Vonn, a friend from Florida now living in the beautiful and historic village of Hyde Park.

This is the view from her back porch, looking over the majestic Hudson River, which I crossed 3 times today, on 3 different bridges, Tappan-Zee, Newburgh-Beacon, and the very elegant Mid-Hudson, all different, with stunning views of the river and the valley, which is thickly forested and at this time of year full of colour.

In fact I have been surprised (and delighted) at how much forest still exists in the north-eastern United States. Unfortunately I have been about a week ahead of the fall foliage, but the weather is definitely cooling now, so maybe in a few days the trees will be a riot of red, copper and gold.

After a great lunch sitting enjoying the view and catching up after not seeing each other for 4 years, it was time to move on, to Carlisle. A very pleasant drive through rural Pennsylvania (and now I understand the -sylvania part - Latin for "place in the woods"), marred by the excessive coning off of about 15 miles of the I-81, when only about half a mile is being actually worked on!