There was rain and mist in the mountains as we left our unlovely motel and drove further north and east, stopping for coffee in what turned out to be the interesting city of Wilkes-Barre. It reminded me a little of Easton, my mom’s hometown with old redbrick row houses with white wood railing. But Wilkes-Barre had surprisingly grand old buildings, some banks or fraternal organizations, and two small colleges with pretty old buildings. A bridge over the river with eagle sculptured pediments, worthy of Europe. A memorial to fallen coal miners. Seemed a faded, once mighty industrial city on the rebound.
The most spectacular and unexpected building was a mosque with four minerets that could have been in Istanbul. Apparently it was a Shriners temple, built in the early 1900s. Abandoned, with some busted windows but perhaps slated for restoration.
We found good coffee and pastries at Abide, which welcomed Millie, our dog, inside. Another nearby coffeehouse, Pour, looked like a good option too.
Confirming Pennsylvania’s swing state status in the upcoming presidential election, we saw a Harris Walz sign near the Jewish center of King’s College and a nasty “ F—k Biden” sign in the window of a faded apartment building. Another window in the building had a “Catholics for Trump” sign.
The sky began to clear as we drove though the Poconos to the Hudson River, crossing into Poughkeepsie, enough so we could sit outside at the Palace diner, old school with shiny aluminum siding, and eat brunch while passing customers made a fuss over Millie. We had one mishap. Millie balked at climbing the metal grated steps leading up to the dramatic walkway over the Hudson, fashioned from a former rail bridge. We found a hill she could walk up to get on the bridge and walked about half the bridge span, soaking in the spectacular river views, and then took the handy elevator down and walked uphill the to our car.
TakeBetsywithyou 