As a kid driving from suburban Detroit to eastern Pennsylvania with my mom, I was excited when we first crossed the Ohio border into western Pennsylvania, only to soon discover (or remember) how long Pennsylvania is. Still, as we drive on I-80 today, decades later, I’m happy to leave the flat straight Ohio turnpike behind, in favor of a mountainous stretch of I-80 lined with trees (although preferably not driven in the rain).
Unlike Iowa I-80 rest stops which have many appealing amenities (trust me), the Ohio turnpike rest-stop west of Cleveland offered no picnic tables or outdoor spaces to eat our picnic fare, let alone with a dog. Grrr. So we ended up taking a brief detour to the small town of Milan, west of Cleveland, which we learned is the home of Thomas Edison. We didn’t see his house, that we know of, but we saw many stately wood Victorian and 19th century red brick homes.
The town was packed with people attending the annual Milan Melon Days (as the street banner we drove under informed us). We found a public park with many picnic tables under a shelter, old playground equipment, and a pleasant view of a grassy slope lined with willow and pine trees. Worked.
Why does it always rain on highway 80 along the scenic but scary stretch through the mountains of western Pennsylvania? At least this trip, the rain was intermittent and Dirck was driving. (I had a much scarier ride years ago while driving solo with the kids in a downpour. Lots of trucks, curving road.)
We got lucky with a terrific dog-friendly pub (thanks Bringfido.com) m, the West End Ale Haus, in the small town of Bloomsburg, where we showed up just before the kitchen closed at 9 p.m. The server couldn’t have been nicer and the cheese burgers were perfect. We were the only diners outside on a Saturday night, with the occasional souped -up car dragging Main Street. Millie enjoyed her strawberry Greek yoghurt frozen treat.
Now we are at a somewhat grim but dog- friendly red roof inn a few miles east (Bloomsburg-Mifflinville).The woman at the front desk looked miserable and when I asked how she was doing, she said she had a headache and no Tylenol so I fished some ibuprofen out of the glove compartment for her.
No breakfast so I won’t get my on-the-road Raisin Bran fix. No carpet in our spacious but spartan room, disabled accessible, which was okay until about 1:45 am when people arrived above us in what I’m guessing was also an uncarpeted room. They sounded like a bunch of elephants dragging roller bags and rearranging the furniture for hours. Who needs sleep?
