One Way Nest
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Day 2: April 21, 2012 One Way Nest |
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The few drops of water that were on my windshield when I pulled back onto the
expressway were soon gone. A few more appeared throughout the day
but there was never anything that could actually be called rain. The weather
and the scenery made driving on the expressway OK.
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But even OK expressway can wear on you and I eventually punched up the
Roadside America Garmin app to see what it had to offer. A tree house just
a couple miles off the expressway sounded promising so I pulled off to
break up the drive. If I'd known there was parking at tree house level,
I probably would have used it and missed the view from the unpaved trail.
Roadside America says the Nay Aug Gorge Tree House was "built so that the people
of Scranton could peer down into the gorge without tumbling over a cliff."
It worked for me.
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I also learned of this from Roadside America but that was a long time ago.
It was a planned stop on last year's attempt at this trip. The
tall marker stands on the border between
New York and New Jersey. Pennsylvania touches the two states at the smaller
marker near the water.
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Some online chatter about scenic highways alerted me to NY-97 north of
Port Jervis, New York, and that led to me planning an overnight in the
historic Erie
Hotel. Originally built in 1890, a 1994 fire resulted in some major
restoration. The rooms (here's mine) are quite
nice and the restaurant is superb. It was lunch time when I checked in and
dinner time when I returned from a drive. The place was pretty full on
both occasions which is why I have no pictures of the interior. I do have
a picture of the stairs leading to the rooms.
There is one caveat to staying here and it could be an important one for some. The bar is a popular one and usually has entertainment on weekends. A band was scheduled for last night but, for reasons unknown to me, did not appear. But the recorded music that filled the void could definitely be heard in second floor rooms including mine at the rear of the building. This old rock 'n' roller isn't bothered by this sort of thing and tends to consider the sounds of a band that doesn't suck an amenity. Anyone likely to be annoyed by this should probably sleep elsewhere but might still consider dinner and/or a drink. |
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The bar at the Erie also serves as the hotel's "front desk" so I
was able to enjoy a cold one while putting my license number and such on
the little card. I was also able to ask the desk clerk/bartender about the
scenic road I'd heard about. The main attraction is a an area called Hawks
Nest and that, she told me, was half closed with "an ugly red
light". I, of course, opted to go anyway but didn't even make it to
the ugly night initially. At the NY-42 and NY-97 split, flashing lights
and waving policemen directed traffic onto NY-42. NY-97 is the designated
scenic route. I turned left in a couple of miles and looped back to NY-97
on some fairly nice country two-lane. At the other end, I was able to talk
briefly with the fellow directing traffic but he knew nothing either. A
big red cloth sign on a frame announced an "Emergency Detour".
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I pulled into a parking lot at a trail head and looked over the signs
there. One of the things marked on the map was a Museum of Colonial
History that looked to be about 25 or 30 miles away. I selected that as my
turn around point and headed off on NY-97 along the banks of the Delaware
River. The museum was closed for the season but the drive was certainly
worthwhile for its own sake.
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I had been tempted to stop here on the way north but decided to hold off
until the drive back. They say that John Roebling used the bridge in
Cincinnati as a rehearsal for the Brooklyn Bridge. This was one of his
rehearsals for the Cincinnati bridge. In the 1840s he built four similar
aqueducts for the D & H Canal. This is the only one remaining making
it the oldest wire suspension bridge in the country. Most of the iron work,
including the cables, is original. Cars now drive where six feet of water
once carried canal boats over the river. Learn more about it here.
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By the time I again reached Hawks Nest, the emergency was over and I could continue
on NY-97. The bartender's comments now made sense as I saw that "half
closed" meant one lane was blocked for repairs and "ugly red
light" referred to the traffic signals that controlled the one lane
traffic through the area. Cars stopped at the light can be seen in the distance
in the next to last photograph and up close in the last one.
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