Getting Around

I was rummaging through some old pictures a few days ago - and I wanted to share some of them. I think they have a general theme to them - how folks got around back in the day, as well as today. I also noticed I too, have been getting around.



This wooden bridge spans the Delaware and Raritan Canal in Griggstown, New Jersey. The canal used to connect the Delaware River near Trenton, NJ to the Raritan River and the New York City harbor. Today, the canal towpath is a walking and biking path, the canal used to carry coal from the Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains to New York City.



More of the Delaware and Raritan Canal - now being enjoyed by canoers, it used to host steamboats plying trade to and from NYC and points north to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and points south after its coal carrying days were ended by the railroad.



The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal follows the Potomac River from Washington DC up into the hinterlands of Cumberland, Maryland. The canal was the brainchild of none other than George Washington. Its 164-mile length has been preserved and is a mecca for walkers, backpackers, and bikers. This lock house is about mid-canal at milepost 70.



A rare feature when it comes to canals, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal has a tunnel. The Pawpaw tunnel located in Pawpaw, Maryland saved a half dozen miles off the route but was a brutal building endeavor as its construction was through solid granite and predated the invention of dynamite. I've walked about 1/3 of the way through this tunnel - but not having a flashlight, I had to turn around and come back to where I started.



Speaking of tunnels, here is a picture of my younger brother peering into the 1,931 foot long Black Rock Tunnel, Phoenixville, PA - built by the Reading Railroad in 1835-1837, this is the second oldest railroad tunnel in the United States and the oldest still in use today. It is now owned by Norfolk Southern. The tracks go from Philadelphia to Pottstown to Reading and then on to Pottsville, PA.



Imagine the fury of the pounding drive wheels of the steam locomotive! This is the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad's locomotive pulling into the Cumberland, Maryland train station. All Aboard! You can get a ride that goes into the wild mountains of West Virginia.



This is much more modern (but still old!) diesel locomotive sitting in the Central of New Jersey's train station in Jim Thorpe, PA. Jim Thorpe, renamed from Mauch Chunk (American Indian for "sleeping bear") to honor the great native American athlete, is on the Lehigh River and is also called the Switzerland of America.



Its fall foliage season in the Pennsylvania mountains! The perfect time to take a train ride.



Lots more modern and certainly more stealthy than the steam locomotive, this is a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk. This stealth ground attack aircraft was formerly operated by the United States Air Force and has now been retired from service. I saw it up close and personal at the Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware during an air show a few years ago.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures - I'm sure there are more where these came from.