Over my 48 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we continue today with the 2nd state to be added to the Union: Pennsylvania.

State: Pennsylvania
Joined the Union: 1787
Visits: 2

I’ve made two visits to the Keystone State, first in 2003 on my way to New York and then again in 2005 to take in some afternoon baseball.

My first trip to, or rather through, Pennsylvania came on the last Saturday in March of 2003.  While heading east on I-80 on a road trip to New York. we stopped somewhere in Pennsylvania for lunch at an Arby’s.  This particular Arby’s happened to have a breakfast buffet, which was not something I had seen before or seen since.  The customers of this Arby’s seemed like they would have been more at home in the hills of Appalachia then in Pennsylvania.  One in particular was wearing overalls with no shirt underneath (at least that’s how I remember it) and was waiting patiently for a new batch of bacon to be brought out to the buffet.  Once it was, this hill person got up, emptied the whole tray onto his plate, and returned to his seat to chow down.  Watching in awe, we finished our processed meat sandwiches and headed back out on the road.

I returned to Pennsylvania in May of 2005 to see the Cubs defeat the Pirates 3-2 at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park.  Southwest Airlines was introducing service from Chicago to Pittsburgh and was offering fares for $30 each way, so, with a businessman’s special on the schedule for an early Thursday afternoon, plans were made for a quick daytrip out to Pittsburgh.  We arrived in town and took a bus from the airport to the stadium, where we ate a pregame meal of ribs at the in-stadium Outback Steakhouse.  Yeah, you read that right.  There was an Outback Steakhouse in the stadium.  After the game, there was another bus trip back to the airport for the flight back to Chicago, which seemed to be made up strictly of people who were at the game, as a rousing rendition of Take Me Out To The Ballgame broke out mid-flight.

Will I return?  I certainly hope so, as I still need to add Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park to my collection.