Going to Pennsylvania

There is good food everywhere.  The trick is finding it.

It is time yet again for another weeklong trip to rural Pennsylvania to visit the in-laws.  I haven’t come up with good nicknames for them, but maybe we’ll discuss it when I get there.

Last time I had some marvelous scrapple and discovered basted eggs at an amazing diner in Altoona.  There was the masterfully fried cauliflower with a light and greaseless, almost lacy coating, at a family-style pizza joint in Johnstown.  Of course nothing beats my father-in-law’s buttermilk pancakes, with locally made breakfast sausage and pure grade B maple syrup.

And no matter how many times I’m there, there are still some joints and dives that I have yet to hit, even after all of these years.

There is the sub shop that makes salads with French fries in the salad.  The bar that won best wings every year except one for over a decade.  The pizza place that uses the original oven from a beloved yet closed former location.

Which isn’t even to mention all of the places to stop for food on the road to and from Albany.  The problem is that it’s a long trip.  With kids.  And while they would probably love to stop in Wilkes-Barre for some Old Forge-style pizza, they would be nonplussed with the result of adding over an hour to our travel time.

So instead, we pack food in the car.  It’s not as nice as a picnic at Tanglewood, but it gets us to the farm with a limited number of stops.  Still, it sometimes has to be supplemented with a McDonald’s ice cream cone or sundae.  If only Ben & Jerry’s or the Shake Shake were more ubiquitous on our nations highways, I might be able to get something that actually resembled ice cream or food.

But now I’m off for a long day of driving.  Wish me luck.
And maybe let me know about your favorite car snack.