Milford Trip, Part 3...

Let me give you a little run down on the borough of Milford, just in case you're wondering what two almost-sixty year-olds are doing moving from Ohio to the land of snow and liberal politics.

The town seems to be a getaway for New Yorkers wanting to get out of the city, to escape higher taxes and higher cost of living issues. The main drag, Routes 6 and 209 which intersect at what I think is the only stop light in the town, is non-stop traffic on weekends and everyone seems to have a New York or New Jersey plate. In fact, when I got up at about 3:30 in the morning to go to the bathroom, I looked out the window of the room at the B&B where we were staying and there was still scattered traffic. There also seems to be lots of motorcycle traffic there -- Harleys cruising the backroads of PA with Bruce Springsteen wannabees.

The town itself is pretty nice from what we can tell. We had pizza on Thursday night at the pizza place across the street from the B&B. It was pretty good. As expected, it turned into the teen hangout on the weekend. On Friday, we spent the day with a realtor. Saturday and Sunday were spent the day with Doug, Danika and Quinn. We did a lot of walking throughout the town, which has some really nice shops and attractions.

The borough is trying to build on its tourism theme by having several festivals throughout the year. The weekend we were there was the Blackbear Film Festival weekend. I'm sure that brought lots of people in who might not have been there otherwise. The old movie house where the "indie films" (that's what they call independent films) were shown was right out of the 50s. They had a refreshment tent set up outside and had art and other items for sale. There was a silent auction for lots of things, including the black bear sculptures produced for the festival. There were two bears that I liked -- the "Indy (Indiana Jones) Bear" and the "Armed Forces Bear" (notice ARMY is on top!!).

They had a sign advertising the film festival's location on this old truck, a 1928 Chevrolet. One thing I liked about it was how simple the dash board was. Kind of reminds me of the Cessna 152 I first learned to fly in. I think that's one of the things I like about Milford, things on the surface appear to be simplistic and pretty easy to adapt to. The people I met that weekend appeared to be real down home people and easy to talk to. We drove down to one of the shopping areas and saw the Wal-Mart, the Staples store and other smaller shops. The main downtown area of Milford is full of shops with charm and appeal. Lots of the buildings are over 100 years old and all have been maintained very well. The streets are wide and tree-lined. We also drove past the local high school. It looks like a nice school. I was told that the top four grades have somewhere over 1,700 students or so. It was Friday night and people were pulling in the parking lot, getting ready for that night's football game. From the looks of the traffic entering the parking lot, they take their football there as seriously as they do in Ohio. I'm looking forward to seeing them play. They also have a Zane Gray museum in Milford. I thought my old hometown of Zanesville Ohio had the only one. I learned something new.
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Unfortunately, we did not find that one house that said "buy me." We're still looking, but have since seen a couple of real strong possibilities on the internet. We're planning our nest trip over there for November. I'm sure we'll find that one that is meant for us. I know it will be worth it as the kids will be able to come over for weekend getaways and we'll only be about an hour and a half away from their place.

I'm sure I've mentioned before in one of these articles that I'm really looking forward to Quinn and Doug coming over to go fishing with me in the Water Gap area...that is, if I can get him away from his grandma when they come over. My father and grandmother taught me how to fish and I look forward to teaching them what President Herbert Hoover once said: "Fishing is the chance to wash one's soul with pure air. It brings meekness and inspiration, reduces our egoism, soothes our troubles, and shames our wickedness. It is discipline in the equality of men -- for all men are equal before fish."

Pam and I are looking forward to this new chapter in our lives. We have never been the kind to get settled in a rut. It's kind of like that old saying: The only difference between a rut and a grave is their dimensions. We'll miss our families, and we're going to miss our friends here. Dave will just have to carry on our golfing adventures without me. And we'll miss the families in this neighborhood --they're super people -- we wish we could take them with us. Thank goodness for phones and e-mail.

"If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies." (Author Unknown)

Hooah