Harrisburg, PA

It's almost surreal how you can find a whole new country within the very one you thought you lived in. I mean, southeast-Pennsylvania, to be more precise.

Randy and I set out for Harrisburg to a Thanksgiving gathering. We all held hands in a circle and prayed to the good lord for our health, happiness, and the feast which we were about to devour. Dinner table conversations consisted of Amish weddings, hunting, Africa, more hunting, and how grey trucks are more prone to deers running into them.

We were pleasantly surprised by the video footages of wild animals that can be seen in the area: the bald eagle, red fox, elk, deer, and plenty of pretty spiders. I was not so pleasantly surprised when Randy's cousin-in-law brought in the head of a deer, which he had hit a couple weeks ago on his truck. It pays off to have a sturdy truck, because on average, you hit 4-5 deers per year.

Everyone owns a rifle around here. Everyone. Popo showed us his collection of rifles - one of which was (most likely) used in the Spanish American War. He bought it for $90, but he reckons it could be worth a lot.

I didn't get to see the Amish folks in their buggies, but I hear that there's buggie hitches at stores in Lancaster. People assume that they are repressed and backwards in many ways, but the exceptions to the rule make me believe otherwise. I hear that some folks can be spotted sunbathing at the beaches and some Amish teenagers even own cars (which they are technically not supposed to do?). But the story that takes the cake is about some Amish daughters hosing each other down naked in their backyard (according to neighborhood gossip). I'm sure that's a special case. But still... weird.