Some highlights from my long weekend in Bedford, PA

This is the view off the deck at the Shepherd's Chalet on the Monsour Sheep Farm just 5 miles north of Bedford exit off the PA turnpike. This photo is taken at 6AM. There is no sound but birds awakening, and the calls of mama's to their lambs. The farm is ringed by mountains, and is quite beautiful. The Monsour's have about 800 mostly North Country Cheviots, with 1000 lambs at side. What at sight to see that many sheep!

Below is one of the 14 covered bridges in Bedford county. We took the driving tour of 6 of them. This is the Colvin Bridge. This was a nice drive, and on such a hot afternoon, the perfect activity was to sit in an airconditioned car and look at the scenery and bridges.

Part of the bridge driving tour is the oh so silly and fun attraction, Gravity Hill. There is a lot of good natured hype in brochures about this great mystery of the universe. Once you get there, following the spraypainted "GH" signs along a tiny country road, you stop at the GH spraypainted on the road, put the car in nuetral, and wonder of wonders, the car starts to roll backwards. Up hill! We were amazed, and it was so fun, we did it again. There were other cars trying it when we drove back toward the main highway, and we all laughed and waved at one-another, feeling silly and yet somewhat confused as to why it works. My best guess is that its some sort of optical illusion making the road look as though you are going downhill when it is actually a slight incline. Whatever it is, get a carload of silly people and go try it yourself! Its FREE!

Our delightful guide at the National Coverlet Museum in Bedford. They have 3 rooms of coverlets, a display of rare and often very strange spinning wheels (on loan until the end of 2010) I learned so much about the history of the American coverlet - very interesting! I've got more photos, and will do another post focusing on them soon.