Fields, Farms, and Other Stuff

I’ve been incredibly tense lately, for various reasons. 

One way to reduce tension is to:

           

Keep Calm 

and

  Take A Back Road

This is the blog of a fellow student in my photography class.   His mission: to explore back roads, to seek out American life and civilization, to boldly go off the superhighway.  The Common Household has taken a back road sometimes, and it was well worth it each time.

Last weekend, my son and I drove via the Pennsylvania Turnpike and interstate highways to Maryland, completely disobeying the advice of TakeBackRoads.com.  Many is the time I have made this trip to visit my mother and aunt (which I could practically drive in my sleep) while wishing I had made the time to get off the highway and see some local things:  Big Pool, Fort Frederick State Park, the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Park, the Sept 11 memorial at Shanksville, PA, and that pie shop in Hancock, MD, to name a few. 

But Son had a limited time for his fall break from college, so we were in a rush.  The truth is that the weather and road construction were so horrible on the trip there that we probably would have made the trip in the same amount of time if we had taken back roads. 

On the way back, because my son was doing some of the driving, I had a chance to take photos.  So I here present to you: 

Fields, Farms, and Other Stuff You Can See

On the PA Turnpike

(Western Third)
            Twenty-one photos

What you won’t see:  covered bridges, quaint shops, family-owned restaurants, waterfalls, wooded glens, state parks.  

Please click on photos to embiggen them for optimal viewing.

Fields and Farm Buildings

Autumn fields and a few horses grazing (if you look closely)

Extensive farm buildings

White farm building and silos

Large farm building and a few cows

Old and new building

Old building

Red building

New and red buildings

Moo cows

On the road and Over the road:

Tire skid marks

Road construction.  It looked like they were just measuring things.

Driver silhouette (that's me; photo taken by Son)

Trucks of all shapes and sizes.
I think those double-trailer trucks should be outlawed,
but then they probably have carried packages for me.

Hiking trail overhead

Other Stuff:

Old railroad bridge

I'm pretty sure this is a strip-mining operation.
Seen in Somerset County.

Windmills generating power in Somerset County

Many, many mountains and trees

Special effects photos:

Solar panels on a house roof.
Photo was taken on camera effect setting called "color sketch"
in which the camera pretends it is an artist.

Taken on camera effect setting "Supervivid"
in which camera pretends the reds and blues are
what we really want to see.

Sunlight and cloud shadows.
Taken on camera effect setting "Supervivid"

I am almost embarrassed to tell you that I have taken a photography class and then show you these photos.  It was difficult taking photos while flying along on the turnpike!  Another reason to take back roads....