Changing of the Leaves...
So I've only been here for a month and a half... and one week I was in Boston and the other I was in Vegas... so technically a month. But I noticed something everytime I walk around or do something... I wish I would have understood a small town when I was in college. See I was a photography major in College and I had the hardest times finding things to document... so I ended up driving to New York City from Western PA 5 times a semester to do my documentary on the Subway system... I ended up spending about $4000USD in one semester on the one class with the gas, and 80 rolls of high speed film, and the paper for developing, food on the road, etc and I only made about $10,000USD a year at that time. So needless to say I was broke...
But since I moved to Altoona there's been so much that I could photograph in this town.
One thing I've been doing since I moved here is I walk to the post office or just around town. There's a lot of cool buildings (and I"m still waiting to see a train pass by on the tracks---but I always forget until I hear them at noon.
But this blog is about the changing of the leaves... as I was walking I had my camera with me and I started noticing the most beautiful, bright and vivid colors that I've never seen before on leaves changing for the season. They were never like this in Minneapolis, or Pittsburgh or Erie, PA... but Central PA has the leaf colors that I'd imagine in New England...driving on a Sunday just taking in your surroundings. I was totally awestruck by these colors and amazed at how 2 trees were next to each other and one had bright red leaves while the other had yellow leaves.
Central PA has the most beautiful changing of the leaves... As you go through you can really be left breathless. This weekend was actually the Flaming Folliage Festival in Renovo, PA... I was supposed to go up but I couldn't make it... so as I was walking to the post office I started taking some photo's of interesting leaves and the colors!
Next I'm going to put the winter photo's up once it starts snowing... my friend out here was describing to me what the trees will look like and I just kept saying to myself... I want my SLR... I want my SLR camera! But I hope you enjoy these photographs as much as I enjoyed taking them!!!
By 1972, theere were fourteen stores. One year later, Sheetz added gasoline pumps and introduced self-serve gasoline to Central Pennsylvania. Now there are 350 Sheetz in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia. And the rest is history... and not the only time they made history as this one sole gas station is the only one in Pennsylvania who sells beer...no other gas station is aloud!
Most sheetz's are smaller with a small counter to make what's called an MTO (Made-to-Order)... which is a way to get food your way... fast! This one on 17th street took it a little farther... this one is a full small convenience store... lot's of gas pumps... a car wash... a drive through MTO and a full fledge sit down area... in fact one way to know you're from Pennsylvania is if you go to Sheetz on your first date! Ha Ha Ha (I saw that on one of those "you know your from" web pages).
The staff is friendly and when you go up to the touch screen menus to place your order they actually tell you what is a smart option and you can get good food for cheap! I got a HUGE egg salad sandwich for $2.99 and usually I would be paying $5.50 for the same thing at a deli!
I usually don't go to Sheetz for the gas as I noticed I don't get as good milage from it... but it's still convenient and in Altoona there's a sheetz on every block... sort of like Starbucks in Manhattan!!!
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So I decided to stop by! This is a cute, plain donut shop. There's a guy behind the counter to help out and they have newspapers out for customers to read. Besides me the guy working there knew everyone who walked in the door... the 20 minutes I was there that was about 5 groups of people!
I ordered a coconut donut made with a chocolate cake donut! It was absolutely delicious. The guy made me my coffee with cream and 2 scoops of sugar... which made it really sweet... I was surprised!
Do I think it's the best coffee in the world? No, but if you're driving by I do suggest the donuts! =P
