Day 3 Lancaster to Bedford to Washington

Day 3.  This is a travel day starting in Lancaster PA with a stop in Bedford PA and ending in Washington PA. Our stay at the Hampton of Lancaster was OK in that the hotel is clean, in good repair, and the staff friendly and helpful.  On the down side this one is expensive for a Hampton Inn, and caters to groups of young athletes. This trip it was high school girls basketball. They seem to be great kids, but they are everywhere, and a bit loud and rambunctious well into the night. I don't think we will stay here again since this is common for this hotel.  There are better choices in the region.

Our halfway stop, about three hours west, was the township of Bedford.  The attraction that drew us here was Fort Bedford, a museum in a recreation of a fort built in 1758. But since we arrived well after noon we decided to eat first. Instead of making a plan we wandered the East Pitt street looking for something promising. 

We decided on the Golden Eagle Inn and weren't disappointed. The food was modestly priced but a cut above from the chick pea and curry soup to the garden salad with more kinds of fresh vegetables than usual and grilled chicken cooked to perfection.

As a bonus we discovered we had eaten next door to the Espy house that had served as George Washington's headquarters during the 1794 campaign to put down the Whiskey Rebellion. Our trip was  about understanding that conflict and what people think about it today, so it was a treat to walk this spot.

Our visit to the Fort Bedford Museum was greatly enhanced by volunteer and retired history teacher Jim Hostetler who gave generously of his time and knowledge of the pre-revolutionary war history of this region. Jim is an example of one of those Americans who keeps giving, even years into his retirement. Among other things we learned that by the 1790's Fort Bedford had long fallen into ruin.  In fact, post revolutionary war maps laying out the future township of Bedford didn't even show the fort. The Museum building is housed in a reproduction a few blocks away from the site of the original fort.

At the end of a park path Gloria found a recreation of the original stockade restored by a team of archaeologists on its original site.  This museum has a wealth of artifacts and is well worth a visit.

We left Bedford in mid afternoon and traveled a couple of hours further west to Washington. Despite making stops more frequently we were a bit road weary when we arrived and decided to use the evening to plan our next day instead of heading out on the town.  Most likely we will head north to Pittsburg tomorrow and come back to Washington for the Whiskey Rebellion Festival on Saturday which is the main day. 
See you then.