<– Day 37 – Sun. June 9th: Defecting to Canada | Trip Overview | Day 39 – Tues. June 11th: Checking Out Butler –>

So many cool things in this one-of-a-kind toy store!
After our failure to defect in Canada on Sunday, we decided to head south on Monday toward the jeep-mecca-that-is-Bantam: Butler, Pennsylvania.

On Monday June 10th we drove from Niagara Falls, New York, to Butler, Pennsylvania.
Though we’d spurned Canada, the country seemed to haunt us. I guess we were there long enough to look Canadian. For example, when we stopped by a Niagara Starbucks Monday morning, we were told by a cashier that we could go online and get Starbucks Cash (or points or something) for completing a survey. He then announced the cash (or points) were good in Canada, too. Ann and I looked at each other wondering why he thought we were Canadian. Then I realized I was wearing a “Canada” shirt.
From Buffalo, New York, we drove south through rain until we got bored of the Interstate. I spotted a town called North East, PA. Thinking that was an odd name, especially since it was in northwestern Pennsylvania, we decided to explore it. It was a strange town. For example, they grow plants over their parking meters.

After lunch at Lacasa De Pizza in downtown North East, we tried to visit their nearby railroad museum, but no one was home. There weren’t any hours posted on the door either. They did have lots of trains and a train station as well.

I never did learn why the town was called ‘North East’
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