Tussey Mountain

 This is the view from the top of the famous Tussey Mountain, which is really just a low ridgeline (2,300 feet high) that runs north from the Maryland border and into the center of Pennsylvania.  This is known as the "Ridge and Valley Province" of the Appalachians.

 And here's how the mountain looks from one of the valleys below. 

 This is a typical scene in Central Pennsylvania.  You can see why settlers from the Rhine region of Germany felt so at home here in the 18th century; it looks a bit like their native place.

I'd known the name "Tussey Mountain" because there's a company by that name that constructs log cabins or sells packages so that you can build your own--which is one of my life's out-of-reach dreams.  I love the way the mountain presides over life in the valley.  It's a benign, inspiring presence.  It promises that there's more than just your daily grind.  All you have to do is look to the hills, or maybe even go to them.