What I learned about Williamsport

Until last weekend I had only a glancing knowledge of Williamsport.  Even though it's fairly close by, I'd only passed through it once when we went to Niagara Falls two years ago.  About all I learnd then was that it is home to the Little League Hall of Fame, and general headquarters of the of all things little league.  That's little nippers playing baseball, to the uninitiated, but it's a pretty big deal in these parts.

This time I noticed that the little leaguers were flying an enormous American flag.  I was left wondering how big the one flown at the grown-up baseball hall of fame must be if the little league merits the flag they have.

Anyway, the other two things I knew about Williamsport were that it was the scene of an attack by Native Americans of some settlers in the eighteenth century, and that not far away over the mountains begins the basin of the Ohio River, which ultimately leads to the Mississippi (though I should mention I haven't checked either of these "facts" very closely).

After our recent foray I now know two more things about the town.  First, as I wrote the other day, they know how to lay on a book sale.  And second, where to get lunch.  For after we'd rummaged around the books we retired to the Bullfrog Brewery for pretzels and sandwiches.  Mrs Walles had turkey, cheese, apple and caramelised onions while I went for simple pork loin and both were excellent.  It's one of the many good microbreweries that litter this part of the countryside, most of which have their own bar attached where you can admire all the shiny equipment in which their product is busily fermenting.

We were both amused, as we looked for a place to park the car, that most of the spaces beside the brewery are reserved for an organisation that aims to fight alcoholism.  Maybe at the end of a long day fighting alcoholism the only cure is a drink?

Anyway, I am pleased to report that Williamsport is a very tidy and pretty place.  It's a large town with solid architecture in the middle of town, where we were, but that centre is not so large that it's intimidating.  Mrs Walles tells me that there are bad parts of Williamsport, but I didn't see any of them. 

I was very happy to visit and it is nice to see the centre of a town, since you so often bypass the centre when you're travelling here, and get no real feel for the towns you are passing "through".  We're sure to be back again, whenever books or sandwiches call to us again.