There Was a Crooked Road...

Good morning, friends and pioneers everywhere. Today's excursion took me to North Park in McCandless in search of Pittsburgh's own anti-gravity spot...GRAVITY HILL..located at the intersection of Kummer and McKinney Road near the golf course.  Upon finding the exact location, I was relieved that no cars were behind me as I stopped at the STOP SIGN, put the car in neutral... and started to "magically" roll up hill in reverse...and at a pretty good clip!


Whoa, what a strange experience...to lose control for that brief moment, causing you to question the Newton's Law of Gravity!  I was  completely DISCOMBOBULATED.   I drove away, and came back as I had to try it again.  Below is the picture of the intersection from my Nissan and I am truly going backwards at that moment.  Just to test it out, I tried it again at another stop sign with what I thought to be about the same sloping grade..and nope didn't work.  So what's up with Gravity Hill?

There are numerous anti-gravity spots through the country where laws of physics and gravity do not apply.  Some people this is a magnetic force..Some people believe thinks there's a warp in Earth's gravity at these locations.  A quirky tourist attraction in Santa Cruz, California, touts its own "Mystery Spot." Folks there have fun speculating that extra-terrestrials buried unearthly metals or a spacecraft beneath the site.  They claim that people get headaches on the tour from the STRANGE FORCES . . . I don't know about all that, but it's still fun.

But here's the truth!  Read on if you really want to know, as the Law of Gravity really is the law.

It's an... optical illusion (shhh!)  The illusion is caused by the landscape.  The position of trees and slopes of nearby scenery and a curvy horizon line have blended to trick the eye. GPS measurements by physicists show the elevation at the start is higher than at the end. The road actually slopes downhill according to a physicist at Penn State... I guess, sigh!  Damn, now I wish I hadn't had to report this!! But it's okay, our imagination can still play...and it's still a weird feeling.

Crooked House, Storybook Forest

Illusion...reminds me of my favorite little spot of strangeness when I was a kid...at Storybook Forest in Ligonier, PA.  That crooked house confounded me!!  So once again, this exploration led me to another place and another time of fun illusions... and to remember:   there was a crooked man, who had a crooked house...he had a crooked cat, who chased a crooked mouse.

I like that much better than the dry old Law of Gravity..it's just a crooked road is all..  Until next time, keep your eyes open.... xoxo PG