Confluence, Pennsylvania

When M* and I went up to visit Falling Water, we stayed the night before the tour at a bed and breakfast, Paddler's Lane, in Confluence, PA. The establishment was about seven, mountainous miles away from the Frank Lloyd Wright house. As the sun had recently set when we approached PL and the winding roads were unlit, we decided to drive on straight to PL before finding something to eat. Our urban minds did not entertain the thought that there might not be anywhere to eat–not even as we drove through the dark town square.

Paddler's Lane B&B in the Laurel Highlands borders the Youghiogheny River.

There was no one at the b&b when we found our way down the gravel road between the railroad tracks and a river–just an unlocked door and a note to go on in. When the manager of the b&b returned from his other job at an outdoor store, he had no suggestions of where we could eat unless we wanted to go back down those intimidating roads. He offered us the kitchen if we wanted to cook something ourselves, so we went to find our dinner at the local super market.

Occasionally I've wondered what happened to Steak-umms–frozen, paper-thin 'steak' that we frequently had in our freezer while I was growing up. I must say that I loved the taste and the 60 second cooking time fit into a teenagers schedule. I figured that Steak-umms were a food that had lost their appeal and were no longer available. However, if I was going to find them anywhere, I'm not surprised that I found them in Confluence.

The Steak-umm Company is based in Pennsylvania–so it's local food.

I quickly realized that finding anything gluten-free was out of the questions, so I paired my gluten-free pretzels that I'd brought with us with yogurt, an apple and a can of Progresso soup. M* had a bit squarer of a meal with spinach tortellini, frozen vegetables and red sauce.

Our Confluence dinner.

We returned to the still unlocked b&b (we were told that there was no key for the house, just our rooms), and I perused the selection of movies while M* cooked up his pasta. There were too many Deliverance, Blair Witch Project type movies for my comfort level, and as we were the only guests, we decided to lock all the main doors and just get up early to let the manager in to make us breakfast. As we could see the meager food supplies in the fridge, we were prepared for a limited selection the next morning. I was just happy that we made it safely to that meal.