Big boss planned to go fishing over the weekend, while my subordinate and me planned to go shopping. This area was famous for factory outlets.
During the general decline of heavy manufacturing, Reading was one of the first localities where outlet shopping became a tourist industry. (source)
One of our American colleagues was a very nice lady. She volunteered to be the tour guide for us for the remaining of the day, as well as on Saturday. She helped us to plan for the trip and suggested places for us to visit.
We worked on some preparation for the workshop of the coming weeks, and then left the office at around 4pm.
As big boss doesn't have any fishing gear with him, the American colleague lent hers to him. However, it was a very old fishing rod that she hasn't been using for over 20 years, so big boss will have to go to a shop to have it fixed.
As we are in the area where outdoor activities are very popular pastimes for the people around here, she brought us to a huge chain specialty retailer, Cabela's, that sells outdoor recreation merchandise.
This retail store has a distinctive style. All the stores around the nation have different statues at the entrance, which are symbolic animals or historical people that are specific to the town or city.
What's even more unique to this retailer is that it's not only a place that sells stuff, but can also serve as a tourist attraction. All the stores "feature museum-quality displays of taxidermied wildlife, large aquariums, indoor mountains, and archery ranges." (source)
No kidding, we were all amazed at the number of wildlife on display. All are very life-like, which of course go without saying since those were real animals hunted and then put on display.
At the center of the store is this big exhibition that shows the wild animals of different seasons.
Bears
Deer
Moose
Goats
Bears fighting over moose
And i don't know the names of these animals (i don't even know what they are called in Chinese)
Then there was a section called the Safari where the tropical animals were on display
There was also a gallery of deer.
In fact, around the whole store, the heads of the deer were on display (and some are actually for sale, if you want one as decor in your home)
At first i felt very sick to see all these animals being hunted and then put on display like hunting trophies. In fact, i've never understood the hobby of fishing or hunting, as i do not like the idea of taking killing other living things as a hobby.
I shared my thoughts with the colleague and she told us that the deer population here grows very fast. We even saw road sign of warning drivers to be careful of wondering deers. She said even if hunting of deers are prohibited, the authority will still have to put them to death to prevent the deer population from growing too rapidly. Furthermore, there are strict regulations governing the hunting license, area and seasons. So there's nothing wrong in allowing deer hunting.
I don't know if i do agree entirely with what she said. I mean, to put the animals to death in a peaceful way as a means to control their population growth is one thing, but to take killing them as a pastime (and hence enjoyment) simply doesn't feel right.
Anyway, back to the store, there's also a gun gallery, where people can just buy the guns for hunting. We were really amazed at how guns can simply be bought like this.
After the tour around the store, big boss had his fishing rod fixed. We then headed towards a local restaurant, which was highly recommended by the colleague.
This is a family-run restaurant that sells authentic Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine. The decor in the restaurant was also very authentic.
The male and female washrooms were labelled "Jake" and "Lizzie", as they told us that these are the two most common names for boys and gals of their community.
We had a small cup of chowder for starter.
With a dish called chow-chow, which is a relish made in different kinds of veggie.
They served us home-made bread, with the apple butter spread. The spread is like apple jam, except that the texture is not like jelly but more like kaya.
For main course, i have Dutch fries and Scrapple. Dutch fries are like French fries but cut in potato chips form. Scrapple, the brownish slices that look like bread, but are actually deep-fried mush of meat served with apple butter at the side, crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle.
I shared the Scrapple with my subordinate. Three slices were served but we only managed to eat one slice per person.
For dessert, the colleague ordered apple pie and the traditional Shoofly pie, which again we didn't manage to finish.
Everything in America is served in big portion, and i'd say more than half of the population here are overweight! I looked so slim here, and my subordinate who's very small built is even shorter than the teenagers here. If i were to continue eating like this, i may probably gain back all the pounds that i've lost! Darn, that wouldn't be good...
Anyway, after dinner, we called it a day, as we gotta have good rest for the following day.
We returned to the hotel totally stuffed but satisfied.
Labels: travel
