Vacation, parts 3 and 4 and Then That's It

Happy October 1! I love October, and today we are having some nice cool weather, so I am a happy camper. 

Thanks to all of you who have gone through these last few posts with me, all about our vacation week. I know sometimes you're just not in the mood to see other people's photos ad nauseum, so thanks for your kind comments.  Today I'm sharing our last vacation day in the Poconos, and then the weekend after in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, with my niece Amanda and her husband Pat.

Since we had been able to visit Promised Land State Park on Monday, we realized that we could make a differen trip on Tuesday after we checked out of the place where we were staying and go to the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. Originally, given what else we wanted to do, it would have been out of the way and maybe pushing it as far as our energy levels. But when it turned out that it could be the only Tuesday activity, we decided we needed go to for sure!

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary was the world's first sanctuary for birds of prey. It became an official sanctuary in 1938. It's a perfect place to see all kinds of raptors and also take an amazing hike along one of the trails leading to astonishing views. We (of course) took the easiest trail, since we'd never had a chance to visit before, and weren't sure what to expect.

So onward we marched. First we headed to the South Lookout:

They have biologists stationed at the lookouts to count birds and on an average day, they can easily count up to 1000 birds of prey! When we arrived, around 10:30 a.m., there had already been 400+ sightings.

The trails were challenging, since they were not always smooth ones. This was definitely not a trip for the faint of heart. 

I really liked this rock/small boulder along the trail - you can't see it here, but the colors in it were a beautiful gradient.

This is a staircase of rocks up the mountain to the North Lookout - and it's worth mentioning that not only do you walk UP these stairs ... but you have to walk back DOWN them afterwards!

However, it is worth the effort, because:

We even found a friend!

While we were there, we saw several hawks, two turkey vultures, and two bald eagles! There were also other birds that were pointed out, but you needed binoculars to see them, and we didn't have a pair. But the whole experience was truly magnificent. I highly recommend a visit to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary!  We'll definitely go back again sometime (with our binoculars!).

So after that, it was home to the kitties. They were very glad to see us and of course had several tales of horrible neglect and starvation from the cat sitter, in spite of many photos she sent to us that showed the contrary ...

We were home for Wednesday and Thursday, and then on Friday morning, headed to one of our most fave places, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. When we went last year with Amanda and Pat, Amanda found this really nice, really reasonable place only a few blocks from the ocean, and easily walkable to restaurants and shops. We loved it, so we stayed there again. Here is the view from our room - right down the street, you can see the ocean. 😊

Amanda and I had The Tim take a photo of us to send to our friend Lisa. Amanda calls this her "thank God I have a weekend away from my govt job during this horrible administration!" look.

Saturday morning, we went to breakfast at this Victorian hotel restaurant along the boardwalk. They have birds in the parlor, and we had a lovely chat with these two.

This is Moose.

This is Emro.

Both had a lot to tell us, and were happy to sit on our shoulders. They are really characters!

Sunday, we all had breakfast and headed to our respective homes and kitties, after a really fun weekend that was relaxing and the perfect way to end the summer and our week of mini-vacations. 

Rehoboth Beach, early, on the very last full day of summer.

Vacation, Part 2

After our day in Jim Thorpe, PA, we headed further north to the Pocono Mountains. Neither of us had been there before, and the drive up was so gorgeous! Not just working our way up mountains, but the leaves were beginning to change color, so we saw stunning vistas along the way.

We made our way to a new place that we heard about on Instagram (!), called The Rex. It used to be a motor lodge and was recently redone to become cabins backing right up to Promised Land State Park. The prices were extremely reasonable, considering what it included, so we decided we would give it a go. 

We had our own fire pit in the back:

And it was completely outfitted with everything you need - you could easily buy food and drink and bring it along with you, and never have to leave the grounds at all. This was the kitchen:

We were very happy there for our visit. It was comfortable, cozy, and in the middle of such a beautiful area that you looked out the window to nature no matter where you were. We would definitely stay there again!

We did get a notice about a young black bear in the area, but alas, we did not spot said bear. But there were very strict guidelines related to storage of food and warnings about leaving anything at all that was edible in your car!

The next day, we headed to the Delaware Water Gap Recreational Area and to Raymondskill Falls, the highest waterfall in Pennsylvania. We hiked around, being amazed by our surroundings, and the waterfall itself did not in any way disappoint.  

We took this selfie after approximately 400 tries - The Tim took over the camera, and he added some kind of filter, and well, let's just say we should not be allowed near technology. But we finally figured it out, and ended up with a decent photo. 

The whole place was so incredibly beautiful that we were there for about two hours, walking the trails and seeing everything. 

White asters everywhere.

LOTS of goldenrod everywhere we went!

We had planned to go to Dingman Falls, but it was closed due to some kind of repairs and maintenance, so we headed to Bushkill Falls. When we got there, we realized that it was privately owned, and though the grounds looked lovely, it was a steeper cost than we wanted to pay to walk the trails. 

So we pivoted on some plans, and instead of going to explore Promised Land State Park the next day after checking out of our lodgings, we decided to finish off Monday by going there. As I mentioned, part of it backed right up to where our cabin was, but we went to the "official" entrance and let me tell you, it was well worth any effort to go there!

After exploring one part of the park, we decided to visit and walk around Conservation Island, where there are all kinds of campsites. For the first time since arriving in the Poconos, we saw more than just a few people (though still not many). Like everywhere else we'd been on Monday, it was stunning. 

We didn't even get close to seeing most of the park, but it was just all amazing. We ended up having one of the best days and again, we were lucky because the universe blessed us with weather that can only be described as perfection.

Our little cabin looked better than ever when we got back there after a long and busy day of activity. We had some leftovers from our dinner the night before, so we decided to just zap them in the microwave and settle in to our cozy spot.

We enjoyed our explorations, and loved our place, but we did agree that we were not really people who would enjoy living in a place that was remote or isolating. Neither of us really want to be somewhere that requires us to drive just to get to a market or a drugstore, etc. Even The Tim, who more or less drives as part of his job, and likes to drive, prefers not to if possible. So it's unlikely we will be moving to any of towns in the Poconos. 😊 

Since we had changed around our plan that was originally for Tuesday, we had to come up with a new one. It wasn't hard, and I'll share that with you the next time around. So Part 3 of Bridget and The Tim Do Nature will be coming soon!

Perfection In One Day

First of all, thank you for your kind support and commisseration about my work situations in my last post.  Please be assured that everything that can be done has been done, even if to no avail.  Though I'm guessing that now you can appreciate more than ever why I am dreading next week, when we have to return to the building to work five days a week.  At least being at home some of the time gave me some space and a buffer.  Oh well

ANYWAY, the important thing here is to share some of our weekend with you.  This past weekend, both the NJ Sheep and Wool Festival and the Lehigh Valley Fiber Festival returned to in-person events.  I love going to the NJ one, but this year just didn't get myself together to go.  

Instead, since it sounded as if the weather would cooperate, The Tim and I planned an outing where Hamlet could join us.  So we got into the car and headed a bit northwest to the Andorra Meadow - about 20 minutes away on a Saturday with little traffic that early in the morning.  It's a little more than 2-mile trail that ends up in a meadow.  We hadn't been there before, so we were exploring as well.

Me to The Tim: We can tell people we went for a hike, and found some fungi(s).

The Tim: [crickets]

In any case, it was wonderful, and Hamlet had a great time!  For the whole time we were there, we ran into only two other people (and of course Hamlet made sure that they petted him).  It was perfect.

Apparently, the grasses were very tasty.  The Tim and I did not sample them, but Hamlet took his time doing a tasting all along the way.

In the photo above, Hamlet is right in front of a log that was blocking the trail and required one to go over it.  I went over first, and then Hamlet lept over it, "just like Lassie!" (OK, that's what we told him - in reality, I pulled, and The Tim pushed and lifted.)  Then The Tim joined us and we continued along.

I always love seeing little wild daisies like these:

And seeing these little berries pleased me!

This was in the meadow, where they had these little houses scattered all around.

Just look at that sky!  And if you saw these photos and didn't know where you were, who would think that less than a mile away was a major road with stores and houses?

On the way home, we passed a corner where one side of the street had a place called Pete's Pierogies, and the other side of the street had Murphy's Tavern.  We decided that was the best corner in town, since it would cover all of our needs ... 😊

The day finished up with some knitting and reading in the afternoon, and then The Tim made a pizza for dinner.  We watched some shows we'd recorded and just relaxed.  There aren't many days that are that perfect, but Saturday turned out to be one of them.

As we were walking around on such a lovely day, it struck me that it was the same kind of day that it was here on September 11, 2001 - a little bit cool, very sunny, and the kind of day that made you smile and believe that nothing could go wrong.  And it made me think once again how lucky I am to be able to still be here, enjoying those kinds of days, when so many never had that privilege, through no fault of their own.

Birthday Recap

Well, it's two weeks after the fact, but I thought I'd share some pictures from my  birthday.  I had a really great one this year.  Even if people on Facebook were tired of hearing about it (courtesy of Carol, who counted down with several updates every day), I was happy to receive many happy wishes there, as well as here on the blog.

I took the day off for my birthday, as did The Tim.  But the day before, my co-workers surprised me with a little party of cookies, tea, and a pretty bouquet of tulips.  I just think that's so nice, especially since The Evil Boss gave me grief for wanting to take a day off for my birthday last year!

The morning of my birthday, The Tim bought us breakfast:

The sight of this box made me sooo happy!  Even more so when I looked inside:

Our plan for the day had depended on the weather: if it was a nice day, I wanted to go hiking; if it was a rainy day, I wanted to stay put and watch movies all day.  Well, it was a gorgeous day - if a little too warm for me - and we packed ourselves and Dug into the car, and headed to Pennypack Park, in northeast Philadelphia.  It's a huge place, with horse trails, picnic areas, etc., and we followed a combination of one of the horse and hiking trails.

Hard to believe that less than 1/2 mile from here is a major traffic major artery of the city:

Dug encountered some honking geese (I think they were warning others of a DOG and PEOPLE!), and found it quite intriguing:

You may notice that Dug's leash looks like a piece of rope.  That's because it is ... we spent all kinds of time getting organized, attaching poop bags to his leash, and other related things.  When we got out of the car, we realized we forgot the leash altogether!  Fortunately, there was a length of rope in the trunk of the car, and Dug is not really rambunctious on the leash.  But still ...

We saw some people riding horses.  Dug didn't seem too interested (actually, he was more interested in what the horses left behind, if you know what I mean), and the horses kind of gave him a look as if to say, "What a shrimp!"

We took each others' pictures with our pup:

And after about 2 hours, we headed home to take a break before going out to dinner.  After dinner, we had cake, ice cream, and presents, including a skein of Bridget sock yarn, and this book.

The next day I had a couple of doctor's appts, and that Friday we headed to West Virginia to get together with the family for St. Patrick's Day, so it was a fun and especially nice birthday week!  With all of that, and your wishes, I really think that this birthday was particularly great.

Though I am of the belief that birthdays in general are always great.  They certainly are better than the alternative, as far as I'm concerned ...