Saturday, August 26, 2006

Fishing and More Knoebels

The weather was overcast, but after breakfast, we all went over to the lake and practiced casting. I’d call it fishing, but that would actually involve seeing some fish! We still had fun. After a while, the girls headed to the playground as I cleaned the black streaks off RoadAbode and did some other maintenance items.
We caught the 4:30p shuttle over to do the last few things we wanted to do @ Knoebels The Skylift, Perogies, and Funnel Cake. Also finally found the 'elusive' blue birch beer!
We headed back at 6:30 - having enjoyed the last of the Park.











Friday, August 25, 2006

Fun Friday @ Knoebels

Overnight it rained, and it continued off and on as we got ready for the 10:30am shuttle. I also started out with sneezing, itchy throat, and running nose – not a good start to the day. But Amy fed me some Tylenol and Sudafed. It helped me out, the weather cleared, and we had a great day taking the girls around to their favorite rides. Granny decided to do hang back and do some organizing of some pictures and paperwork. We planned to meet for dinner @ the park diner – called the Alamo. Granny would take a later shuttle over.

Some of the rides the girls were able to ride were old favorites, like the Phantom cars, and Antique Cars – kind of large slot cards the girls could drive. The power boats and “The Whip” were also favorites.
When Granny arrived, we headed over for an early dinner – which everyone enjoyed. Toward the end, my meds started wearing off - and I was 'sneezing and wheezing' every few feet. I was feeling pretty worn out.
We headed back to Lake Glory around 6:30pm – and settled in for an old video the girls had not watched for a while – “Beethoven”







Thursday, August 24, 2006

Lake Glory & Knoebel's for the weekend

This weekend we are traveling to Central PA - Elysburg PA to go to Knoebels Amusement Park. Knoebel's is a great family place - Great mix of rides, great food, reasonable prices, and best of all, you can just walk around without having to pay an enterance fee - which is great for grandparents. So granny has joined us for this escapade.
The ride up for the first part was easy - started late. Got a few cell calls from work - walked people thru some troubleshooting steps - worked out ok.
We had lunch at Arby's where the Northeast Extention (Rt 476) meets Route 80 in the Poconos - had a good lunch and continued on 80 and ran into some traffic. Took a little longer than planned to get to Lake Glory.
Once we arrived, the park is nice - not great - but has some great areas within. The Lake is nice, the playground needs some repair, and the campstore is pretty small. Also the promised shuttle is a 15 passenger van, adequate, but not a "shuttle". Tommorrow and rest of the weekend we get a "cheese" bus - schoolbus. Seems their regular shuttle is in the shop. Customer service lessons would maybe be in order for the drivers too.
We went to the park for a few hours, and had some dinner - then headed back to the campground. Emily and I took a nice walk around the lake, and along the stream. Perhaps we can try fishing tomorrow.
No cable - so we played some card games and called it an early night. Getting pretty cool right now - under 75

Monday, August 07, 2006

Crystal Cave!

Crystal Cave had been a place I had gone with Oma, Opa, & Frank when I was little - and because of the stories I told the girls, they wanted to visit too. Since we were close (30 minutes!) and Kevin & Leann had no interest in going, we saved this for our trip home.
We did the Last bit of Packing, Then drove down to a flat area by the lake to hitch up RoadToad. After a few false reading, got EvenBrake to respond - and we were off. The roads to Crystal Cave were smaller, and we made one wrong turn on the way - but were fortunate there was a turn-around for tractor-trailers a 1/4 mile down (go figure). The roads wound thru the countryside, following various creeks and rivers. and very wooded - serene and pretty.
When we finally got to the entrace of Crystal Cave, there was plenty of parking for our 40+ feet of RoadAbode/RoadToad combo.
The outside of the Inn, store and cave entrance were about how I remember it, but the facilities themselves I was pleasantly surprised by - everything was pretty well kept.
The cave tour was starting right away (the next would have been 20-30 min later) so we bought tix and headed up the path to the cave entrance.

We first saw a movie/slideshow about the history of the cave and how the geology of the area affected it's creation. Then we were given a tour by a young lady - She did a great job - with just the right mix of information, both in human history and geology - and a bit of humor.
After our tour, we enjoyed a homestyle lunch of Perogies and our choice of chicken or hamburger. All very well made and tasty.
We did a little shopping, stopped in the "museum" and then headed out. All-in-all a pretty cool place to visit!
On the way out, I missed a turn, and ended up going the wrong way for a few miles. But Amy got us back on course, and we were able to see some great countryside in the process!
Rest of the trip was pretty uneventful - which is a good thing.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Checking out a Flea Market

We all headed out after breakfast without an idea where to go. We stopped into the office and after checking a few options - we all decided to head out to a Flea Market that occurs every 2nd & 4th Sunday. Again, it was only about 30 minute ride from the campground. It was a huge area, some under cover, others in the large parking lot. Kevin & Leann picked up a few movies for their Disney collection they are starting for Kyla. The girls picked up some cool "stretchy" shirts for beachwear. We also picked up Tomatoes and fruit for our late lunch.
After walking around, we headed back, and everyone went for a swim. The pool was a little less crowded today.
Before the headed back, Kevin, Leann, & Kyle had a late lunch with us of Chicken, Fresh baked biscuits, rice and Tomatoes. Kyla even tried a little rice.
Goodbyes were said, and our guests headed home.
Time for some ice cream cones!

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Hawk Mountain & Cabela's

Used the air last night – was a bit humid. Got up around 8am, and Amy and I hit the showers. I went first – and discovered that the showers were not as nice as even some State Parks. Moldy shower curtains, antiquated, worn fixtures, and no where (except 2 small hooks) to put clothing, towel or supplies, no bench or shelf. Amy’s ‘shower report’ was not much better. We will use RoadAbode’s from here on in.
After showers, got the girls and ourselves breakfast – choice of omelet, pancakes, or French toast. Right before 10am, our guests arrived. After a few hellos and talk about the trip up – and the girls cooing over Kyla, (she’s a cutie!) Kevin suggested going up to Hawk Mountain. The day was perfect for it – clear skies and the humidity had definitely dropped. Amy checked at the office for ‘shortcut directions’ and we were off. It took less than 30 minutes to get there, and that was with a short stop to pick up sandwiches along the way.
I’m so glad Kevin recommended the Hike! The hike was mostly shaded, which was good, and most of the hike was not hard at all, but gave us beautiful glimpses of the valley.
We had lunch at North Lookout, which gave us a 180 degree view from an elevation of 1521 feet. After our hike we stopped back at the visitor’s center and enjoyed the artwork there that is inspired by various raptors. Our Next Stop was Cabela’s, Camping and Outdoor Outfitters. This place was also really neat, with displays of mounted animals in pseudo natural settings. We saw everything from squirrel to moose to elephant. We also saw fresh water fish tanks, which had bass, catfish trout and even salmon swimming around.
After our trek out, everyone was in the mood for a swim. Uncle Kevin, Aunt Leann, Kyla and the girls headed to the pool first, while Amy & I jumped back in RoadToad in search of fresh corn. We found a produce stand a few miles up route 143. While there, we also picked up a small basket of peaches (yellow not white)
Once back we followed up with everyone else in the pool. Well, it seemed like everyone else in the entire campground anyway. The girls still enjoyed the dip though.
Dinner was Jack’s Pulled Pork, corn, potato bread, and a mix of refreshing watermelon, cantaloupe, and peaches. After cleaning up from dinner, we took a walk down to the office and stood in line for some ice-cream (not as easy to pickup as last night) for about 20 minutes – and the servings were smaller to boot.
We walked back to RoadAbode enjoying our cold treats. Next on our relaxing evening was a campfire, sharing pistachios, and talking about the days events.
Bedtime came around pretty quickly, and our guests got the rear bedroom, Amy bunked with the girls, and I took the jackknife sofa. Nice sleeping weather!

Friday, August 04, 2006

Trip to Robin Hill

By 10am, packed up and was on the road to RoadAbode. We connected RoadToad and were on our way to Robin Hill, in the Reading area. The girls enjoyed watching Piglets Big Movie. The ride was short, even with a stop to enjoy some Stuffed Crust Pizza @ Pizza Hut. We pulled in early to the campground, but had to wait a good bit because a church group was checking in before us. While the girls checked in at the office, I unhooked RoadToad so she was ready when they came back.
We followed the direction from the office, circled around and went up the hill to our site. The site is at the end of a loop, nice and wide, but not exactly level. Even with all our Leveling blocks, we are still a little “off” – not bad though.
The girls wanted to take a dip in the pool, and I hung back to put up the screen room. Was first time I did it myself, and it went together pretty quickly. When the girls got back from their swim, we finished setting up camp and decided to go exploring.
We took a walk around, visited the camp store, the pond, and playground. Some of the buildings and equipment look a bit worn, and the camp store has perhaps 3 or 4 of each thing on the shelves – not bare, but close. One thing we all enjoyed was the soft serve ice-cream cones that you could have a flavor swirled thru – really huge for a small, and tasty!
We walked past the pond - lots of geese – and the water looks like it has a film on top – do see some fish though. As we walk the lower loops we saw some newer cabins by the pond – looked really nice, and even had central air units. But the gravel roads could use regrading, and the landscaping could use some work. So they are trying some capital improvements, but they need to care for other smaller issues as well.
Back to RoadAbode we headed, enjoyed some TV, and went to bed. Tomorrow, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Leann, and Kyla come to visit!