Morning laps are the best
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Mileage: 1,020
Music: Regina Spektor
We left Macungie around noon, after enjoying some fried tomatoes prepared by Richie and grown by their neighbor, Curley (the chicken farmer.) A few hours of driving through the absolutely gorgeous mountain scenery put us right in the middle of the state at Greenwood Furnace State Park. We weren't originally planning to camp in central PA, but we were both ready to do some country hiking because our itinerary while we're still in the East is full of cities; in fact, we probably won't be one with nature again until somewhere after St. Louis.
Alina was unusually excited about the prospect of breaking out her fanny pack for the hike. (Please note the 2 water bottle attachments!)
We had a great time at Greenwood Furnace. After reserving our camp site and eating a quick lunch of tomato and cheese sandwiches we embarked upon our hike. The weather and scenery were both beautiful, so much so that we just strolled right by a bend in the path and had to backtrack to get back on the real trail, which then took a definite turn for the verticle. After climbing for a good bit we were rewarded with quite a stunning view of the surrounding countryside.
The view and me
Purdy
We continued on our hike from the overlook down an old logging shoot, used to slide lumber down the side of the mountains before this became state forest. We practically slid to the bottom and made it back to camp with just enough time to gather firewood and set up the tent before dark.
The next morning we slept in until 10, despite having gone to bed relatively early. We were planning on swimming in the nearby lake in the morning, but figured we should skip this so that we could make it to Pittsburgh in time to see some of the city. The drive was again extremely scenic, following Rt. 22 the whole way along Pennsylvania's Heritage Route, about which we know nothing but which seemed like the thing to do when on a road trip. We arrived in Pittsburgh right as rush hour was beginning to set in. And so after driving around the downtown area for a while and finding no parking that wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg (or get us towed) we decided to just go meet Alana and Brianne outside of the city. They are friends of ours from William and Mary who grew up in this area. We are staying with them on the farm that they are house sitting. This place is incredible: a huge house, guest house, stables, a pool, and a gorgeous stretch of property. So instead of driving back into Pittsburgh to be tourists we just relaxed here. I did some laps in the pool and by the time I got out Alana was home from work. Since she had worked two jobs that day we thought it best to just stay in and rent a movie. We rented Everything is Illuminated, which we'd all been meaning to see for a long time and I enjoyed. (Note from Alina: Mom and Dad, if you haven't seen it yet, you should. It seems like your kind of flick.) After that it was bedtime. Now we're just gearing up for a full day of touring Pittsburgh with Brianne before heading out to my Great Uncle Bob's in Ohio. Sorry for the pretty bland post, hopefully next time we'll have some crazy stories...but most likely we'll just tell you what we ate in Ohio.
Beautiful house we're staying in (plus the two dogs that are so ugly that they're cute.)
-Paul
Mileage: 1,020
Music: Regina Spektor
We left Macungie around noon, after enjoying some fried tomatoes prepared by Richie and grown by their neighbor, Curley (the chicken farmer.) A few hours of driving through the absolutely gorgeous mountain scenery put us right in the middle of the state at Greenwood Furnace State Park. We weren't originally planning to camp in central PA, but we were both ready to do some country hiking because our itinerary while we're still in the East is full of cities; in fact, we probably won't be one with nature again until somewhere after St. Louis.
Alina was unusually excited about the prospect of breaking out her fanny pack for the hike. (Please note the 2 water bottle attachments!)We had a great time at Greenwood Furnace. After reserving our camp site and eating a quick lunch of tomato and cheese sandwiches we embarked upon our hike. The weather and scenery were both beautiful, so much so that we just strolled right by a bend in the path and had to backtrack to get back on the real trail, which then took a definite turn for the verticle. After climbing for a good bit we were rewarded with quite a stunning view of the surrounding countryside.
The view and me
PurdyWe continued on our hike from the overlook down an old logging shoot, used to slide lumber down the side of the mountains before this became state forest. We practically slid to the bottom and made it back to camp with just enough time to gather firewood and set up the tent before dark.
The next morning we slept in until 10, despite having gone to bed relatively early. We were planning on swimming in the nearby lake in the morning, but figured we should skip this so that we could make it to Pittsburgh in time to see some of the city. The drive was again extremely scenic, following Rt. 22 the whole way along Pennsylvania's Heritage Route, about which we know nothing but which seemed like the thing to do when on a road trip. We arrived in Pittsburgh right as rush hour was beginning to set in. And so after driving around the downtown area for a while and finding no parking that wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg (or get us towed) we decided to just go meet Alana and Brianne outside of the city. They are friends of ours from William and Mary who grew up in this area. We are staying with them on the farm that they are house sitting. This place is incredible: a huge house, guest house, stables, a pool, and a gorgeous stretch of property. So instead of driving back into Pittsburgh to be tourists we just relaxed here. I did some laps in the pool and by the time I got out Alana was home from work. Since she had worked two jobs that day we thought it best to just stay in and rent a movie. We rented Everything is Illuminated, which we'd all been meaning to see for a long time and I enjoyed. (Note from Alina: Mom and Dad, if you haven't seen it yet, you should. It seems like your kind of flick.) After that it was bedtime. Now we're just gearing up for a full day of touring Pittsburgh with Brianne before heading out to my Great Uncle Bob's in Ohio. Sorry for the pretty bland post, hopefully next time we'll have some crazy stories...but most likely we'll just tell you what we ate in Ohio.
Beautiful house we're staying in (plus the two dogs that are so ugly that they're cute.)-Paul
posted by Paul at 10:10 AM
2 Comments:
I just bought Everything is Illuminated from amazon.com last night because I heard it was about Ukraine!
We did enjoy the flick and thought that you should see the movie, particularly the scene in the restaurant where he orders a vegetarian movie. Hope Turkey isn't like that!!!
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