#15 French Creek State Park

So, I know. I'm a little behind, but there's no time like the present to catch up, right?

Andy and I went to our 15th state park, French Creek State Park, for our annual 4th of July camping trip  this year. it was only about an hour and a half away from where we live, but it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere! The weather was predicted to be over 100 degrees that weekend, so we did our best to prepare for that, with lots of water, and bathing suits (since the park had a pool). 

we had a HUGE campsite that was nice and secluded (e.g., has trees/shrubs on both sides so you aren't right up against somebody else's tent).

We took a hike to Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site (which is completely surrounded by the park), and we happened to catch a casting demonstration and talk about the site, which was very important for Pennsylvania's iron heritage.

[I am pretty sure I took more photos than this, but sadly, I can't find them right now.]

But anyway, it was super hot that day, so after we finished our walk, we did head over the pool. The pool provided some relief, but there was a ton of people there, and the pool was really shallow, like only 2 feet deep, so it was warm and kind of gross. but cold water to drink was nice, and i worked on my color for the wedding. it was too hot to do mostly anything else. 

We had a horrible storm while we were there (that happened last year too), but this was so bad, we moved ourselves in our vehicle away from our campsite--the trees were swaying too much. we came back, and our bathroom had no electricity nor hot water. i took a freezing cold shower the next morning, but i needed to get clean. the electricity came back shortly afterwards.

we had a good weekend away--i had a tough time since i had just found out the day before that the train on my wedding dress had been cut off. my mind was elsewhere. but having no cell service helped i think. 

it was nice to spend some time together with my soon-to-be-husband. we had planned on doing some wedding related planning out in the woods, mostly that we were going to write our own vows and fine tune the ceremony. with the dress drama, i couldn't do anything wedding. and we never did write our own vows, and we did the ceremony fine tuning about a week before the wedding--talk about stressful!


French Creek was a nice park--yay for #15!

just can't contain myself!

so, yesterday, andy and i had plans to go for a hike at one of our favorite places and hopefully catch some of the fall colors turning. we've been crossing paths a lot recently with work and other commitments, so i'm glad we had set aside the day to do something for ourselves, and enjoy the outdoors. and it ended out being a beautiful summer-like day.

so the day started off with sleeping in and some chocolate chip pancakes. we got our stuff together for the hike and headed up to the Delaware Water Gap. we were doing my favorite hike, a place that andy and i had hiked on our first unofficial date back in June 2006, as i call it (which was in the rains that led to the 2006 flood of the Delaware River).

about halfway up

so the hike up Mt. Tammany is really steep on the way up, and its been ages since we've hiked there (especially when we were well conditioned to hiking all summer). we made it to the top for the spectacular view, which is also a great lunch spot. unfortunately there were stink bugs all over the place that were attacking, so we got up to head down the mountain. Andy asked me if there was another higher spot that we could get another view from the top, and I said i didn't think so, but i climbed on top of a rock that put me higher than anything else. Andy noticed that my shoes were untied, and said he would tie them for me.

Once he finished tying, he reached into his left pocket, got down on one knee, and said, "Well, I think this is a good time to propose... that I would like to spend the rest of my life hiking with you."

And I think that I was just so shocked and speechless that I don't even know what happened next, and we were sitting on the rock and he was putting this GORGEOUS rock on my finger.

and then this:

 

so i wore the ring down the mountain, holding andy's hand nearly the whole way. it just seems so surreal! i can't believe this really happened! this has just been a special place for andy and i. and as he pointed out that the Delaware River is really something that has joined us for multiple reasons, even being the border line separating the two states that we've come from and we meet in the middle.

i love this ring!! (almost as much as i love andy!)

so, no we don't have a date yet, we've got a lot to figure out, so we're just enjoying being really happy right now.

still can't even believe this is real!!

#14 Big Pocono State Park

Our plans for this weekend kept changing. We had planned to spend the weekend with the safety patrol, but changed our minds with the horrible thunderstorm rolling in Friday afternoon/evening. We did not feel like driving 3 hours, setting a tent up in a thunderstorm, and enduring a night of pouring rain (again) to find out the river would be higher than we would have liked. 

So, we stayed home Friday night and planned for our alternate weekend--knocking some more PA State Parks off our list. To make a long story short, our alternate weekend plan changed since it didn't rain up river, so we decided to stop at a new State Park on Saturday on the way up and go on river patrol on Sunday. 

Big Pocono State Park didn't require a full day because it's main attraction is the view. You're on top of Camelback Mountain (yes, of the famed Camelback Ski Area & CamelBeach)--which interestingly enough, the facilities of Big Pocono are maintained by the Camelback company.  Who knew that was possible? 


The pictures don't do it justice. It was beautiful. We could see for miles -- even all the way to the Delaware Water Gap. Andy likes how the clouds shade the world below. It definitely makes you feel so small!

view!

the Delaware Water Gap from Camelback Mountain

We then went on a 2.5 mile hike, looked at some more vistas and ate some wild blueberries. It was a good choice for the amount of time we had and where we were headed. We did pass by (within 5 miles!) of two other state parks. I was tempted, but knew we didn't have the time.  

mmm. wild blueberries!

 hope you had a good weekend!

#13 Promised Land State Park

It's been almost a YEAR since we added a new PA State Park to our list. I know, ridiculous. We really like camping on the 4th of July weekend, and it gives us a good excuse to check out a new park each year. 

We had chosen #13 as Promised Land SP (Greentown, PA, in the Poconos) as we had planned to camp with two other couples. We wanted to visit a park that was close to the other couples and that had activities that everybody would enjoy: hiking, boating, fishing. Well, the plan fizzled out (partially over the course of the weekend, due to work commitments and illness). So Andy and I camped on our own. 

there's our spaceship tent!

On Friday, we set up, got organized, and drove around the park to check out the different areas (day use beach, boat launches, trailheads, etc). It's a big park, so there was a lot to see just by car!

On Saturday, we went for a 3-4 mile hike in the AM. The first part was a mountain bike/hiking trail, and was VERY muddy. The next section of the hike was a horse/hiking trail (watch out for road apples!), which apparently is not used very often. We were essentially bushwhacking through trees, shrubs, ferns, and the occasional raspberry bush (read: thorns). There were a couple small stream crossings (less than 5 feet across), and then we reached this:

We had to cross this stream--no bridge, nothing. Good thing we were wearing our Chacos! Once we crossed the stream here, we were in the home stretch, and going past the waterfalls! I had carried my DSLR & tripod for 3 miles in anticipation and hadn't take it out once. Unfortuantely, the light was not good, so I didn't get any good pictures. It was beautiful though!


We headed back to our site, had some lunch, and was near ready to pass out. We decided to head to the day use area and lay down under the sun for a bit. Andy wanted to go fishing, so that was going to push dinner later, so we stopped at the unofficial camp store and got some ice cream! We got out our kayaks and fishing poles, and headed to the Lower Lake (that was where our campground was too--there are nearly 500 camping sites at this park!). We weren't catching any fish, so we decided to just paddle around. Yay kayaks!

We had a late dinner and headed to bed. Andy woke me up at 4:30am saying a storm was coming in and we should pack some things up. So we did, went to the bathroom (modern facilities just a little walk away! the tent sites were a little too close for comfort for me to use the great outdoors), and put our camp chairs in the car, and put a garbage bag around the stove. On the way back from the bathroom, I realized it was officially my BIRTHDAY!

The storm hit at around 6am and was one of the most intense thunder/lightning/rain storms I have ever been in [it did rival some good storms from my time at summer camp where we turned the picnic tables over to act as barricades from the rain]. I couldn't sleep because the rain was deafening. About two hours later the rain stopped. It drizzled on and off, but not stopping for enough time for me to decide to take my pj pants off. It started pouring again around 10:30am = time for nap. When we woke up around 12noon, the rain had stopped, and most of the campers around us had packed up and left!


We were meeting my parents for dinner at 5:30, but decided we should get ready early and find something to do indoors (like shopping!). We knew one of our favorite Poconos camping stores (Alice's Wonderland) was semi-near the park, somewhat out of the way of where we were going for dinner, but well worth a trip.

Unfortunately Alice's closed 30 minutes after we got there. Still some time to peruse the store. Luckily my parents were arriving early, so we met up with them at the Apple Valley Restaurant in Milford, PA and did some shopping around there. We had a delicious meal, and several hours together to enjoy each other's company. [My dad kept saying that he traveled over 1500 miles to be with me on my birthday] I think they were just happy to see me.

We headed back to our campsite, and the sun was out (finally!), but I wasn't yet ready to take my camera out to the waterfalls for fear another storm would start up. Even though the light was perfect. We had eaten too much food, so Andy and I walked nearly the entire campground, scoping out the RVs, pop-ups, and mansions tents.

across from our tent site

On Monday morning, I woke Andy up early because I needed to get my waterfall pictures. I think it was worth it!

We packed up our stuff, said goodbye to our site and headed home. We had a lot of washing & drying of gear to do. I thought vacations were supposed to be restful? :)

Hope you had a fabulous 4th of July weekend!

5 years ago: the story of us.

5 years ago today, i met the love of my life. i've decided to share with you the story of how we met:


i was studying abroad in the spring of 2006. i had tried desperately to get an job lined up for the summer prior to departing for ecuador, and even arranged for an interview at the place that sparked my interest in the outdoors. the short version: lack of communication on their part and other things falling through and then it was the end of April and i had no job for my return to the US in mid-May.


my mom and i began a frantic internet search for job opportunities. i emailed several places, most of which didn't respond, one of which offered me a job for summer '07 (which i ended out taking), and one who responded right away. the one who responded right away is where i ended up. 


andy's side of things: andy was required to complete two internships as part of his bachelor's degree in environmental ed. his cousin had worked at this environmental ed center years ago and recommended it. andy didn't have any other ideas lined up, so he went with this option.


training started while i was still abroad, so i was late coming in. most everyone else arrived on saturday or sunday with training starting on monday. i was just returning to the US after 4.5 months on sunday, so i shipped out on wednesday morning.


i joined the group (andy and the other 2 interns) who was learning how to teach "canoeing" classes. i had extensive experience with teaching canoeing and andy had extensive boating classes during his associate's degree program, so when our boss began asking us questions, andy and i were the only two answering the questions. (i thought he was 16 when i first saw him. he was actually 21).


it must have been fate. it's possible we could have never met, or our paths could have crossed (the original job i interviewed for that year would have put me within the same park boundaries as the env. ed center, and i could have gone through team building training with andy).

i'm so happy that things worked out for us, even though i fought the idea of us being a couple. i had just come out of a rough break-up (from a long-distance relationship), and i knew that andy and i would be long distance once the summer finished. but for some reason, i just couldn't let him go. and 5 years later, here we are :)

here are some photos to take you down the memory lane of us.

(if you read my previous blog, many of these are the same, but they just represent us so well!)

(something i just noticed, the progression of andy's hair!)

2006

July 2006 - my 21st birthday. i think this is our first picture together...

July 2006 - our first picture as an official couple

October 2006 - Boston Harbor, Boston, MA

December 2006 - New Years Eve, PA

2007

January 2007 - me learning how to use a .22, PA

December 2007 - New Years Eve, PA

2008

April 2008 - Fallingwater, Mill Run, PA

May 2008 - my graduation, Boston, MA

June 2008 - Siesta Key, FL

July 2008 - Mt. Tammany, NJ

2009

July 2009 - my sister's wedding rehearsal dinner, NJ

October 2009 - Halloween, Siesta Key, FL

2010

July 2010 - Allegheny National Forest, PA

August 2010 - Dingmans Ferry, PA

September 2010 - Watkins Glen, NY

 2011

January 2011 - The Alamo, San Antonio, TX

 

5 years ago: coming home.

This day, five years ago, I returned home from my semester abroad in Ecuador. Although I had the best time of my life, I was ready to return home after 4.5 months. 

I have many many memories and a list of things I did to rival any bucket list. Here's a small snippet:

- visited the Galapagos Islands

- lived in the Amazon Rainforest for 1 month

- went horseback riding in the Andes

- jumped off a 40 foot tall waterfall (i have no photo of me, but here's one of some random person at the same place)

- saw a Cock-of-the-Rock lek (group mating ritual of some brightly colored birds)

- saw 8 species of monkeys (among more wildlife than anyone could imagine)

- rode a bicycle on the Panamerican Highway 

- soaked in natural hot springs baths

- stood on two active volcanoes

- swam with sea lions, sea turtles, rays, and sharks

- saw Lonesome George

- got the worst sunburn of my life
- saw many sunrises and sunsets

- caught bats, raised baby turtles, studied fiddler crabs, measured and counted hermit crabs, among several other research projects (e.g., schoolwork)

- traveled via plane, train (on the roof), bus, and boat

- rode in the bed of many a truck

- lived with a host family, where my host mother did not speak any English

- oh yeah, and that earned me 18 college credits.

here are some photos to continue the trip down memory lane.

getting ready to leave. i brought all that stuff.

my host sister and I

my first full day in Ecuador. at the Equator.

BU Tropical Ecology Program 2006

at 13,500 feet elevation

me at 14,700 feet on Cotopaxi Volcano (one of the highest active volcanoes in the world)

this is class.

awkward foot wash station.

me & a land iguana in the Galapagos

i have a bat in my hand.

on the Rio Tiputini (this is the only way to get to and from our research station)

canopy walkway up 100ft in the air

riding on top of a train to El Nariz del Diablo

at nearly 12,000 feet at Podocarpus National Park (I'm smiling because this is before I thought we were lost and were not going to survive)

at the best known Inca ruins in Ecuador, Ingapirca

this is our professor.

my parents even came to visit! this is the REAL Equator.

i have to mention the other item for this day. although May 14th was the 'last day of the semester,' some members of our group stayed to continue traveling. one of our group, Meghan Sennott, was traveling in Peru on an overnight bus trip, and the bus went off the side of a mountain in the Andes. Thirteen people, including Meghan, were killed in the crash. 

Our group was only 14 students, 1 TA, and 1 professor. I found out via email two days after it happened. I had messages from our TA, our professor, and our program administrator in Ecuador. it hit hard, as it could have been any or all of us. we spent a lot of time in buses, speeding around blind corners on dirt roads with no guardrails in the Andes.


i had been happy to be home, and at that point, i was just glad i was able to come home. it still was a great semester, but my return to the US and the end of the trip still is bittersweet.