Camping Trip, Day 3

On our way in, we had passed signs for the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. By the third day of our trip, we had to see what this was all about. 


We typed in "PA Grand Canyon" in my GPS. My GPS is Australian and her name is Karen. Karen instructed us to go down a hilly gravel road which was most certainly not the tourism-approved route. I bet the locals there on that road really hate Garmin for messing up their peace and quiet just because their road is technically faster. We did eventually get to the Canyon, which is in Leonard Harrison State Park.  The official name of it is "Pine Creek Gorge," but I have a feeling the marketing folks did not like that so much.


Did the PA Grand Canyon live up to my expectations? Well, no. It is a gorge covered in trees. It is not an epic 7th Wonder of the World. I don't know who Pennsylvania is kidding. I suggest "PA Minor Canyon" or "Junior Canyon" or "Canyon in Training." That being said, it is a scenic view that you can get at least 20 minutes "Look, things that are far away" viewing out of, and the hikes around the canyon are worth doing. 


Views from the top: 

From the top, the trailhead for the Turkey Path begins. Spoiler alert: We saw no turkeys. That would have been a trip. Grand Canyon WITH TURKEYS!

The Turkey Path goes right down the gorge, passing by a series of waterfalls along the way. I bet if water knew how amused people were by it falling down rocks, it would start charging, but luckily water is pretty clueless.

Pine Creek up close: 

Later in the evening, we went to a dark sky (astronomy) park called Cherry Springs. It is at the top of a mountain far from any city and promises spectacular views of the night sky. 


Except for that pesky full moon, they might have been right. 


The lunar timing being not so great, the full moon light up the entire sky and drowned out a lot of the stars we might have seen. Granted, we did get some pretty good looks at the craters and valleys on the moon. I was amazed by just how bright the darned thing is. I really have not seen anything that compares to this view of the moon. It was as though someone had stuck a street lamp in the middle of the woods. I could see my shadow in the middle of the night. 


These photos by Chelsea give you an idea of how bright the moon was out here: 











If it happens again when we want to see the stars, we will go up into space and cover the moon with thick black fur. Problem solved. 


That sums up our camping trip - I hope you enjoyed the recap and the pictures. Stay tuned for tomorrow's bonus camping recipe: Crazy Vegetable Madness! 

Camping Trip, Day 2

The rains continued. The power was out. You would think this would not have affected us... 

But this campground had "environmentally friendly" power-operated sensor faucets and composting toilets. And when the compost ventilation is out...well, the environment is not so friendly.

Cooking being out of the question in this storm, we frantically ran to get in my car so we could go to downtown Galeton. The main event there is a gas station with pet ducks. I took this picture so you could benefit from seeing how cute they are. 

It was in Galeton that we discovered what is our opinion, the best chain-restaurant pizza on the East Coast: Pudgie's Pizza! The sauce, the dough, the cheese, the toppings - there was nothing that we didn't like about this pie. So hats of to you, Mr. Pudgie, you sure do know how to make a pizza that we are not ashamed to eat even though Not Grilling is Against the Rules of Camping According to Somebody. 

Later that day, after the rain decided it had had enough, we took a hike around the campground down to the lake. We stopped once we got to the dock at the lake. We looked at birds through the binoculars and watched the clouds go by. It was just what I needed.


Amazing shots by Chelsea:

Camping Trip, Day 1

I recently went camping in Pennsylvania with some friends, Chelsea and Josh. Did you know there is a Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania? Neither did I until this trip.


Josh and I had driven up from DC to Chelsea's apartment near Philly the night before. With all of our gear packed up - an impressive feat for my little car - we set out on a camping adventure. 

A few hours and only a few wrong turns later, we arrived at Lyman Run State Park in Galeton, PA. 

No sooner had we set up our tent when the rains came rolling in. We zipped ourselves in for a crazy game of Scrabble, with some punch and individually wrapped cheese product slices. 

It's the milk chocolate...or is it?

The highlight of this past weekend was visiting Hershey Park with my boyfriend. We usually make a trip about once or twice a summer to a local amusement park. If you're not familiar with Hershey Park, it is 2-3 hours north of the DC area. They have a few wooden roller coasters, some modern "why am I getting on this"-scary coasters, and a water park. They also have Chocolate World, home of some unnervingly sassy animatronic cows.

Likes:
My favorite ride there is the Storm Runner. This roller coaster starts off with a burst of speed into a 90 degree drop instead of a painstaking climb. The effect is quite thrilling when it's dark and you can't see. It is so good it will make your head hurt afterwards.

Dislikes:
The water park is not worth going to. The storage lockers are an exorbitant $10, the rides are not that entertaining, and the lines are stab-me-in-the-eye-with-a-rusty-spoon long.  By the time we got on one ride, our teeth were chattering, and I was no longer amused.