On this day we drove southwest of Lake Henry. We took I-80 west to the Lehigh River. Once off the interstate, we drove though parts of Hickory Run State Park. This park was just as well kept as the other state parks and was really pretty. We walked around the lake area some and snapped these pics.
As you can see there is a lot of natural beauty in this area. (Julian took that last photo, could you guess?)
We more or less followed the river south into Lehigh Gorge State Park. Our GPS led us astray so we never really got close to the river until we arrived in Jim Thorpe. Along the way, we stopped at a couple of rafting companies in hopes of finding an activity to share with our neighbors when they are here next week. (We got lots of information but made no decisions.)
We finally did get access to the river, but weren't overly impressed. They run a train trip up the gorge and I'm guessing that's the best way to see the beauty of the river gorge. Here's a look at the Lehigh River.
We went into the town of Jim Thorpe and walked around the shopping area. It has a very Mediterranean feel.
On another day, we headed west to Tunkhannock. The drive there and back was beautiful. This was billed as the "Gateway to the Endless Mountains". Online, the 3-mile scenic highway information said to allow two days for the visit. After missing whatever we were supposed to see on the road, we stopped in town and talked to the lady at the tourist information station. She told us how to get to the park along the Susquehanna River. It was a nice park, but not outstanding. I can't for the life of me figure out how to spend two days here. But that's just me.
So we drove back down into Scranton (also a beautiful drive) and had lunch at a favorite Mexican restaurant we found with the help of our boss's son. We had a good day, even though the target destination wasn't what we expected.
Last weekend, we had two people from a local animal sanctuary bring out some animals for everyone to see and learn about. Look at this owl!
And who would really want to get this close to a skunk. He had been rescued AND de-scented.
And then we learned that possums don't "play" dead when faced with danger. They litterally pass out for about 10 minutes. I did not know that.
There was a pretty good turn out for this activity, kids and adults alike. The handlers were very good and explained the best policies when confronted with any wildlife. It was very interesting.
Then on Monday we took another drive and made a large loop to the southeast and the Delaware Water Gap. The Delaware River serves as the dividing line between PA and New Jersey and also between PA and New York.
We stopped at a couple of rafting companies looking for more information about trips on this river. After talking to the last people, we drove across the river into Port Jervis, NY... mostly just to say we did.
We didn't take any pictures. We found it difficult to actually get access to the river in spite of the large amount of land that is designated as National Recreation Area. But again, the drive was all very beautiful.
As I write this, our friends are in Gettysburg, PA, probably touring the battle grounds. They will arrive here tomorrow and we are SO looking forward to familiar faces. Julian should have his work out of the way before they arrive, but I'll be doing store duty pretty much as usual, which is fine. We'll send our friends to Bushkill Falls (see earlier post) on the day I work seven hours. Then we'll be able to enjoy the week together. Check back to see what all we do together!
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