Pa Grand Canyon

Darn - I wish I didn't keep forgetting the photos on the blog load in reverse! I was going for the drama of looking at the canyon from the top down ! OH well - this first picture is the kids and I at the bottom of the waterfall at the bottom of the trail.

No watches.
No phone -land line or cell service. ( you should have seen the kid's faces when there was no phone in the room! - not sure who they thought would call.)
We didn't turn on the tv once.
We spent the weekend in Wellsboro, Pa. Central Pa.

To sound totally cliche - God's Country. But when you see, you know why they say it. Photos do not do this scenery justice. And to think - only four hours away! I have been told we camped here when I was little. I have no recollection - except when I saw a carved cedar box at a gift shop that was exactly like one that sat on the headboard of my parent's bed for years.- Man , that was deja vu at it's finest.
I was so excited for Jim and the kids to realize that there are other places to vacation than the beach. And - they had fun to boot!

This shot is Jim relaxing when we got to the bottom. This is the Pine Creek that runs through the bottom of the "canyon" - otherwise known as Pine Creek Gorge. Isn't he handsome? Did I say that out loud?


We started the weekend off leaving early friday morning. Unfortunately - or what wound up to be a fun afternoon - depending how you look at it, by the time we arrived Friday, the down pours started. But we had discovered a week earlier that the parent's of our dear friends have a camper parked in a camp ground not 30 min from where we were going to be! Right before the rain started, we had decided to stop to see if they had arrived yet. Wound up spending a relaxing afternoon with the kids playing between the rain drops and running aroung the campground. These are the vacations of my youth. We camped. Tent camped. Not "we have electric and water" camped. If we couldn't camp, we didn't go. And we had fun doing it! Spent our days splashing in the creek or hiking in the woods. We also spent time at my grandfather's hunting cabin in Central Pa. I attribute my love for the outdoors and fresh air to those weeks spent outside in the mountains as a kid.
It was so nice to come as close to sharing that with my kids as Jim would allow. (Jim does not do the camping thing.)

Saturday we hit the proverbial trail. Headed off to see the infamous Turkey Path. The only path in the canyon that goes straight (well in relative terms) down to the bottom on the canyon. One mile down and straight back up. Waterfalls, and the Pine Creek at the bottom. To tell you it was gorgeous, doesn't even come close. You should have seen the look on the kids faces when we told them we were going down there! They loved it. The steepest path we have ever done. We took time to skip rocks in the creek when we got there. Seems the kids couldn't get enough of that this weekend. We spent a lot of time at our lodge skipping rocks in the creek also.
Getting down the Turkey Path was the easy part! Up - proved to challenge us. But we all made it and very few complaints to boot!!
We spent the afternoon at the small local zoo, then panning for gold, shopping, snacking....we ate at a few wonderful little places along the way. Sat around the campfire all night. Ate s'mores. A great Rattlesnack festival was in full swing so we were treated to fireworks as well! This is a tradition in the area, folks go out every morning to catch the biggest rattlers than can find, they are measred and the longest gets a prize. They are displayed all day then released where they were found. Let's just say I am tremendously happy that we didn't see them until AFTER we hiked. The longest was like 25 ft. Oy.

I am sure I have forgotten something. It was such a great family weekend. If you ever get the chance to visit. Please do! Highly recommend the Rough Cut Lodge. A bit out of town but worth the ride. www.roughcutlodge.com We had running water and electric! Next time Chris will have a fishing rod and we are going to rent a canoe, go horseback riding and ride the local train.