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I visited my boyfriend up in Pennsylvania for a few days before I headed to Northern Virginia to start my grown-up life. So it was a bit of childhood fun before I left.
I almost didn't make it though. To cut down on traveling (and money), I decided to fly from Birmingham (an airport with 15 gates) to Scranton (an airport with also not many gates). It was fine and dandy until an hour-and-a-half ground delay into Charlotte due to thunderstorms. We made it to Charlotte, two minutes after my Scranton flight left. Instead, I ran to get onto a Harrisburg flight (thankfully, Alex lives pretty much between the two, and there was enough time to call and have him change his plans).
So, after an adventurous trip there, had to have an adventurous time too, right?
We started on Sunday with a family reunion.
Monday dawned drizzly (as predicted), so Alex and I drove an impressive trip through central PA. We hit a few of his favorite state parks, as well as the cheapest diner I've ever been to for breakfast. They also served scrapple, a food that I had never eaten until going to Montour County.
Tuesday was much nicer than planned, which meant that our afternoon at Knoebel's, "America's Best Theme Park", was remarkably pleasant. It was only slightly chilly on the log flume, but wonderfully breezy on the flier (where you could control the height with a fin on the plane!)
That night was the Montour-DeLong County Fair Pie and Cake Auction, where I finagled some Hersey bar brownies for a steal at $2. There was also a tractor pull, with a hillside full of spectators.
Wednesday, we had to pack in everything that was left. First was the Falls Hike, with an amazing amount of amazing waterfalls. Next was a stop at the Mennonite store for a shoo fly pie. It was a notable event, since I didn't know shoo fly pies existed until a month ago. (Then I ate a piece of the molasses deliciousness.)
We spent the remainder of the afternoon at a local lake, kayaking. I still have the blister to prove it. Two deer, a few herons, three turtles, and a raptor catching a fish proved that it indeed housed nature. (Then, when we got back, I ate another piece of pie.)
My final Pennsylvania experience was going out for some good ole bluegrass. Anyone who brought an instrument could play, and I recognized some of the songs as hymns. Drinking the Yuengling Lager, too.
On Thursday, we drove to my grandparent's house outside D.C. Goodbye, my former state home! Hello, new home, Virginia.
The time has been filled with a bunch of events since my mom, sister, and I got back from Europe. The day after we got back (to the East Coast, mind you), we drove down to North Carolina for a cousin's wedding, where we met up with Dad and Deanne who drove up after flying into Atlanta. The next day (Saturday) was the wedding.
It was at a beautiful plantation house an hour from our hotel. The service lasted only ten minutes or so, but the rest of the evening was a fun get-together with family. A lot of this family I'm going to be much closer to now, so it was fun to reconnect and realize that I could see them more often.
The wedding was on a hot (though not quite oppressively so) evening, so we dipped our feet in the pool before dancing. The photographer when in up to his chest to get the picture he wanted, so he was already wet when he waded into the knee-deep fountain nearby. Soon, four of us cousins were splashing around in there too.
The next day, we set off for Georgia. Val and I got dropped off at the condo. Deanne got taken to the airport. We made tacos.
The following days have been making our own excitement in a condo in rural Georgia. We bought a peck of peaches (yum). We have a puzzle out. We went to the Bavarian Village of Helen. We climbed up and down Tullulah Gorge. We made dinner. It's the right kind of vacation.
And today's adventure to the gorge was pretty awesome. We didn't know that there was a sliding rock waterfall at the end of the trail, but when we got there, we jumped in despite our lack of swimsuits. It was super slippery (guess that's why they call it a sliding rock) so Dad and I have little scrapes and awesome memories.
