Another nice day for a ride

We can't believe how nice this summer weather has been.

George and I again took advantage of the beautiful, sunny day.

Loaded the bikes on the back of the truck, and headed up to Wilkes-Barre

to Kirby Park.

We've ridden from here to the other side of the river.

Today, however, we rode on the Wilkes-Barre side.

We rode across the Market street bridge, which spans the 

Susquehanna river.

The levee was built to protect the city from flooding

when the river rises above flood stage.

The city made asphalt walking/riding trails along the tops

of the levees.

The river is low this time of year. 

We haven't had a lot of rain this summer.

We rode along the river through Wilkes-Barre

south to Plymouth.

Went under the railroad bridge

which the Delaware & Hudson line uses.

Unfortunately, the levee also runs right next to

the sewer plant...phew!!

Funny thing...tons of corn growing right next to it! 

Hmmmm...

We stopped on the way back to rest on one of 

the many benches they have on the levee.

I took a look at the river from there, 

and could see one of the many bridges..

We made our way back to the Market street bridge again

and crossed over to the courthouse.

It is one of the nicest older buildings in

the city of Wilkes-Barre.

There were some nice flower beds

still in bloom.

We rode more than 12 miles round trip.

It was a great workout..deserving...

Ice cream :)

One of our favorite places is

Cold Stone Creamery.

George couldn't wait!

That will be good for awhile..

there are WAY too many calories

in one of their creations..

Mauch Chunk Lake

We are not too far from the beautiful little mountain town of Jim Thorpe. The original name of the town was 'Mauch Chunk' which in an Indian name that means 'bear mountain'. In 1953 the town council decided to rename the town 'Jim Thorpe' after the olympic medalist. He had never been there, but they figured his name would help boost tourism. Sheesh.

Anyway...above the little town is a beautiful park. 

 With a beautiful lake.

We took the Sea Eagle out for a spin. 

It was a nice day, but just a tad cloudy,

which makes the pictures a bit flat.

They have a great boat launch, 

made it easy to get in and out of the boat.

It always draws a few people watching us as we blow 

the boat up. I didn't take pictures this time.

We think we sold another one though..

we should get commission :)

We spent a couple hours on the lake.

This time we didn't pack a lunch,

but skipped so we could save

room for our ice cream.

This time we stopped at BeanHead's

a coffee-ice cream-latte

shop in Jim Thorpe.

It's right across from the

Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway.

The ice cream we had this trip

was the best we've had so far!

Coconut almond fudge.

Yum!

Summer is winding down...

not too many Sea Eagle weekends left!

Wine tasting at the Summerfest

Today we took a ride down to 

Klingerstown, PA to Benigna's Creek winery

for their annual summerfest. 

They make some pretty good wines.

There were also some other wineries there, along with craft & food booths.

One of the things we did was

take a ride through the vineyards via

horse-drawn carriages.

George bought some wine...

Of course we ate some good food!

We had a great time, and brought home quite 

a few more bottles of wine for our collection!

Wii night

I had planned on coming home from work, working out, eating dinner, then relaxing. Work kept me there until over 6 pm with computer/server issues..so there ya go. I suggested to George that we 'exercise' with some Wii games instead.

George got me a Wii last year, and we love it.

I use it to work out, play games, all kinds of activity. 

It'll be great in the RV.

So tonight we played a bit of the canoeing, then frisbee golf.

George has trouble with it a bit because he's a lefty. 

I'm not that great at this one either :)

On the Wii, you create a 'Mii' with characteristics...

Is it me, or is this Mii George or what? :)

Mine isn't that flattering..I need someone else to create mine :)

I guess we need a bit more practice!

Frances Slocum State Park

Today we loaded up the Sea Eagle and took off for the park. 

It is named for a girl who was kidnapped by indians in 1778 when she was only 5 years old.

There is a handy boat launch that we were able to back down with my car.

Didn't take us too long to pump up the seats & boat.

Had no trouble getting into the boat from the dock.

Few minutes and we had a good rhythm paddling.

The only problem is taking pictures of each other in the boat

makes for interesting positions. This is the only

one I got, with my Iphone :)

The lake covers 165 acres, and is in the shape of a horseshoe. 

We found a few ducks enjoying the water and some late summer wildflowers.

We paddled the full length of the lake! There were a few other

boaters, some fishing, some just enjoying the sunshine.

There is a campground on the one side of the park,

and they rent rowboats.

We took a picnic lunch, and floated about while we

enjoyed it. 

Although George did most of the paddling, I helped too. 

There was a bit of a stiff breeze that made returning

to the dock a workout!

We got out of the boat with no problem, and got it dried off

and put away in its bag. I'm still amazed that

all that stuff fits in one neat bag. We even

put our life vests in it as well.

Oh yeah, the ice cream....

We didn't have to look very far. On the way in to the lake we saw

an ice cream shop. Much to our surprise, it was one

of our favorite types - the cold stone. 

I didn't have to hunt one down!

It started with bloody marys....

What a nice weekend so far!

The weather is perfect, not too hot, and a slight breeze. 

I could have weather like this all the time!

Since George and I both had stressful work weeks, 

Friday night we decided to have a cocktail at our new downstairs bar.

Oh yeah, baby, they were good :)

Saturday, we had several things that needed to get done.

Something I refuse to give up when full-timing.

Pedicures. With design on big toe. Woman can give up only so much!

After my pedicure, (George picked me up because he had dropped me off earlier)...

We took the car to the car wash. It was filthy!

George sprays the car off,

my job is to keep feeding quarters in the machine, 

and switching the settings.

We always take out the mats and 'Armor-All' them. Makes them shine!

Next step was putting the front 'bra' back on. George has that job.

It's a tough thing to put on.

Looks good, eh? Least for awhile!

Our final chore for today was to drive up to Frances Slocum State Park.

We wanted to check out somewhere to put the Sea Eagle in the water.

I also had learned that in PA state parks, 

even an inflatable kayak must have a launching permit.

We stopped in to the PA DCNR office at the park to purchase one.

Only $18.00 for two years. Not too bad.

Tomorrow we will head back up there and get out on the lake!!

Stay tuned...