November 9 — 11

A bit of a cold weekend (started off wet as well), but we were still able to have a pleasant getaway for the weekend.  The trip up to the Poconos was long!  It ended up taking us a little over 4 hours to get there due to horrible traffic and all we were able to do Friday night was sleep.

We awoke Saturday to rain, so we took advantage of the indoor pool (after Andrew throwing a fit about swimming in the winter).  A warm fire Saturday night gave us time to unwind.

Sunday we headed up to Bushkill Falls to do a hike.  Emily was whining that she wanted to do the red trail — luckily, we didn’t listen to her as she started to complain about her legs hurting half way through the yellow trail.  The dogs enjoyed it as well.  Geddy refused to go down the steps first, he would only go down following Daisy.  I was able to keep them from pulling me down the steps.

Pennell fallsMore stairs! On the bridge over the falls-2  Dogs drinking Mike and Kathy by the falls By Pennell Falls

November 2-4, 2007

We decided to get a site at Otter Lake for the winter.  Otter Lake was one of our favorite campgrounds — we spent 3 weekends there this past spring — and they were offering a good deal on a winter site.  We’re not really cold-weather folks, but we love camping so much and the campground keeps the indoor pool open year round (on weekends) we figured why not give it a try.

Our site is big and pretty well positioned right near the pool and heated bathhouse.

From our site to the indoor pool

From our site to the field and lake

The kids are going to like the location as well, we are right next to a big climbing rock.

Climbing rock

The dogs were excited about camping as well.

Setting At Otter Lake

We are headed up there again this coming weekend for some hiking and general relaxation.  We want to get to Hickory Run State Park soon (probably Thanksgiving Weekend) — this weekend we hope to hit Bushkill Falls.

October 12 — 14, 2007

A much cooler weekend at Lake-in-Wood, our final of 4 weekends, we relaxed, enjoyed the campground and had a filling dinner at Shady Maple.  The campground was all decked out for Christmas (since they aren’t open for Christmas).

Christmas decorations Golf courseChristmas in October 

We also went for a walk around the lake (I can’t believe we hadn’t done that one of the previous weekends) and discovered the shipwreck cabin — kind of cool setup.

Shipwreck cabin-2

Emily and Matt also stopped for one last pose at the Gnome Cafe.

Gnome Emily Gnome Matt

October 5 — 8, 2007

The holiday weekend at Lake-in-Wood was unseasonably warm (mid 80s every day).  It cooled down at night, but it was amazingly warm each day.  Kathy spent the weekend very sick — thankfully the kids were OK.  We ended up just enjoying the campground.  Our site is right by Brotherhood Circle, so there is plenty of room to play.

We took the puppies on many walks and played soccer and football in the circle.

The walks and socialization is working with Geddy, he’s finally learning some tricks!  Here is Geddy sitting and down.

September 28 — 30, 2007

The first of three consecutive weekends at Lake-in-Woods was a clear and cool fall retreat.  It was Geddy’s first camping trip and I believe we discovered that he gets car sick.  As we were driving around Geddy was experiencing uncontrollable drooling (poor pup).  We’re going to try to keep him in the front of the car next weekend when we head up there.

The site we are staying in at LIW is really nice, it’s somehwat secluded, but right accross from a big open field.  We tried going to the Ephrata Fair on Saturday; however, they do not appear to be pet friendly — they weren’t welcoming of us with the puppies.  We decided to head up to Middle Creek instead for a hike in the woods.

Matt is quite the hiker and he lead us through the conservation trail.  Geddy and Daisy loved it as well.  Geddy would venture out, but he was sure to turn around every 5 steps or so to make sure he could still see Daisy.  They seem to be developing quite the co-dependent relationship.