roughing it!

I certainly enjoy camping. Over my lifetime I've hiked and camped and canoed. I advanced to Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts and I've always been drawn to the wilderness. It's even more so with Janet; she's camped all over Europe, Colorado and Alaska! So, the idea of spending four days at Ricketts Glen was thoroughably agreeable for both of us, and at the weekday rate of just $19 per day for a Pennsylvania resident, Janet lives in the Keystone commonwealth, it was a perfect vacation for our pocketbook.

Even though the trip was cheap, it was a great adventure and I plan on returning to Ricketts Glen with my son so he could experience a bit of beauty that is relatively close to the house. To attempt to describe the beauty here would be difficult because there is so much to see. I would surely miss something in my recollection. Even photographs and videos of the several waterfalls fail to capture the enormity and beauty of this display of nature. Posted with this day's account you'll see a picture of the Ganoga Falls, at 94 feet it is highest in the park. You'll see a little girl standing at the foot of the falls and a man about a third of the way up for perspective. Also I posted a short video of one of the falls, I believe it was the Seneca Falls, with audio. The roar of this cataract is thunderous and it's only a 12 foot drop.

There are 21 named waterfalls along the Falls Trail. The full length is 7.2 miles according to park literature and it's listed as difficult. People come up to the park for the day to hike it and everyone who camps takes the hike as well. It is worth the drive. It is worth the effort.

What's nice is that though the trail is steep, they've fashioned steps out of stone and it allows the hiker to pick their way along without too much fear. We happened upon a crew repairing part of the trail that had eroded. They were using natural stones and fitting them into place like a puzzle. The trails allows you to get up close to some of the falls. We were able to go to the very top of Ganoga Falls because of the paths that were fashioned by the crews at the park. According to the park literature there are two types of waterfalls featured at Ricketts Glen; a bridal veil waterfall, which falls in a single drop and the wedding cake waterfall, which falls in a connected series of drops. Ganoga Falls is a wedding cake waterfall.

Exhilerated with our hike through the falls area of Ricketts Glen, Janet and I then decided to seek dinner. Our plan was to cook one dinner at the campsite and then "eat out" for the rest! Knowing nothing of the area we visited the Camp Host, a concierge type that provides information about the area in return for a free campsite. We ambled over to their place along the main road between the two sets of camping areas at Ricketts Glen and they told us about the Jamison City Hotel's Penny Lounge. It sounded like a winner!! Better yet, to shave 10 miles off the trip they told us about a dirt road that decended through the mountains through state game lands. With a set of antlers on the outside wall hanging over a neon Coors Light sign, Janet and I knew we had arrived in the right place. After all we are adventurous souls. Last summer it was the Dirty Rice Saloon in Iowa, Lousiana and Red's Levee Bar in Catahoula, LA. Two summers ago it was the Skylight Inn in Ayden, North Carolina and three summers ago in Gros Islet, Saint Lucia it was the Friday Night Jump Up. We should at this point be galvinized to odd places that on the surface may seem suspect. Well, the Penny Lounge, aptly named because of all the Lincoln Head Cents under the lacquered surface of the bar, was a good place to visit after hiking through the woods all day. Christmas decorations still hung over the bar and woodland scene wallpaper lent a charm to the place that had shag rug on the side of the bar (I guess to keep my knees warm). Stuffed fish and guns dangled in various places around the bar. There were two people in the place; one fellow recognized us from the trail. He had said he wanted a break from working around his house and hiked the trail. There were a lot of other people on the trail too today. There were several youth camp groups obviously there for the day and for this fellow to pick us out (ahem, I mean Janet), was nice.

Anyway, the food and drink at the Jamison City Hotel is good and inexpensive. We opted for burgers instead of the all you can eat buffet at $8.95. The burgers were topped with mushrooms and onions for $4.95. Fries were $1.95. Yuengling Lager was $1.75 a pint. We spent around $20 for our two meals and drinks.

But, the next night it was burger night!!!!!!

On Thursday we went on a 12 mile hike over two different trails in the park. After a hearty breakfast of percolated coffee, bacon, eggs and yogurt, we hiked the Mountain Springs Trail which led us past something called the forgotten falls and ended at Mountain Spring Lake which was a beautiful, serene place. We ate a quick lunch of apples and then hiked three miles up a dirt road mantained by the PA Fish and Boat Commission before turning into the 4.5 mile Cherry Run Trail. Indeed, by the time we were near the end of this third leg it felt more like an endurance marathon than a hike. We had started out late (we do sleep in often) and with gathering clouds overhead, we were worried that there would either soon be nightfall or a storm. Janet kept trying to point out Bear dung, while I kept muttering "keep moving." We were out on this hike for nearly 6 hours! Tired, but happy with ourselves, we decided to drink a few beers in Lovelton, PA.... Now, you may ask why. Well, the allure of the Tombstone Inn, situated on the corner of Route 187 and Blink-and-you-missed-it Avenue is equal to all the places we've visited in the years past, but Janet has a friend up here in Bumfuck, PA and over the years they've "partied" at the Tombstone. Last time she bought me a shirt from the place that had two "party" deers on it which draws some curious looks when I wear it at the gym. Well, the Tombstone, literally next to a cemetery, "lived" up to its fun. We took a place at the end of the bar, ducking beneath twin stuffed moose heads and drank Rolling Rock in bottles. ($2.00 per) I read most of the rude bumper stickers on the canoe suspended above the bar and called my son and asked him if he'd like a $9.00 t-shirt like mine. NO.

We then moved on to the Lovelton Hotel. This, according to Janet, was supposed to be a fancier place................ I guess when you're drinking...the whole world smiles with you....God bless Dean Martin. Well, the Lovelton Hotel at least had beer on tap and edible, though very over priced for the area, food. Janet absolutely flat out refused to eat anything at the Tombstone, perhaps afraid she'd find missing teeth from any one of the bar's patrons, so we had chicken wings and two beers at the Lovelton Hotel and the tab came out to $11.00.

Hamburgers at the Lovelton Hotel were too overpriced for our sorry butts at $7.00 and although Janet had said they were good, I'm glad we held out for the Jamison City Hotel's HAMBURGER NIGHT!!!! They were grilling burgers with or without cheese for $1.50 each. That's right, I didn't move the decimal point at all....$1.50. The bartender asked us how many we wanted, but we just really needed one each. With extras like a slice of onion and mushroom costing nearly a third of the burger, an order of fries split between us and three beers, our total came out to...$10.60. As the most benevolent person, I made sure I left a 25% tip.
Sated and pleased with being so fashionably cheap we drove back up the dirt road to Ricketts Glen in the dark, happy and tired. We had accomplished a lot today.

On Friday we again lingered in the tent, had a breakfast, took a leisurely stroll once more down to the lake and then left around 1:30; you have to be out of your campsite by 3;00. We drove home to Janet's house. Along the way we stopped in Bloomsburg for coffee at a bookstore in this almost cute college town, a stop in Pottsville and the Yuengling Brewerey which was closed when we arrived, and then for a dinner and subsequent sticker shock at "Beer Guy" in Ziegerville, what we call Northside. www.ortinos.com/northside.htm It's a great place with a very healthy selection of beers. We ordered two cradles of beer samples; this time they were mostly from the Bear Republic Brewery. Thankfully Janet no longer lifts her nose at the IPA beer and she even drank later a Russian River Pliney the Elder! Well, with our beers and food the tab came to $75 w/out the tip! Time to move to hillbilly country!

On Saturday, July 11 we went to the Stoogeum for their monthly opening. http://www.stoogeum.com/. Our friend and Janet's pilates compadre, Leslie, drove, but spent the entire day talking like Curly. She also did a mean Curly shuffle dance for the crowd outside the museum. We asked a passing stranger to take our picture. She obliged and then pinched my nose. Janet went through the three story museum muttering "Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk," even while I tried to explain the fine nuances of Three Stooges slapstick.

Well as silly as it may seem to go to such a museum unless you're an avid fan of the Stooges, it was a worthwhile home vacation. It was free, it was entertaining and it was informative. We learned the history of the act, from the early days in Vaudeville and into television. The neat, beautiful museum was crammed with posters and artifacts and props. They had hand puppets and whoopie cushions and thimbles and, well anything you could market on display. They had something called "Shemp's Hall" and had several personal documents like a tax return and a SAG card on display. There was a video game and a pinball game, both free. There was a kiosk that had was activated by poking Curly in the eye which led to a menu of bios of the actors and the films. You could spend hours marveling over the old pictures alone. Though the place was about the Three Stooges, it was really handing us a slice of our childhood, for what kid out of the New York area didn't watch Officer Joe Bolton on WPIX hosting "The Three Stooges Funhouse"? They had a slew of pictures of the good officer as well as Philadelphia's own Sally Starr. Janet and Leslie had fond memories of the television hostess who also showed Stooges shorts during her "Popeye Theater"...isn't wikipedia great! But best of all they had a theater that continually ran Stooges shorts. You came and went as you pleased. We laughed and laughed through two before moving on to the other exhibits, which I think was an act of self preservation because it was frigid in the place! They had monitors wired up throughout the museum with the same short being aired as the theater, so you could linger near a tv while still coveting that Three Stooges lunchbox in the display counter that you once had as a kid! The museum was free, but it was all done professionally and with great taste. Open just once a month it is a great way to spend a few hours. Go their website for the next opening.

Thanks for reading you knuckleheads!