A bike ride, a birthday, and surgery!

Last Thursday, we met up with our good friends Gin and Syl for a bike ride.  Syl had researched the Pine Creek Rail Trail and had asked if we wanted to join them. The trail was in the "Grand Canyon" of PA and was supposed to be a beautiful ride

Ariel view of the Grand Canyon of Pa - I took this off of one of the information boards.
You can see the rail trail to the left of Pine Creek (yes that is a creek!) 

So, Dan loaded the bikes up, I packed a lunch and off we went.  We had about an 80 minute drive thru the country (mainly) and even saw a bear cross the road.  We knew that Gin and Syl were ahead of us by about 10 minutes and when we arrived at the Darling Run trail head, my heart sunk a little because they weren't in the parking lot!  Ugh!  Now I was second guessing if I had the right trail head. And, with no cell service, there was no way to get in touch with them. A few minutes later, they pull into the parking lot.  Whew - thank goodness! They had gone to the parking area on the other side of the river. After hugs, we unloaded the bikes and off we went.

Before we knew it, we had gone about 10 miles (time flies when you are with your framily!) and it was time for lunch.  We had a gorgeous setting for lunch.

Tiadaghton Camping Area

Tent camping is allowed in this area and they even have running water...albeit the old fashioned way!

It sure would make for some nice RV sites...no power.....but the view would be oh so worth it. Getting your RV there would be another story.  ;-)

We had such a fun afternoon....laughter was definitely the key.  I think we all talked non-stop catching up.

Syl, Gin, and Dan

Such fun times!  Syl, me, Gin

Having fun with the framily!

We would stop along the way to take in the scenery.  There were several "runs" where water would be trickling down....and then we saw this....

Gorgeous waterfalls at Turkey Path

Dan and I 

There was a boardwalk of steps to the top...about a mile in distance.  Dan started up the steps but came back down.  It was steep, covered in slime and very slippery.

We continued our pedaling...

Dan enjoying the scenery

The trail followed Pine Creek

And, as luck would have it, a bear decided he wanted to cross the bike path.  Dan and Gin were riding in front of Syl and I.  He (or she!) was a decent sized bear.  We stopped in our tracks, Gin rang her bike (bear!) bell, and off he trotted (after one last glance at Gin).  He went up the embankment and we watched him for a few more minutes.  Very cool!

All in all, we did about 20 miles of the trail.  The weather was gorgeous, the scenery beautiful and the company fantastic.  After the bike ride, we went over to the campground where Gin and Syl are staying.

View from Gin and Syl's site

We chatted for awhile and then hit the road.  It was a such great day!  Thanks guys!!

This past weekend, we celebrated Dan's Mother's birthday.  We went out to dinner on Saturday night and then celebrated with cake and ice cream on Sunday.

Beautiful birthday cake made by Jessie...Dan's niece

Hunter and Caden playing iwth Abby.

It was a fun time with family.

Last night, our friend Doug called and said that the vet was coming to perform surgery on one of their cows. He asked if I wanted to see it!  Heck yeah.....so off we went.  We arrived at the farm right after the vet did. The cow's stomach had twisted needed medical intervention.  The surgery was performed right there in the milk house.  It was awesome to see...no pictures as I didn't want to distract the vet from doing her job...and I figured that not too many people would want to see pictures of that on the blog!  I told Doug that next year, I was going to work-camp at the farm. :-)  I think a pair of pink muck boots are in order!  :-)  Thanks again Doug!!