A family weekend!

Our Memorial Day weekend was GREAT! We had a fun family weekend. First off, the fun began when John came home for the weekend!! Since he lives in Tennessee and about 700 miles away, we love talking to him on the phone and emailing over the internet but nothing beats having him in the same room with you! Nothing.

On Sunday, we went for family bike ride to one of our favorite places - Ohiopyle State Park, PA - and rode bikes on the The Great Allegheny Passage.

Sara ready to go biking!

Grandma, Mommy, and Jackson getting ready to hit the trail.

John getting ready to bike. He's hasn't done this since he was a boy scout!

Lori having fun! That's the Youghiogheny River.

Mommy and baby taking a bottle break.

The whole gang on the trail - John, Sara, Me & Jackson in front - Lori, Aaron, and Paul in the back.

John half way done the ride at Ramcat Rapids.

Paul at Ramcat Rapids too. Do you think he is a Steelers fan????

Jackson, Aaron, Sara, and Lori only went part way. But they met us at the halfway point - Confluence PA. It's our turn around point. 11 miles from Ohiopyle. And 11 miles back to Ohiopyle!!!
We had a nice lunch at the Sister's Cafe in Confluence. They make a great steak sandwich.

Photo of the Sister's Cafe from Trailtowns website.
Jackson - He's not sure about the grass!

Looks like he's getting used to it!

Daddy and son - Aaron and Jackson

Our kids - John, Sara, & Lori

And the whole family again - Confluence PA.

Same View - Different Year - Different Camping Trip

You'll notice I changed my header. I took this photo on our camping trip to Ohiopyle State Park over Memorial Day. This is the Youghiogheny River.



I took this photo on our camping trip in July of 2007. Same view but a little earlier in the day and a little later in the summer.


Nice view isn't it?

Another fun weekend!

We went camping and biking again at Ohiopyle PA and had another fun time. Here are some photos of our trip.

Here is a view of the Youghiogheny River from the bike trail around 9 am with early morning fog.


The bike trail. That's our friends, Tim & Jeanette, biking up ahead of me and Paul.


We biked from Ohiopyle PA to Confluence PA. We ate lunch at this nice little diner, Sister's Cafe.


Here is the river later in the day around 3 pm. The fog has lifted and the humidity has set in.


Here is where we had our dinner around 6:30 pm. Ohiopyle house cafe.


I'll be posting some more photos I took over our weekend tomorrow. So check back soon!

Weekend Fun!

This weekend we attended a two day festival in Oldtown, Maryland. Paul did two of his talks during the festival. The first talk on Saturday was about the C&O Canal and the race with the B&O railroad to reach Cumberland in the 1880's and the second on Sunday was about George Washington and the Potomac River. Both were very interesting. The festival is small but was well attended by locals. I had a strawberry smoothie and it was delicious! Lori had funnel cake and shared it with us and it was delicious too. We hadn't had one in quite a long while. Today, Sunday, we also did some biking on the C&O Canal. We biked about 8 miles total and went through the tunnel on the canal at Paw Paw. Here are a few pictures from our fun weekend. Hope your's was fun too!


The west side tunnel portal. 3,181 feet long. We walked our bikes through here.


The east side portal.



These marks were made about 100 years ago. They were made from the tow ropes the mules used to pull the canal boats along the C&O Canal.



A quiet place on the Potomac River. That's West Virginia on the other side.


Paul doing his talk.



Some festival highlights!

Camping & Biking Fun in Ohiopyle PA!

Ohiopyle PA and the Youghegeny river. This is a beautiful area. Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter.



We had a nice Memorial Day weekend. Friday & Saturday we camped out and we biked all day Saturday. 34 miles! We camped in Ohiopyle PA and biked from there to Connellsville PA on the Great Allegheny Passage and back. This is the same trail we have done before just a different segment. This section is the longest I've done and the hardest so far. I've ached in muscles I didn't know I had. Our friends, Tim & Jeanette, went with us. Here are a few photos. We had an all you can eat breakfast on Saturday morning and Sunday morning at the community center in Ohiopyle. If you go away hungry it's not their fault. Saturday when we made it back to Ohiopyle we had a great dinner at the Ohiopyle House Cafe. A great ending to a long day!

Paul at our tent. We like to camp in these ready made tents. Saves lots of time!



Our campsite. Chairs ready for the campfire.



Ready to go biking!




View from one of the bridges going across the Youghegeny river. Those are some brave souls down there white water rafting.



A stop along the way with a nice view of the Youghegeny river.




We made it to Connellsville. 17 miles. We found this neat old house along the way.



Resting up for the 17 miles ride back to Ohiopyle!




A view of the falls in Ohiopyle. I'm not sure if you can see it or not but there is a man sitting on the rocks in front of the falls. He is fishing (and he's crazy).


Here are more of those brave souls.



One of the white water outfitters in Ohiopyle. When Paul & I did the Youghegeny in 2002 we rented from this place. I did it once. I'll never do it again. I'll stick to my bike.

Some scenery along the trial

Here are a few more scenes from along the trail when we took our bike ride a couple of Saturdays ago.

This looks like something you would see in an old episode of the Walton's. I'm thinking of the episode where the Blue Ridge Parkway is going to be built and some of Grandpa's relatives are the last holdouts. Anyone remember that episode?




Ann

Our most recent bike ride

Following the next several posts you will find pictures and information on our most recent bike ride on the Allehgeny Highlands Trail. If you want to read the post in order you will need to scroll down several post to start at the beginning. The first post on the bike ride is titled "How many miles did you say?" Enjoy yourself and leave me a comment. I love comments! For Paul's view of the ride and his pictures check out his site Camera Totin Idiot. He likes commments too!

We made it!

Loading up to go across town and home.



The trail ends at the Western Maryland Train Station. The C&O Canal starts here. There are offices, The C&O Canal Museum, Allegany County Vistors Center located in the station.


Ready to go again????????????????

Ann