Onward and Upward
My legs are still sore from our weekend adventure and it's Wednesday.
After rolling out of bed with a bit of mild drunkeness still clinging to me, I showered, roused the still snoozing bear and filled my backpack with my camera, lenses, a water bottle and my repertoire of eye drops. Lichter came by around 10:30 and drove the three of us up to Bushkill Falls in Pennsylvania's Pocono Region. The park is not state or locally funded and lives off of admission prices, so we had no issue forking over $30 to get in.
We were immediately greeted by the top of a fall and a crossroads of trails. Gazing at the map showed us that the Red Trail would take us to each of the 8 falls and was only a 2 mile or so hike. The Red Trail shot off to the left and right from where we were standing and we opted to head to the right. About halfway through the hike we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into, as we spent an awful lot of time going up and down uneven stairs, some of which were just a bit too tall to be easy on my slightly short frame. The 1253 stairs we tackled (no, that is not an arbitrary number.) were well worth it though, as the falls were flowing heavily from all the rain the area has been hammered with over the past few weeks. The sights along the trail were breath taking and I really enjoyed that as you crossed over rustic wooden bridges you were given different vantage points of all the different falls. When we finished I treated myself to an ice cream bar and a pin for my back pack that says "I survived the Red Trail!" I'd go back again,but next time I would bring a sketchbook and spend the day drawing.
Last night we took advantage of the Free Movie Tuesdays bonus that we get through our cable company and saw Disney/Pixar's newest movie "UP".
Let me start this by saying, if you see this, bring some tissues. I was crying within the first half hour of the movie. I'm kind of a mush so no one is really going to be terribly surprised by this. However, Joe kept squeezing my hand and at one point I'm pretty sure I saw a tear or two. He never cries; the movie is just that touching.
The heart of the movie is a deep love story between a grumpy old widower and his departed wife. They bonded over their love of adventure as children and he sets out to fulfill the one adventure they had always talked about, but never went on. Along the way he befriends a chubby wilderness scout, a wacky bird and a talking dog. The talking dog, Dug, reminded me so much of my departed childhood dog Shredder, that I wanted to give him a big hug and ruffle his fur all over. Sweet, dumb, loyal dogs are the best kind.
There is more laughter than tears in this movie, but several times it gave my heart a good firm tug and made me want to snuggle my bear, arm rests be damned! There are unusual heroes, a villain and his minions, a love story, adventure and a load of laughs. If you were on the fence about it, go see it.
UP has tied with Wall-E in my heart for greatest Pixar movie. Le' sigh.
After rolling out of bed with a bit of mild drunkeness still clinging to me, I showered, roused the still snoozing bear and filled my backpack with my camera, lenses, a water bottle and my repertoire of eye drops. Lichter came by around 10:30 and drove the three of us up to Bushkill Falls in Pennsylvania's Pocono Region. The park is not state or locally funded and lives off of admission prices, so we had no issue forking over $30 to get in.
We were immediately greeted by the top of a fall and a crossroads of trails. Gazing at the map showed us that the Red Trail would take us to each of the 8 falls and was only a 2 mile or so hike. The Red Trail shot off to the left and right from where we were standing and we opted to head to the right. About halfway through the hike we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into, as we spent an awful lot of time going up and down uneven stairs, some of which were just a bit too tall to be easy on my slightly short frame. The 1253 stairs we tackled (no, that is not an arbitrary number.) were well worth it though, as the falls were flowing heavily from all the rain the area has been hammered with over the past few weeks. The sights along the trail were breath taking and I really enjoyed that as you crossed over rustic wooden bridges you were given different vantage points of all the different falls. When we finished I treated myself to an ice cream bar and a pin for my back pack that says "I survived the Red Trail!" I'd go back again,but next time I would bring a sketchbook and spend the day drawing.
Last night we took advantage of the Free Movie Tuesdays bonus that we get through our cable company and saw Disney/Pixar's newest movie "UP".
Let me start this by saying, if you see this, bring some tissues. I was crying within the first half hour of the movie. I'm kind of a mush so no one is really going to be terribly surprised by this. However, Joe kept squeezing my hand and at one point I'm pretty sure I saw a tear or two. He never cries; the movie is just that touching.
The heart of the movie is a deep love story between a grumpy old widower and his departed wife. They bonded over their love of adventure as children and he sets out to fulfill the one adventure they had always talked about, but never went on. Along the way he befriends a chubby wilderness scout, a wacky bird and a talking dog. The talking dog, Dug, reminded me so much of my departed childhood dog Shredder, that I wanted to give him a big hug and ruffle his fur all over. Sweet, dumb, loyal dogs are the best kind.
There is more laughter than tears in this movie, but several times it gave my heart a good firm tug and made me want to snuggle my bear, arm rests be damned! There are unusual heroes, a villain and his minions, a love story, adventure and a load of laughs. If you were on the fence about it, go see it.
UP has tied with Wall-E in my heart for greatest Pixar movie. Le' sigh.