A Fun Day in Jim Thorpe!

Ken and I had a quick cereal breakfast and were on our way to Jim Thorpe by 8 AM.  We did stop at WaWa so Ken could have coffee and I could enjoy a pumpkin spice cappuccino.  The weather was not great with a slight drizzle, some fog, but temperatures in the low 60's.  Earlier they had predicted temperatures near 80 today and some sunshine - that did not happen!

We stopped at the park that has statues that honor Jim Thorpe -

A little bit of history!

and then we drove to  the Lehigh Gorge State Park to one of the trail heads for the Lehigh Gorge Rail Trail!  Not exactly great weather for riding - it was still drizzling and rather cool, but we got on our bikes and started the ride. 

Would have been even more gorgeous if the sun would have
been shining!

The fog was starting to lift, but there was
still a slight "drizzle"!

We rode about 6 miles before turning around and seeing more nice sites along the trail -

Ken and I didn't realize we could take the train from Reading
to Montreal.  A special warning to our Canadian friends, for
we might show up at your doorstep!

This really is a beautiful Rails to Trails, definitely on the
top of our list!

Just a small waterfall along the trail!

There is some changing colors on the tree leaves, but we are
hopeful it will be more dramatic by the end of the week!

Crossing over the railroad bridge as we get close to
downtown Jim Thorpe!

What can I say?????

We headed into the town of Jim Thorpe to have lunch with our friends Dan, Jackie, Frank, and Judy.  They had gotten on the train at Reading around 9 and had a 3 hour ride to see the fall foliage.   Unfortunately, the leaves have not really changed their color very much at this time, maybe in another week or so!  Ken did stop near where we had parked the car to put 2 quarters on the railroad tracks so the train would drive over them.  We planned to look for them on the way back to the car after lunch.  We had parked about 2 miles from downtown, so we had ridden 14 miles by the time we met up with our friends.   We ate lunch at the Inn at Jim Thorpe and had a very nice lunch.

It was a special treat to catch up with our friends at the Inn
at Jim Thorpe.

We all walked around the town after lunch enjoying the shops as well as the vendors and music that was located near the train station for the weekend Fall Festival.  They had to board the train for the return trip at 3, so Ken and I stayed to see them pull out of the station.  We were so thankful to have the 3 hours with special friends!

You can even take carriage rides in Jim Thorpe!

The downtown area was very crowded for one of the 3
Fall Foliage weekends!  The train from Reading, PA had
hundreds of people aboard and they were all visiting the
town from noon to 3!

The beautiful old Inn at Jim Thorpe!

Frank and Judy, great people that we
met through Dan and Jackie!

The interior of a very old Church in Jim Thorpe!

Asa Packer, a well-known business man in the 1800's who has a
"mansion" in the town that is open for tours, built these row homes,
called Stone Row,  for his railroad engineers and foremen.  He was big
in the railroad industry!  He also founded Lehigh University!

Dan and Jackie boarding the train for the ride back to Reading!

Looking forward to seeing them back in Lancaster County!

Powered by both a coal steam engine and a "regular" engine!

Ken and I rode bike back to the CRV and rode just a little further to look for his quarters.  Sure enough, we found them in the stones all flattened.  Ken was one happy person.  He had done the same thing several years ago at about the same place and at that time it was one of the things on his "bucket list".  His bucket list now has more "elaborate" things he is looking to do and see!

After loading our bikes, I sat in the car (my back and leg had had enough!) and Ken took a very short path to the river to see who was playing a wooden flute.  He had a nice chat with Chris who played a song just for Ken.  

Ken saw these cairns down by the stream and you know how
I love to see and build cairns!

The flute used by Chris, a native American!  

He loves to come to the area to embrace nature and send positive vibes to
all who are willing to listen.  He plays for numerous powwows
in NY.  Ken and Chris "shared" a moment!

Now it was time to head back to the CG.  For some reason our Google Maps gave us a different route for the return trip and it definitely was not the "short one"!  I thought we would never get back.  We did stop at a McDonald's for a hot fudge sundae for me and coffee for Ken.

On the back road to the CG and right before the entrance, we saw 5 plump wild turkeys and about 10 deer grazing along the road.  We weren't able to get a photo of the turkeys but we did get one of the deer.  It was rather dark so the picture isn't very clear!

It is hard to see, but there were about 10 white tailed deer.

We got back in time to watch the last quarter of the Steelers game - Yeah Steelers!  Then it was time to watch 60 Minutes.  We did play 2 rounds of Hand and Foot and I have the lead going into the last two rounds of the game.  We were in bed by 9:30 after a fun day!  I must admit that we are looking forward to some sunshine this next week.  We are supposed to start seeing it on Tuesday and it will be very welcomed!!!