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| 6:50 |
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| 7:23 |
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| 7:25 |
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| 7:54 |
I was shocked to get up to a 19º morning and snow after yesterday's sunny day with the temperatures in the high 40's. Nothing is predictable, neither weather nor politics. It's another striking morning dawn, with a few cloud stripes in a blue sky. I am waiting for the sun to jump above the horizon, towards a bank of pink clouds. The lake is a confusion of ice and snow.
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| A Beautiful Spring Day, Yesterday |
Yesterday we were uncertain as to what we wanted to do with our day, I was up early and wanted to do something different in our day since I was not going to yoga. And Evie thought she might want to go to the gym in the afternoon. The morning, however, was filled with blue skies and sunshine and it seemed a shame to spend our time inside. So we decided to stick around the house and get some things done until 3:30 when we would take a forty five minute drive to the Allegheny State Forest and go for a hike. So we spent the morning getting some things done in the house, listening to the Gorsuch hearings, waiting until it was time to head off. I did spend some time outside, picking up branches and twigs from the heavy winds in the past couple of days. It's good exercise, bending over, picking up the dead fall, at least that's what I tell myself.
Evie made me a couple of avocado sandwiches for lunch and I finished off the matzo ball soup. I watched part of a Wallander, then took a nap. We both showered before gathering our hiking gear, water, maps, poles, camera, selfie stick, bear spray and compass. We were going to explore a different part of the vast state park which spans both New York and Pennsylvania.
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| Quaker Lake |
So we got off #86 at the Quaker Lake exit and stopped at the lake briefly. A few Asian tourists had stopped as well and a couple of guys were fishing. We then drove on past the cabins to the access to the 2.5 mile trail we hoped to hike, Three Sisters. We got about a quarter of a mile along the trail before we decided it was to wet and muddy to be much fun. It was literally a small creek, not a trail this time of the year.
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| Trail Head |
So we backtracked and walked for about forty five minutes along a rushing creek, across a bridge, out to a vast open field, great for the campers to play ball or frisbee. We were the only ones around of course.
We the drove back to #86, got off again at the Steamburg exit and drove six miles to the Horseshoe Tavern, just above the Allegheny Reservoir. It was a Tuesday night so we thought we would be the only one's there.
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| Handicapped Parking In Hunting Country |
When we drove up, there were at least 20 cars parked in front of the restaurant. We thought there must be a meeting of some sort. There wasn't, just a restaurant filled with locals enjoying a night out. We got the last two seats at the bar and found out it was wing night, with $1.25 draft beers. What better way to end our faux hike! We struck up a conversation with Colleen who was sitting five people away from her husband at the bar.
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| At The Horseshoe Bar With Colleen, A Kansas Native |
She said she gets to see him all day. We understand. Her brother in law owns the Nic L Inn and was sitting at the bar, talking with her husband. She was fun to talk with and told us all about her life, having grown up in the Northwest corner of Kansas in a small town before moving to Niagara Falls, eventually retiring to South Valley, a couple of miles from the Horseshoe. Our wings were great but the fries were cold, so they brought us another order. We stayed until dusk and were able to drive home on the back roads with at least some daylight before hitting # 86 and driving home the last 25 miles in the dark.
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| Bone Run Road At Dusk |
We were home by 8:15, in time to watch a couple of shows, BIG LITTLE LIES and BILLIONS. BLL is getting more interesting, as the lives of the three major women are falling apart. BILLIONS is still confusing and we could care less what happens to Bobby, the billionaire.
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