Ricketts Glen State Park, Benton, PA - Sat. 5/29/10

Ricketts Glen State Park is a place we have been wanting to visit for awhile and finally the day arrived to visit this beautiful place. First we met at Matt's house and gathered everyone and all our stuff and then we headed off to Ricketts Glen. There were 6 of us altogether...Mr. Sassy and me, George, Matt, Andre and Jody.

Our friend Andre was meeting us there and we were lucky to run into him at the Visitor's Center, after having some difficulty connecting on the cell phone. At the Visitor's Center, I talked to one of the rangers to get tips about which trails to hike to see the waterfalls, and we also picked up some maps and used the restroom.

Then it was off the trails. Before we started the hike, we took a group photo....looking bushytailed and ready to go.

We hiked for about 5 hours, taking some breaks for photos, rest, eating and chatting. The first half of the hike was mostly level or downhill, but the second part of the hike was a lot of steep, uphill climbing. The end was rough and we were all really feeling it, but it was so worth it to see all the beautiful waterfalls and amazing scenery - the rocks alone are worth the visit!

I also took some videos on the trip. This one was taken at one of the biggest falls.

Here is one of me hiking uphill during the second half of the hike. I think you can tell I am pretty beat at this point.

And one more video of us climbing up the steep side:



After our hike, it was time for dinner so we headed back to the Allentown area and ate at a place called Pistachio's. It was an attractive bistro and the food was very tasty, and we had an enjoyable meal, despite some issues with portion sizes, out-of-stock items and a mis-charge on the bill.

For dessert, I didn't want to take any chances (dessert is my favorite part of any meal) so I requested we head out for ice cream. We went across the road to Friendly's and Andre and I got sundaes.

Then it was back to Matt's where those of us who were staying over promptly collapsed from exhaustion.

The following morning, after hanging outside on Matt's patio chit chatting in the beautiful sunshine, we headed to Jody's for a delicious bed-and-breakfast quality breakfast. There were waffles. There were eggs. There was bacon and veggie bacon. There was fruit salad and strawberry bread. There was fresh-squeezed juice (courtesy of Andre) and delicious bottled blueberry juice as well. There was delicious whole grain toast. It was a feast!!!

After breakfast we treated ourselves to a good laugh by watching some silly videos we had made together over the past year. We laughed ourselves silly. The perfect end to a fantastic adventure with awesome friends!