Back when Stew and I lived in Erie our tradition was to celebrate Thanksgiving at the cabin with the kids. We usually did our Christmas there as well, then the kids could celebrate in other ways with other people for Christmas. This year Alyssa and Cole both wanted to do Thanksgiving at the cabin (and so did we). No one could arrived before Thursday so we moved the main meal to Friday so no one had to rush to arrive. Once Cole arrived we decided…Continue Reading “Thanksgiving at Pine Creek”

The rest of October and November seemed to just fly by. October 17th, the day after arriving home from our road trip, the high-speed internet was installed. That changed everything because we now had real-time access to the internet. I started most days with a 10-mile bike ride on the bike path, which I loved! The fall colors and falling leaves created a beautiful backdrop to my ride. I also started doing some wall pilates that I enjoyed (most days). We had a few jobs…Continue Reading “Rest of Fall at Pine Creek”

I wanted to drive to Benezette, PA for my birthday this year. Benezette is known for its elk population and as I noted in earlier blogs I did not get to see elk in Yellowstone, Tetons, or Rocky Mountain National Park!! The elk just seem to elude me. I have previously taken the trip to Benezette with my parents over 10 years ago. We saw NO ELK on that drive! A few deer, but no elk. Even though Benezette bosts of thousands of elk, we…Continue Reading “Birthday at Benezette”

We left Erie on Monday morning and headed to Pine Creek. I was anxious to see the fall colors, even if a little late. They did not disappoint. We were finally home from our trip and what a great trip it was!! TRIP STATS Number of Miles: 8248 MilesNumber of Nights: 49 nights (7 weeks)Number of Nights camping in the car: 34 nights Number of National Parks: 8(Badlands, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Bryce, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, Rocky Mountain) Number of National Memorials/Monuments: 3(Devils Tower, Grand Staircase-Escalante,…Continue Reading “Finally Home (Pine Creek) – trip stats & cost”

What is that saying? “Make plans, God laughs.” April 15th at 9:36 PM while I was babysitting Arlo, my new grandson, I received a voicemail from an unknown caller in Florida. The caller was slurring her words, so much that I could barely understand her… well, that caller was my mother! She was playing doubles ping-pong and went for a shot but instead tripped and landed on the floor breaking her hip, wrist, and elbow. We found out later, that she also lost a large…Continue Reading “God is laughing out loud!”

Since Stew was going to be busy in Alabama for the next four months I needed a plan too. I decided to start by heading to PA. First stop was pine creek and a nice weekend at the cabin with my daughter Kim and Fernando. Kim picked me up at Cleveland airport and we loaded up the car and left the next day for the cabin in the mountains of central PA. We had a really great time. I was enjoying the cool weather after…Continue Reading “Ellen heads to Pine Creek”