New Adventures Ahead

“I don't know where my road is going, but I know that I walk better when I hold your hand.” –Alfred de Musset

Home is where the heart is or in our case where the boat is docked, but we knew when we sold our home that we wanted to find somewhere to put roots down again. We've spent the last three years trying to figure out exactly where that would be. I've always felt that when it was the right time and we were in the right place we would know. Things do seem to fall into place when they are supposed to. 

Our oldest son graduated from high school in 2004 starting a series of changes in our lives. His leaving for college was our first major change, every 6 1/2 to 7 years has brought new chapters to our story. Bringing us new adventures. Our next big change came when we left South Texas on The Pearl in 2011. We spent seven seasons cruising the ICW, the Bahamas, New England, Maine, Canada and the Erie Canal. It was a wonderful nomadic life, but when part of our family moved to Pennsylvania we decided to find a seasonal slip for The Pearl. That brought us to Ithaca and the beautiful Finger Lakes. We have truly loved being in this area. We've been there for seven summers...time to add a new twist to our lives. 

The last two falls we’ve spent time in central Pennsylvania. We had many reasons for doing this...one was to wait for the weather to cool off in Texas, another to hike in the area and the third was to see if you would like to live here. Finding a place we liked in the area would put us close to our family in Bloomsburg. Last fall we found the perfect place to set down roots. It doesn’t mean we’ll leave Rockport or give up living on The Pearl, but it gives us a more permanent place and a place to keep our things. Our new community is Lewisburg, PA.

The Borough of Lewisburg is a historic community located on the banks of the beautiful Susquehanna River in Union County Pennsylvania with a population of just over 5,000. It was founded in 1785 and has been the primary commercial center of the county from its earliest days. 

With the influence of Bucknell University and its well-preserved architectural housing styles, the community is vibrant, as well as charming. The downtown is on the National Register of Historic Places and is known as "Pennsylvania Town" among historians due to its distinct city layout developed in colonial Pennsylvania. The buildings that still exist along the streets of this historic town represent nearly every historic style. Cast-iron, three-globe lamp posts line the streets, producing a soft glow that adds to its charm in the evenings. This amazing little town is considered to be one of the best preserved 19th century communities in the nation. 

It’s an agricultural area and there are many stores and farmer markets that sell fresh food...fruit, vegetables, dairy and meats year round. Rolling hills, beautiful farms, covered bridges and amazing places to ride bikes and hike.

The back of the house.

A few pictures of Lewisburg.

This short video gives you a look at Lewisburg.

Sept. 3 - End of Summer

"Autumn...the year's last loveliest smile." –William Cullen

Wow what has happened to summer...it's hard to believe Labor Day is over and fall is on its way. As warm as this summer has been you can definitely feel that fall is in the air now. Soon boats will be leaving the marina, which seems a bit odd since our marina never filled up this summer. We kept thinking more boats would arrive but they never did.

We've had a busy summer although we haven't spent as much time in Ithaca. We've enjoyed being in Lewisburg and close to our family. We've gotten a bit spoiled with the extra room, the washer and dryer, the large TV, the ease of shopping at great markets and the wonderful internet. When we were at the marina we felt very lonely. Even on weekends there didn't seem to be many people around. We have about six weeks left before we pull The Pearl and get her ready for her long winter nap. That will give us plenty of time to enjoy the nice days of fall here at the lake.

The only real get together at the marina this summer was in celebration of the 4th of July.

We did spent at least three or four days enjoying a picnic at Sheldrake Winery. We love sitting by the lake relaxing. We were a little stuck in a rut this summer, but oh what a place to be stuck.

The full moon rising over the marina in August.

This was the second time we had a chance to visit with David and Barbara this summer. We didn't have a lot of time to chat when they came through Lewisburg with the Great Race, but this time we had all evening.

One nice day we went to the Finger Lake Cider House for lunch. We aren't big fans of cider so we enjoyed a local beer, a great sandwich and a beautiful view of the lake.

This is a state park just down the road from our home in Lewisburg. There are so many great places to explore in New York and Pennsylvania.

This is a regular sight at the markets in our area.

Enjoying a pretty summer night with the family.

Hattie is five!

Labor Day bike ride to a near by town for lunch. Bring on fall...we're ready

Lewisburg, PA

“If a year was tucked inside of a clock, then autumn would be the magic hour." –Victoria Erickson

We're spending our transitional time between The Pearl and Texas Pearl in the cute little town of Lewisburg, which is just west of Kyle and his family. The town was founded in 1785 by Ludwig Derr and is located in central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River Valley along the West Branch Susquehanna River. The city is on the National Register of Historic Places and is known as "Pennsylvania Town" among historians due to its distinct city layout developed in colonial Pennsylvania. The buildings that still exist along the streets of this historic town represent nearly every historic style. Cast-iron, three-globe lamp posts line the streets, producing a soft glow that adds to its charm to the town in the evenings. 

The house we have isn't fancy, but it's close to everything and comfortable. We can walk or ride our bikes to the restaurants, shops and markets. This area of Pennsylvania has tons of fresh markets full of fall fruits and vegetables at great prices...if nothing else we'll eat well while we are here.

The bedrooms

Lewisburg is an unbelievably beautiful town. Here are just a few pictures of the main street.

Just a few of the many places here to find amazing vegetables. The size of the cabbages and cauliflowers are huge...I've never seen anything like them.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our family and friends. We added a new twist to our life this year...we now have a house in Lewisburg, PA. It's a cute little town just west of Kyle and his family. It's full of little shops, nice places to eat and amazing fresh grocery stores to shop at. We still have The Pearl docked in Ithaca and Texas Pearl in Rockport so we have some great places to split our time between. 

We spent the winter visiting family and friends in south Texas and moved all our belongings to our new home in February. We spent 2-3 weeks getting settled in and even enjoyed a beautiful snowfall while we were there. We returned to Texas to wait for the weather to warm up a little in the north. We made our spring migration to Lewisburg at the end of March just in time to spend Easter with Kyle's family.  

We took lots of little vacations this year to places close to home, but our big trip was to Madeira, Portugal in September. What a beautiful island in the Atlantic. We had a wonderful time exploring every little nook and cranny this little piece of paradise had to offer...soaking in the culture, the wonderful food and the extremely friendly people. Unfortunately the island is overrun with tourists and cruise ships. Definitely worth seeing once but we don't need to go back. We love to travel...just don't like crowds. 

Our kids are doing well and our grandchildren are growing up way too fast. They are all in school now and so fun to be with. We enjoy spending time with them and love that they can now text us to share their thoughts and accomplishments with us. We hope the new year brings everyone good health, good fortunes and wonderful adventures.

June 24 -29 A Busy Week

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

Our busy week started out with a trip to Poe Paddy State Park to do a little biking. The park is on the site of the former lumber town of Poe Mills. Poe Mills was part of the lumber boom that swept through the wooded mountains of Pennsylvania from the mid-to-late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The bike trail is on an old railroad bed of the Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad. The trail head starts near the old town of Poe Mills then crosses a footbridge over Penn’s Creek. Just beyond the bridge is a former railroad tunnel carved into the rock face...it's the main attraction on this trail. As we could feel a cool breeze coming out of the tunnel as we approached. It felt so nice. After the tunnel we continued on the trail for about three miles until it met up with the Mid-State Trail near Cherry Run. From there we returned on the same trail back to our car.  

The footbridge at the beginning of the trail.

The tunnel entrance on the northwestern side near the parking lot. Poe Paddy Tunnel was a railroad tunnel built in the late 1800s and abandoned in the 1970s.

On the southeastern side of the tunnel there are slits that allow bats to enter and exit a totally separate area of the tunnel.

The tunnel was very dark, but my iPhone took a pretty good picture.

There were quite a few boulder fields along the trail.

The trail

We enjoyed our lunch along a little creek in the park.

Our view for lunch.

The view from the road up to Poe Paddy State Park.

On Wednesday The Great Race came through Lewisburg and stopped at the park for lunch. We have boating friends that are in this year's race, so it was fun to see them and find out more about this event. The Great Race is a classic car rally that involves driving vintage automobiles across the United States. The objective is to arrive at each checkpoint at the correct time, not the fastest. The score for each team is the result of the team's ability to follow the designated course instructions precisely. Every second off the perfect time (early or late) at each checkpoint is a penalty point. The cars must be at least 45 years old and use original factory parts, and no smart phones, maps or GPSs are allowed. Each team is made up of a driver and a navigator. 

This year's 9 day race covers 2,300 miles from Owensboro, KY to Gardiner, ME. The racers will travel through 19 cities in Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine.

Our friends Barbara and David in their 1973 Volkswagen Thing. This is their second year to participate. 

Each team receives instructions like this about 30 minutes before they are scheduled to leave. No maps, sometimes no name of roads or town...just instructions on where to turn next and how fast to drive. It looked difficult and a bit stressful to me.

These are just a few of the racers we saw. This year there were over 135 teams.

The local antique car club had lots of vehicles around for everyone to see also. It was truly a real event and lots of people turned out to welcome the racers.

On Friday I went to Bloomsburg and picked up Cora. We had a fun evening chasing lightning bugs or are they fireflies. She spent the night and went to the Pennsylvania Lavender Festival with me on Saturday. We enjoyed being together, but the festival left a little to be desired. Lots of craft booths and a few things to eat, but not much of a lavender field.

Sharing ice cream with Poppy.

There were hundreds of fireflies in our yard.