In need of some family connection time, we took ourselves on a two day, one night getaway. It was the best. Week-long vacations have their place, but an overnight trip is so easy to pull off that it might be my new favorite. Or maybe it was easy to pull off because I let Husband do most of the planning?!
Day 1.
Loaded up. Pitt stop for donuts. Note bikes on the back. Husband fit a bike trailer and 3 kid bikes in the trunk Tetris-style. Our bikes were outside on the carrier that arrived just in time for the trip.
Second pitt stop to share the donuts and snuggle this newest cousin and tighten the bike carrier if it had jiggled loose.
Third pitt stop in Centralia to see the abandoned, graffiti highway. It was a disappointment to find piles of dirt on it instead! We had hoped to stop here on our way home to ride bikes for a break in the car. Good thing we checked on the way out.
Made it to Jim Thorpe. Bought train tickets for the 1pm train since we'd arrived earlier than expected. Zoomed to the trail head and pep talked the kids the whole way through the 4 miles of AWESOME trail because we were SERIOUSLY cutting it close.
Made it! barely. but with enough time to use the porta pottie first! (later found out there's a bathroom on the train 🙄)
Charles realizing he's not sitting with Mama. We were lucky to get seats close together. Maybe I had assumed our tickets had seat numbers? They didn't. And you need a bit of a cluster of empty seats to sit a family of 6 together.
Ticket Puncher in official uniform 😊
Why yes, they did warn us that the windows are 100 years old and may fail at any point.
cuties on a train. The train goes out and back on the same rail so when you reach half-way, everybody stands up and turns their seat around while the engine passes us to hook up to the caboose! The kids complained of the whistle being too loud on the way back (we had started out in the back which became the front).
Explored the town a bit in search of sustenance. Note to selves: pack cliff bars next time! So set out on the trail again back to the car. This trail is seriously the funnest. It has gullys and ditches that make you feel like a mountain bike professional but that 4 year old Ozzie and the bike trailer could handle with ease. Our favorite parts were the two places a small creek crossed the trail and you had the option of going through water or over a small bridge. Some of us did get wet feet. 😉
Near the trailhead, we found an apothecary shoppe and each had a cone. Our cute kids are happy to share with each other to taste other flavors.
And across from the Apothecary Shoppe was a town square park with a gazebo which felt straight out of Stars Hollow.
Of course the hotel pool was the kids' favorite part. Here's breakfast after squeezing ourselves into one hotel room for the night (not our best sleep - but it's only one night!). Note the lack of protein which will lead to whining soon.
We swam for the hour between pool opening and check out and then headed out to explore a new part of the Lehigh Gorge Trail we loved so much the day before.
Unfortunately this stretch of trail was much more boring - no hills or small rocks to bump over, no streams to cross. This video shows the most exciting part - a water fall. With no exciting destination and 15 miles of trail, the whining set in early and although I am quite skilled at pep talks, we only made it 5 miles out before we had to turn back to appease the hungry bellies (REMEMBER those cliff bars next time!). That made a total of 10 miles for the day, which we were still proud of.
Wise Husband brought bungy cords and was able to strap Ozzie's bike to the trailer and squeeze him in beside his baby brother. This gave our 4 year-old a short break before the two had a fight which included biting and Os decided he could ride again. While he was aboard, Husband rushed ahead to finish first and start loading up the car. Our eldest challenged herself to keep up with Dad and succeeded! That left Lucy and I to entertain ourselves on this boring trail. We found this friend who blended in with the leaves. We also found some small logs on the side of the trail to bump over. We eventually all made it back and commenced the trip home.
The main problem with short trips is that they leave you wanting more. So we're planning to do more of these in the future! We've already got some ideas for Lititz and Philly. :)
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