Surprise for a Melophile and Poking Around the Poconos

 July 18 - 26, 2022

Hop Bottom - Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

After getting a new camera cable I'm able to download the pics of the falls we saw, and didn't see, on our last day in Corning. 

Taughannock Falls - the tallest in New York at 215 feet, 33 taller than Niagara (about .5% of the flow)

Shequaga Falls behind a private home - we weren't looking for it.

Looking for and not finding Eagle Cliffs Falls.

One of three failed attempts to find Aunt Sarah's Falls 

After all the nice things I said about Hwy 86, Monday's drive east erases most of them - a rutted and bumpy trip most of the way into Pennsylvania. It's only a couple hours, and when we get to the last few miles Hwy 86 is looking pretty good in hindsight! Turning off Hwy 11 onto Forest Drive we make a 2-mile 12+% climb struggling in 2nd gear. Bill asks the inevitable - "Where the hell are you taking us?" 

Shore Forest Campground is tucked behind a small pond where campers are fishing from kayaks. At the office it doesn't look like there could be anywhere in this park of permanent set-ups that we could fit, but the owner leads us around a couple tight and narrow turns into an open area with plenty of space in our pull-through shady site. We're able to get level, but our satellite is a no-go. They do offer cable boxes included in the fee. 50 AMP FHUs for our three night stay. While the residents have filled in every inch of available space in their sites, all are well-maintained, and some are lovely. The owners are especially delightful - and they've been to Tombstone :-)))

The expected rain arrives about 6:00 and continues on and off all night. The morning is bright blue with big beautiful clouds that hang around all day.

If you look at the map you might agree with Bill's skepticism about where I've brought us! Aside from really liking the name and wanting to check it out, I have a surprise day trip planned for Bill. Our original route took us much closer, but when I made changes I wasn't willing to give up this adventure. So Tuesday morning we head northeast, for about 55 miles. Bill has no clue, he's going to be so surprised!!

I actually think he might have guessed when he wears his Rock and Roll HOF t-shirt (I'm wearing mine too), but it's just a fun coincidence. 

We spend 90 minutes on small country roads with lots of steep ups and downs, north back into New York state. Except for two gas stations, a single Dollar Store, and a large flooring store, we see nothing commercial. Lots of farms and vintage properties make for interesting views - it's a beautiful drive! About ten miles from our destination he notices a sign - Woodstock Highway, and I have to ask if he's guessed yet......

Bethany Woods Center for the Arts has transformed Yasgur's Farm into a beautiful outdoor concert venue with a two-story museum of the famous 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Festival, and other meeting and research space. Upon arrival I remember that just that morning I read Alanis Morrisette is playing here tonight as closed parking and other signage make finding our way more complicated. We could have bought tickets, but we haven't brought chairs or snacks, and aren't prepared for a five hour wait. It's also hot and humid - and we're wusses.

This is a must-see place for anyone who remembers the iconic event that was Woodstock. For an obsessed-classic-rock-fan with an electronic music collection of over 6000 albums, this is the holy grail. My surprise is a success - he's stoked :-) 

I'm impressed with how beautiful the displays are, following the chronology of the historic three days on a rural New York farm in the rain. The 21 minute film of the concert is at the end, but we head there first before perusing the exhibits. Glad we did as we learned how much we didn't know, or that we didn't remember at least!

Surprise!

Chronological exhibits of photos, artifacts and information lead us through the three days.

Several places on the festival grounds became impromptu messaging centers. I hope Cindy and Dan found each other!

The list of performers still blows my mind!

More than one bus and mini bus made their way to Yasgur's Farm - this one was actually there :-)

While we know this bus could tell a lot of stories from that time - it now tells the story of how 400,000 attendees and performers made their way to Bethel, New York, with a film that plays on the windshield. Sit in the bus for the ride.

Bill's favorite exhibit is the wall of panels about each performer in the order they performed - from Richie Havens to Jimi Hendrix. Really interesting is how many songs each played (from 3 to 21), the times they played (The Who played at 5 AM on Sunday morning!), and how long they were on stage (the final performer, Jimi Hendrix played the longest at over 2 hours). 

In addition to the concert grounds, the festival had a myriad of booths and camps in the surrounding woods. 

A recent addition to the Bethel Woods complex is a series of trails through the sites of the booths and camps that have been identified from photos taken during the festival.

The original concert location - this field made history in 1969.

It's late afternoon and we're hungry. Bill finds a local eatery with 4.8 stars. We laugh as we pull into the walk-up location. Too hungry to worry about the sketchy outdoor eating area, we have a decent meal. Ready to return home we realize we have no cell service, have no idea which way to go, and the Jeep's GPS isn't picking up what it needs to help. Soooo, we just head back the way we came and eventually find a signal. Gotta love not having a schedule to keep!

Only the best for Bill's special day!

Back home the park is very quiet, and we enjoy another dark and peaceful night.

Temps are rising and we hang out in our shady spot the next day. Thursday we make a short and bumpy drive to Stroudsburg in the Poconos. Another new area for us.

The final 3 miles to Pocono Vacation Park is on another not-meant-for-vehicles-over-4-feet-wide road. Thankfully oncoming cars are generous and we do make it <whew>. Thankfully a park worker sees that the site we're assigned is not going to work and immediately moves us into one that does. FHU 50 amp, all grass with open sky. Good to get satellite although with rising temps some shade would have been nice too.

Friday's 90 degrees means air conditioned activities. 

I use several websites for finding different things to see throughout our travels. Some I have listed in advance, others I find after we arrive. We head into New Jersey to check out a recommendation from Weird New Jersey. 

None of the regular street signs remain as people keep stealing them. They even grease this one to stop theft.

More than one story makes up the lore surrounding this 6 miles. Original residents were bandits who settled their differences with murder for over a decade. Also in the 1850's recurring incidents of malaria lead to a large number of deaths. 

The kind of place you can make up your own stories.

Along the road is Ghost Lake (of course), full of water lilies and small fish.

The toads hidden from view made us laugh every time it sounded like an old man saying "Hey!"

Surprised to see a herd of beautiful long-horns.

I'm betting their horns are 3 feet long :-)))

A late afternoon rain shower is a nice surprise that cools things down a bit back home. A not-so-nice surprise is a call from the park at our next stop. Apparently our reservation wasn't updated and they were expecting our arrival today - not what I want to hear when we're looking forward to Philadelphia, and also have packages already on their way there! This late in the season there are naturally now no openings for next week at that park. I appreciate that she tries a couple options that fail, and I'm especially grateful we didn't pull in there on Tuesday to learn we had no place to stay!

Un-phased by the campground drama, Tessa enjoys the rain.

The weekend is hot, hot, hot so with the exception of seeing Top Gun - Maverick at the theater, we close the blinds, crank up the AC, do some laundry, watch TV and read. So glad we're not forced by a schedule to be out and about on days like this.

 

Eeesh, triple digits!

After crossing all our fingers and toes over the weekend, we hear back from a campground not far from the original that they have a space for us - woohoo! With that glitch behind us, we spend our last day exploring the Poconos. Still hot, we meander backroads and take in some long views. We enjoy lots of beautiful homes and barns and gardens although there are few places to stop and capture photos. 

Skytop Lake

Skytop Lodge - one of many resorts where folks escape NYC to come play.

View of the Catskill Mountains from Camelback Mountain in Big Pocono State Park

To the east of the Plateau is Wind Gap

Closed on weekdays, when the Cattell Cabin was built in 1908 it remained unlocked for years for use by anyone needing shelter. Many names are carved in the large wood ceiling beams in the one room cabin. 

Layers of dense foliage.

Delaware River in the Delaware Water Gap.

A gnarly burl along the Smithfield Beach Trail.

Tuesday we continue south for a week in the Philadelphia area - hoping for wider roads and cooler temps!

Excited to see Penelope and Reese in a few weeks!

Ezra and Elliott making memories in Ezra's space ship from kindergarten.