Shohola Falls

Heading south on 6 after Friendly Acres on our way home, , we stopped at Shohola Falls.  At one parking area, you can see a deep ravine, and further west are the rapids.

 

Oh, no, guys!  Don't go any further!  You'll fall off!

 

The rapids below

 

A little kid's shoe on the other side of the fence barrier to the ravine.  We hoped it was only a shoe that was lost!

 

Plish & I at the ravine fence

Bob & Plish at the top of the trail to the rapids

 

John & Bob on the path to the water

 





Part of the rapids

Plish

 



 

The lake that feeds the dam and rapids



Friendly Acres & Shohola Falls

After Grey Towers, John and Plish wanted to drive further north to see the summer house they used to own about 30 minutes north of Milford. in  a development called Friendly Acres.

Wild turkeys on the road into Friendly Acres

Their seasonal  homestead at 101 Twins Lakes Rd

Blurry zoom view of 2 deer at the back of the house.  They were so still they looked like statutes until they got spooked and white underside of their tails flared as they took off.



 

 

Grey Towers Oct 30 2014

From the Water Wheel, we drove to Grey Towers, an historic site, in Milford which is the mansion once owned by Gifford Pinchot, two time governor of Pennsylvania and the first director of the Forest Service.  The estate encompasses a total of 303 acres and 48 buildings in all.  We were too late for the guided tour through the mansion, but we enjoyed our walking tour around the grounds of the main residence.

 

The property was dedicated as an institute for conservation studies by JFK 2 months before his death in 1963.

 

Beautiful arrangements of flowers and gourds were positioned everywhere.

And towers covered with ivy

 

John & Plish viewing an album that showed exterior "then and now" photos" of the estate.  Check out the window shutters...why did they have a quarter moon carved in them?  Wasn't that a sign for an outhouse?

 

Bob says, "Now, this is a door!" looking at the heavy carved wood and iron door handle and hinges.

 

and I say, "Now this is a comfortable seat!"

 

More fall arrangements

 

The back view of the mansion

 

Plish & John at the upper garden

A closer look at the upper garden.  There were stone/concrete sculptures of turkeys on the garden walls.  On the horizon is New Jersey near High Point.

This is part of the moat that was around the mansion

And this is the plaque outside the "finger bowl" which was an outside dining area designed by Gifford Pinchot's wife, Cornelia.

 

This is the arched entry to the finger bowl

and this is the finger bowl.  I wondered out loud if anyone got so drunk he/she ended up falling into it.

But one of the docents who was nearby overheard me and assured us that the Pinchots were tea-totalers; and although Gifford's brother-in-law who lived on the estate was not, there is no record of anyone diving into the bowl.  Frankly, I think what happens in Grey Towers stays in Grey Towers.  On a side note to 6 degrees of separation, the guide was wearing an FSU hat, and turns out he grew up in Ft Myers and has served at 17 different national park sites.

 

 

 

 







Wednesday &Thursday Oct 2014

Bob and I planned on going to the cemetery in Clifton on Wednesday, plus we had some other things to take care of,  like getting a new tire for the truck because he noticed we had a huge gash in one that was so deep you could see the steel cords (we apparently had run over something sharp, but we were lucky in that the tire had rolled to a stop where he could see the gash); getting  dog food for Charlie Dog; doing laundry; and picking up Bob's cell phone which he had left at the billiards hall in Dover on Tuesday afternoon.  We felt as though we had run around all day without really doing anything.  Driving around on Rte 23 and 46 from Milton to Clifton and back again is almost a full time job!  However, on Thursday, we planned an outing with our friends Plish and John, who drove up from Bloomfield.  We used to love to go to the Blue Ribbon restaurant on Rte 206 at Culvers Lake, but it had closed down, so Plish suggested we go to Milford, PA, about a half hour further from Culvers Lake.  The game plan was to have lunch and visit Grey Towers, and maybe one of the falls up in that area.

Since Plish thought a good choice would be the Water Wheel Café, we stopped there first since it closed at 2.  Good choice since we got there in time for Bob to have a breakfast plate and the food scenery and service were  A+.  After, we stopped at a little re-sale store across the way, plus the "country store" above the restaurant, both of which had a variety of unique items.

 

John & Bob at the café sign

Creek at the Water Wheel

 

John, Plish & I 

 

The "special Olympics bear" outside the re-sale store.



 

 

The store owner of the Country Store at Milford who told us her bruised face was  made her up for by her son for  Mischief Night, since today was October 30th.  Halloween is really a big deal up here.

 





 



And I guess it is.  Here is Bob getting into the spirit!

 

The country store had several game areas...this one was a track on which a wooden ball could roll down.

Piggy

 



  John, Bob, and I outside the country store with a photo op of allegedly the largest rooster in Milford, PA.  The owner of the country store made it clear to us that it was the  biggest (4 letter synonym for rooster beginning with c and ending with k) in town.

 

Mahlon Reservation - Our home base for the next 14 days

On Monday, we drove down from the Branchville park to Mahlon Dickerson Reservation, a Morris County park, in Milton, NJ, that we've stayed at for several years.  We will be here until November 10th.  Monday night, my cousins Carol & Nelson invited us to their house for dinner for delicious "Chachee Gen" burgers...one of my mother's recipes that we all love, and that Carol makes better than I do.  Tuesday, Bob and I had some errands to run, then later we went to cousins Adele & Michael's house where Adele hosted dinner for us plus Carol, Nelson, and their daughter Annie.  Adele magically whipped up cheese, cracker, and quacamole dip appetizers, then served a very tasty dinner of baked ham, topped off with an apple tort.  As Annie commented, "Aunty Adele always provides us with delights at the dinner table."

 

View from the kitchen  window of our trailer onto the park

 

Annie wants you to guess which is a potato and which one a rock?  The rock is in her right hand.  Adele found it in the bag of potatoes she had bought.  Good thing she realized it wasn't a potato before trying to roast it!

 

Carol is very good at Jeopardy, and Nelson and her kids encouraged her to do the computer try out to be a contestant.  However, she froze at taking the test.  This is Nelson's rendition of a "frozen" Carol.

 

Since Adele had prepared the meal, Michael did the clean up. However, he sliced his finger while washing a knife.  Elevate your arm and apply pressure to the cut, Michael!!!







Atlantic City to Branchville Oct 2014

Our stay in Atlantic City was really uneventful.  It began raining right after we got to the Shady Pines Campground and rained for two days.  Friday the rained stopped, but it was still somewhat overcast.  So, we spent the time shopping, doing laundry, and having some down time reading.  Bob did go to the billiards hall he found last time we were here.  The owner remembered him, which was quite a surprise.  Friday we drove into Atlantic City proper, but we didn't feel like going into the casinos or on the boardwalk.  Saturday morning we took 30 to 206 to the turnpike to 287 to 80 to 15 50 206 to 519 to reach Kymer Campgrounds in Branchville...very near the northeastern border of PA and southwestern border of NY state.  We are here for two days, and then we will move to Mahlon Reservation where we usually stay.  The stay there is limited to 2 weeks, and we needed to be in Jersey longer than that in order to meet up with friends of mine from high school and college days who are in town from Danville, CA to attend a reunion.

 

Pool and playground area of Shady Pines

 

                                Gold building of the Borgata Resort in Atlantic City on far left

Northern end of the boardwalk

 

Wind turbines on the outskirts of the city along Route 30

Absecon Wildlife Refuge on Rte 30 just north of Atlantic City



View from the back of our trailer at Kymer Campground in Branchville



 Side and back of our space, with Bob getting a  campfire started

Long time friends Elly & Gil Menegus.  We met them at the Marriot in Saddle Brook where they were staying for Gil's 50th high school reunion from Pope Pius.  The last time I saw them was at my nephew Jeff's wedding in 2007.  It was the first time Bob met them.

Elly and me