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3/31/2007
Bushkill Falls is a small tourist attraction in the Pocono mountains
in Pennsylvania. It is about 90 miles from my home, and takes a
bit less than two hours to get there. Today (Saturday March 31,
2007) was opening day at Bushkill Falls. The last time I visited
was about 9 or 10 years ago. At the time my youngest daughter was
around 2 or 3, the oldest girl was living in Florida, and my son hadn't
been thought of. Since the weather forecast for today was very
nice, and we had a bunch of cold, rotten weather for the past several
weeks, I decided that we would take the kids to see Bushkill Falls.
We left home at 7:00 in the morning, and arrived at
Bushkill right around 8:30. The gates open at 9:00, so we had some
time to burn. A short way back down the road from the falls, there
is a convenience store. We drove back there, and bought a box of
donuts, since several of the family members were still a bit hungry.
By the time we ate our donuts, and had a drink, we got back to the gates
just as the workers were getting ready to unlock and open for the day.
We were the first ones in the gate. After using the restrooms, we
bought our tickets for the falls, and were in the trails a few minutes
after 9:00.
Because it was so early in the season, and had been
very cold recently, there was a significant amount of ice on some of the
trails, so some of the trails remained closed, and it was not possible
to access some of the falls. To compensate us for that, Bushkill
Falls issued us a pass to return to the falls free any day during their
normal operating season. I thought that was a great offer, and I'm
looking forward to returning.
We began hiking, and decided to take the longest trail
that was open. At approximately 2 miles, it was a long hike.
We saw many animal tracks, and had a great hike together. With the
spring thaw in full swing, the main falls had plenty of water, and
looked awesome. We finished hiking all of the open trails at
around 12:00, and headed out to the picnic area to BBQ some lunch.
While we were cooking lunch, the kids went down to the newly installed
playground for a while.
After lunch, we packed up the cooking stuff, and headed
towards the shops. This is when we realized that only the main
gift shop was open. I was somewhat disappointed, as I had intended
to take the kids to the fudge kitchen to watch fudge being made, and
then buy them ice cream, and go through the wildlife, and Indian
exhibits. We went through the gift shop, and the kids each picked
out something. When we finished in the gift shop, we took the kids
back to the playground for a while, and then started the drive home.
On the way home we stopped at
Keystone Fireworks in Matamoras PA, and bought a bunch of sparklers
and smoke balls for the kids. They are MUCH less expensive there
than they are here in NY. All in all we had a great day, and are
looking forward to returning! |