September 28 & 29 our visit in State College

What can we say, the hospitality extended to us was great!!!  Rich went all out and baked about 6 dozen cinnamon rolls.  Then we got to meet their two daughters and 5 grandkids!  What a house full.  They had the youngest, Finn, who is an 11 month old toddler, for the afternoon and through the night.  Barb and Rich kept busy entertaining him.  For some reason, he didn't know what to think of me.  We had a large breakfast on Sunday morning and then off to the big city to get bicycle parts, as I needed a new rear shifter. 

They had a set of shifters (front and back), but I only needed the back, so they broke the set for me.  I must've liked those guys as when we got home I realized they gave me the front, not the rear...... oh well, back to the store, but we got er done.  

This is an attempt at sunset in the back yard

 

Sue is a docent for the Penn State Arboretum, so we got a tour!  so enjoy the pics....

This is a map of the watershed in western PA

This is really neat, they had a kids area.  They had things to do like sail cork boats down a small manmade creek.

here the kids could make cairns (rock piles) used for communications and route markings

Grub worms?????

how did that get in

overgrown kale

sun dial, but it was a cloudy day so no time

Our own docent hard at work

This is cool, the Latin word is shower head plant.  notice the flower below and the bud behind looks like a shower head 

now do these three look like happy campers or what??????  I think they met some 4 (0) years ago at camp

And now off to the daughters house to look at the "Tree House"First the wildlife

The tarp is the first floor!!!  This thing was amazing, definitely and "dad and granddad" project

So now part of the story I haven't told yet.  We were trying to figure out how to get from State College to Pittsburgh.  Getting there was doable, but Rich mentioned that he was going to his cabin for golf and it wasn't too far from the GAP (Greater Allegheny Passage) which is the trail we are going to take from Pittsburgh to DC.  This way we would ride 60 miles to Pittsburgh first, visit friends, then back down the trail the other way.  We thought about the offer (at least 2 seconds)  and next thing poor Rich realizes is his truck is full of our junk :>)   Must be a friend of Barbs cuz I don't have friends that would do that....  ;>)

We stopped by Camp Soles the "place where it all started"

Then off to a country dinner and a nights sleep in the cabin. 
As we take this ride to the trail, we start to wonder if we will make it back to Greensboro within our allotted time.  We definitely want to do the GAP and C&O trail (the Potomac tow path) which will get us to DC.  Then we figure how to get back to our car in Greensboro.  We know of one individual who, in a moment of weakness, said he would come pick us up....so that might be an option.  There are always options.  Things to think about in our sleep - good night.