About the time this post goes live, I’ll probably be out to dinner with The Husband for our 22nd wedding anniversary. Or we will be home watching a movie together or something else relaxing.

At least that’s how I hope the day will go after a somewhat, but not really, busy week.

And hot week. Did I ever mention how much I hate the heat? I’m sure I haven’t mentioned that yet here on the blog, have I?

Not like 18 times in the last week? Nah. I haven’t. I’m sure.

Yes, I do have a case of sarcasticitis and have had that for years.

Anyhow, we did our best to cool off at the pool at my parents that Dad has worked so hard to keep clean and running, but it was so hot and Dad had added a heater to the pool, so a couple of times the water was super warm and not as refreshing as we expected. Luckily on one of those days the sun went behind the clouds, allowing the water to cool off some.

Little Miss and I were very excited that The Boy joined us one day. It was fun to see him like a kid again – just enjoying himself in the pool. I love to swim in the pool and look out at the view from my parents’ house on the hill.

I do realize how lucky we are to have that view.

On Thursday, we traveled to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon at the suggestion and invitation of my brother.

The Pennsylvania Grand Canyon is, of course, not the “real” Grand Canyon but it does offer a beautiful view and nice hiking trails.

The canyon is also called Pine Creek Gorge and begins in a town called Asonia along Route 6 in Pennsylvania and travels 47 miles. Two overlooks – one in Leonard Harrison State Park and another in Colton Point State Park – offer the best views of the Canyon, according to the Visit Potter and Tioga County website.

We visited Leonard Harrison State Park, which is the easiest place to see the view from.

They have remodeled the visitors center there, adding a gift shop and very small conservation center.

The parking area was widened and a roundabout added to allow for drop offs from busses and for disabled people, but the building itself wasn’t that overwhelming to me – even though it is nice.

The new gift shop is quite small, but many of the items offered there are produced locally. There is a small area that focuses on conservation and hopefully they will eventually expand that. Little Miss enjoyed handling the turtle shell and seeing the spine of it and then telling me all about how a turtle’s spine is actually attached to the shell itself. She then told me that one of the pelts there is a coyote, but I believe one was a raccoon and the other was a red fox.

I took a photo of an ad they had on display in the conservation area after the expression of the one little girl in the photo caused me to burst into laughter.

Not only does she look like she’s completely over hiking but she actually looks sort of like I did as a kid and that’s how I always looked when I had to hike. I don’t know if I had the heart issues as a kid that I was diagnosed with as a teenager (it was a rapid heartbeat and I have it from time to time now but it is much better) but I hated hiking. I did get tired out easily but I also found it terribly boring. I have never been someone who enjoys hikes so not only does that kid’s expression remind me of myself then but it reminds me of myself now.

And, for the record, I didn’t like to hike even when I was a skinny kid and teen!

Another really cool new addition to the overlook is a viewfinder that allows people who are colorblind to see the fall foliage. Yes, the view from there in the fall is mind blowing. I would like to go there again this fall even though the drive was two hours because of a detour we had to take thanks to a bridge that was damaged by an oversized load.

My son will be 18 this year and I think he was about 8 or 9 when I was at the overlook last.

He and my dad have been there since then because they went biking there on trails that are at the bottom of the canyon.

The site was designated a national landmark in 1968 and in addition to the overlook there are walking trails to waterfalls, or overlooks, bike trails, and camping sites.

When I was a teenager, we visited there with my uncle who was deathly afraid of heights and he refused to look at the view. He really missed out but I can’t blame him. He did stand back a bit and look out some so he didn’t totally close his eyes or anything.

My husband isn’t a huge fan of heights but he could handle this since there are sturdy railings in front of it.

Before we went to the canyon, my brother took us to this cute country store in – well, the country.

The Stony Fork County Store is a Mennonite-run store with amazing deli meats and subs and a great selection of foods sourced from Pennsylvania and other places. My brother purchased subs, drinks, and chips for us and I grabbed some fresh cantaloupe, ginger snap cookies, and candy for Little Miss. I tried not to look too long in the store because I know I would have purchased even more homemade goodies.

The store was actually built in 1883 as a store, hotel and residence. From 1930 to 1980 it was operated by one family and now it is operated by a Mennonite family who recently expanded it.

We took the food up to the canyon and ate it at a picnic table inside the main gate.

After we left the canyon we stopped by the park in town and visited the Wynken, Blynken, and Nod fountain, which is a statue and fountain built and installed in the park in Wellsboro in 1938 in memory of a woman named Elizabeth Cameron Bailey by her husband Fred Bailey.

The statue is a recreation of the original sculpture designed by Mabel Landrum Torrey that is located in Denver, Colorado. Torrey designed the sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago, but donated the original one to the mayor of Denver, who liked it so much that he commissioned a marble one and in 1918 it was installed in the children’s of Washington Park in that city. The sculpture was inspired by the poem by Eugene Field who wrote more than 500 poems for children.

Fred and Elizabeth Bailey were Wellsboro natives who moved to Colorado after marrying in 1892. They spent their married life in Denver where Fred became a senator and a major stockholder in Cripple Creek gold mines as well as the Brown Palace Hotel. After Elizabeth died, Fred commissioned a bronze replica of Torrey’s sculpture to be installed on the green in Wellsboro.

It was dedicated in 1938 and Torrey was in attendance.

Now the sculpture and fountain are the centerpiece of the town and a wonderful place to simply sit and listen to the water and enjoy the park.

I sat and enjoyed the fountain for a few minutes while the rest of the family walked to the old-fashioned candy store on Main Street.

After they visited there, we stopped by the town library, where my brother works as a staff member (mainly cataloguing books). It was my brother’s day off so he didn’t actually go with us, preferring to stay away until he actually had to go to work.

The Husband picked up a cozy mystery for me from the books on sale out front and then we headed over to my brother’s to give my sister-in-law a quick hug before heading home.

She wasn’t able to go to the canyon with us because she needed to sleep for her job as a county 911 dispatcher.

Our drive home was wet as the dark clouds that had threatened rain all day opened up and finally drenched the area with much needed rain. It continued to rain for most of the night, which may be why our weather was a little cooler yesterday.

That cooler weather helped when we met a local homeschooling family at a park along a creek in the town my husband works in. We met them to get in preparation for a homeschooling co-op we plan to join this upcoming school year.

Little Miss had a blast exploring the creek and it was fun to see children being children without devices or a TV.

Tomorrow we will probably visit my parents, go swimming, and make some s’mores.

How was your week last week? Do anything exciting or interesting? Let me know in the comments.