Adventure post!
OK, so yesterday, I spent the day in French Creek State Park, in southeast Pennsylvania, in and around the smaller of its two lakes, called Scott's Run Lake.
I have been there before, and hiked and picnicked around the larger lake, but I hadn't been to the small lake before, so I am counting it for my New Year's Resolution, called "Adventures!" Part of it is to take Sophie, my dog, to 8 new walking locations, and Willow, my kayak, to four new floating locations.
Here's the lake!
We're standing on the dam here, so you can see it's not a huge lake, but it's nice. (If you are not familiar with Pennsylvania, we have very few natural lakes, but loads of lakes that were deliberately created by damming up streams.)
Here we are looking a little to the right:
That rocky bit in the lower corner is the dam; a lot of parks forbid you from walking on the dam itself--usually there's a walkway along the top--but this one you can go right out on it, and it's a popular fishing spot:
We started off with a hike around the lake, which was nice & not too difficult. Here is one of the three little streams which feeds the lake:
After the hike, we had a little picnic, which was a sandwich and chips for me, and dog biscuits and chips for Sophie:
Here is the picnic location:
That little bridge is going over the spillway where the water is let out of the lake.
The next activity was fishing! I didn't think that Sophie would want to climb down onto the dam, so we found a spot on the side, and Sophie found a shady spot to nap:
I did what I always do at first, which was try to set up multiple rods in holders and then become frazzled with trying to keep up with them all:
This is one of my grandpa's old ones that I got out of the shed during Easter at my grandma's. The reel is the one I bought at the charity shop; I have some of grandpa's reels, too, but I need to take them apart and clean and oil them.
After fishing, I got Sophie settled in the car with some water and a snack, and got Willow out on the water!
I saw this, which I think is possibly a beaver lodge?
I did not see the beaver, but I heard Chewing.
After the boating, Sophie and I had another little walk around the lake area, and then it was cookout time! I brought butter and seasonings for possible grilled trout, because I am optimistic, but I also brought a pack of hot dogs, because I am realistic.
Standard state-park grill:
Sophie waiting very patiently for hot dogs:
Almost ready!
Dinner is served:
Sophie's first one was gone in 5 seconds:
I made her wait until I had finished my first one before giving her her half of the third one.
After the cookout, Sophie was ready for a nap, but I decided to do just a tiny bit more fishing, and try out my novelty bobber which lights up:
It did indeed light up:
I did not catch any fish, but a small child complimented my on my cool bobber.
It lights up when it hits the water, then when you reel it in, it goes out maybe 10 or 15 seconds after it leaves the water. How does it know?!?
After that we drove home, and as we were turning onto our street, a downpour began, so our timing was almost perfect.
