Birthday Weekend in the Poconos

For my birthday weekend, Mike planned a fabulous weekend in the Poconos mountains - about 1 hour north of home for us. We had a great time! We stayed in a town called Jim Thorpe which was an old coal mining town - and the town has lost none of its charm since its heyday more than 100 years ago! We stayed an a beautiful old B&B that was walking distance to everything in town and right next to the old church so we could hear the bells ringing on Sunday morning. 

Birthday cake made by our B&B owner - how thoughtful!

View from our B&B front door...you can't see it but first up is a great little winery!

We spent the weekend exploring town - walking and taking a train ride through the valley. It felt a lot like being in northern Minnesota when we took a hike to some local waterfalls. It was a great weekend - and we are already looking forward to going back to catch another season in this beautiful town.

Post-train ride

Beautiful waterfalls after a great hike

The town is in the distance - nestled into the valley

We stopped at an Absinthe bar in town - this water contraption melted a sugar cube into the drink...very unusual!

New art!

Last weekend started with picking up our new art. We found it at my favorite coffee shop. It's a local artist using mixed media on a picture of boathouse row - just down the Schuylkill River from us!

 

Now, we just need to find the right spot on our walls for this new piece!

We've been busy!

We've been having fun, and I've been bad on my blogging upkeep!

In the last two weeks, we've really enjoyed the city of Philadelphia. 2 weekends ago, we met with Mike's co-worker and his friends at a local craft beer festival. (Anyone else ever been to a Living Social event? Very cool!) It was a fun time - and the thunderstorms we were supposed to have stayed away for a beautiful summery day, perfect for an outdoor festival. The fest was located in the NE part of Philly - an area we'd never been before. It was very cool/hipster, with lots of fun shops and restaurants. It's definitely on our list of places to check out more in the future!

We lucked out after the festival and got reservations at Amada - one of the best tapas restaurants in Philly. And it lived up to it's name! It's not often I take a picture of food, but I felt the restaurant deserved it...and then I promptly got lost in a food coma and forgot to take any of the best stuff!

Creamy cheese with apples and strawberries in balsamic...and an incredible tuna dip

This past weekend, there were more city wide festivals going on (apparently, this will happen all summer - yay!), so we went to the Rittenhouse Square festival which actually blocked off major streets of Center City for pedestrians, food tents, and the like.

We also got to a Phillie's game last weekend - I'm officially a Phanatic fan! The mascot is pretty hilarious. The sports complexes of Philly are all in one area south of the city - really well thought out - and we had a great time at the stadium.

Both of these new areas of town required that we used the city metro for the first time. We're pros at the train now, but new to the metro system - more firsts!

Then on Monday, we had our first visitor! My wonderful friend Cassie was in town for a medical convention, and stayed with us on Monday and spent her Tuesday evening with us in the city. We had a great time (come back soon!).

Delaware

Last weekend we took a trip to Delaware - about a 2 hour drive. Our main reason for going was to visit Mike's new favorite brewery: Dogfish Head. Mike wrote all about it on his blog

outside the brewery - interesting "tree house"

We had a lot of fun touring the brewery. Dogfish Head also has a brewpub in Rehoboth Beach, so we went there afterwards for dinner. The city is great - right on the Atlantic with a classic boardwalk. It was a cool, windy day, but lots of sunshine, so we could enjoy walking around the downtown enjoying the shops and views.

View from the boardwalk

We stayed at a great little motel - a bit of a dive, but perfect for one night. Overall, we had a great weekend. We're really enjoying being SO close to some really interesting places (and the ocean!), and are looking forward to seeing more this summer!

Foodshow

Reaping the benefits of Mike going to sales foodshows...anybody hungry? (Or thirsty for that matter??)

Spring!

The sunbathers agree: our backyard is pretty awesome!