Author Archives: Lori Lombardo

a drive north

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This weekend I spent time driving up to Syracuse NY to visit my brother for his first Family Weekend! From Lafayette, it is about a 3 hour drive, mostly along I-80 and I-81. There were two times on the way up that I wanted to stop, get out, and take pictures, and relax while watching nature. The first was traveling through Wind Gap. I left at 7 in the morning, so there was still fog in places, especially through Wind Gap. The clouds were still hanging in the valleys! It looked so pretty – and reminded me of Iceland because there, the clouds are always getting stuck on the mountains. As I continued my drive, I drove through rocks and found myself wondering their geologic history and composition because they looked so neat. Along the way I also passed the exit for the lignite museum – which is coal. This was near Scranton and I couldn’t help but think that would have been interesting to stop at, but I was alone, and on a schedule.

The place I really wanted to stop at the most, was between Tobyhanna State Park and Wayne, PA. Here the trees were changing color already, and many were bright red. There was a field among the forest, and it looked almost as if there had been a wildfire in the somewhat recent past. The underbrush was very dense and the trees had very little branches except at the tops. A little further up, there was a beautiful lake, being advertised as part of a sporting area used for ‘sporting weekends’. On the other side there was a small dock, and a car there. I wanted more than anything to hang out at this pond/lake for a bit and see what else was around there. I remember from Bio 102 that Tobyhanna has a different climate to it, and at this time of the year, just driving through, you could tell it was definitely different from the areas north and south of it. It would have been a great place to hike!

It is odd to see such a natural place on either side of a highway where the speed limit is 70. Everyone bolts past the beauty. The area has been altered for the highway, and not many people would even pay attention to the wilderness that is left, and there wasn’t even a place to pull off to soak it all in. Its sad to think the beauty is being ignored.

Story of Place – Bushkill Park

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Jackie, Jeremy and I are working with the Bushkill park for our story of place project. We visited our site once so far, and found it to be private property, protected by fences and gates. From the outside we could tell it was in a place that could have been effected by flooding, and we hope to research further into that. This location also has a lot of human history. In researching the location, Jackie came across an episode of American Pickers (on the history channel) on the Bushkill park! Using this video we are able to get a peek into the inside of the park without actually going in. We are still hoping to get in touch with the owner to find a way to have a tour or for us to go in with permission. To do this, Jackie is emailing the reporter of an article about the park in hopes that he can direct us to the owner.

Because we couldn’t head into the actual park, we decided to walk near the creek, there is a part of the bike trail running next to it. On one side of the path was the Bushkill, then the road and houses. The other side ran along backyards. The side wit the creek, has been a designated wilderness preserve, which we found very interesting, as it doesn’t protect much, especially with a road and houses being next to it. The backyards on the other side had large trees, but you could tell it used to be a forest. There were piles of stuff (branches, leaves, etc) nicely sorted on the grass, and the grass itself was well manicured. Even though the houses aren’t very visible, we know it is someones property.

American Pickers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay8zfyRpHGM
(I tried to upload this with pictures multiple times but it wouldn’t seem to post with them, next time (when there are more than two pictures) I’ll have them all uploaded to an online site and share the link)

Floating on the Water

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In preparation for Saturday’s kayaking trip, I felt it appropriate to reflect on my past experiences rafting and kayaking because they happen to be some of my favorite travel memories.
My first experience kayaking was in Spain, on the ocean. I was terrified I would drift off into the open ocean and get lost. I did not want to do it. I was 16. Of course I was able to get over the fear I had enough to get into the kayak and head out onto the water. Halfway to wear we were heading, a group of Spanish kids flipped us over. The kayak was so heavy we could barely get it to flip back over. I remember being amazed at how it was able to float (and how boats could float). The waves and the lack of sea floor below us made it all the more difficult, and brought be back to all the terrifying thoughts I was having earlier. After finally getting back into our kayak, we headed off to meet our class in peace. I had a new fear of the ocean but great trust in my life vest and kayak now. We didn’t go far before turning around to head back to shore.
A little more adventurous and outdoorsy the summer I turned 20 I spent a week on Lake George in New York. My family has a cabin there. Every morning, and sometimes again in the afternoon, my friend and I went out onto the lake in the kayaks. It was early summer so the lake was quiet. We saw many birds and admired the mountains. It was peaceful floating on the water.
A few weeks later, I landed myself in Costa Rica with my family, spending one day rafting down the Savage River. The water was so warm, the scenery was pristine. I couldn’t have been happier that day. Our guide taught us all about the history of the area, the people who lived there and he pointed out so many different animals on our trip down. He had grown up in the valley. Our guide also seemed to be one with the water, he knew how the waves and turbulence would effect the boat and even did tricks for us. The rapids were lower grade, generally level 3 but some were up to level 5, but I wasn’t at all afraid like I had been in the ocean. I was loving the ‘pura vida’ life.
There is nothing like being on a small floating kayak or raft to make you feel one with nature, or at least with the water. It is humbling to feel the power that is found in nature and to be able to work with it to become closer to it.