Ben was right...meh... The festival reminded me of Columbus Farmer's Market on a Saturday. About 70% of the vendors are supporting the Chinese economy by offering worthless trinkets. That being said, we did have a nice day.
We ended up parking quite a ways away because we got there around 10:15 and the lots were all full. We sought out what little there was to see involving cranberries (fresh berries, jams, etc...) and checked out some of the other junk. I bought two bottles of wine from the Valenzano winery-the samples were great! I think I'll get another bottle of cranberry wine for Thanksgiving dinner because I'm sure the two I have now will be gone by then. I second Ben's thoughts about the band. They had a great repitoire from Skynyrd to Hank Jr. to George Strait. It was also nice to see the progess made on the Inn so far. One other plus was the fact that I got drool over one of the newer forest fire service "brushbusters" parked near the firehouse. My girlfriend agreed that the truck would fit me perfectly.
All in all it was a beautiful day to be out in the pines. After the festival got too crowded we drove to Batsto to walk around. I hadn't been there in at least 10 years and she had never been. It's nice to see all of the progress that's been made there in that time. We took the mansion tour which I highly recommend. The inside of the house has really been restored well, and the view from the tower is awesome! Looking to the east I could swear that I could just barely see the Borgata on the horizon. I think I may be slowly turning a skylands girl towards the pines. Finally-did anyone from here leave from Batsto to hike around 2:00 PM on Saturday? When we pulled in I saw a bunch of guys with packs, walking sticks, etc...getting geared up and ready to go-one had a Ford Focus. I thought about asking if they were from the site, but then felt awkward and walked on. :v:
On Sunday I got called into work which killed my morning. I was really looking forward to the cleanup, but duty calls :jeffd: Anyway, I got off at 1:00 and we ended up going to Washington's Crossing State Park in Titusville in northern Mercer County. It's a beautiful area of the Delaware which I highly recommend to anyone who's ever around the Lambertville/Hopewell area. The New Jersey side is very scenic, but the visitor's center is lacking. For a good tour park on the Jersey side and walk west towards the river. There's a pedestrian walkway that takes you over the highway to where the old D&R canal parallels the river. From there you can use the pedestrian walkway along the side of the Washington's Crossing bridge to cross the Delaware into Pennsylvania. Standing in the middle and looking north and south is pretty neat. The Pennsylvania side's visitors center is much nicer and informative. You can also get a glimpse of the boats the reenactors use to recreate the crossing every Christmas day.
So that was our weekend...hopefully after election day I'll be spending more Sundays in the pines!
We ended up parking quite a ways away because we got there around 10:15 and the lots were all full. We sought out what little there was to see involving cranberries (fresh berries, jams, etc...) and checked out some of the other junk. I bought two bottles of wine from the Valenzano winery-the samples were great! I think I'll get another bottle of cranberry wine for Thanksgiving dinner because I'm sure the two I have now will be gone by then. I second Ben's thoughts about the band. They had a great repitoire from Skynyrd to Hank Jr. to George Strait. It was also nice to see the progess made on the Inn so far. One other plus was the fact that I got drool over one of the newer forest fire service "brushbusters" parked near the firehouse. My girlfriend agreed that the truck would fit me perfectly.
All in all it was a beautiful day to be out in the pines. After the festival got too crowded we drove to Batsto to walk around. I hadn't been there in at least 10 years and she had never been. It's nice to see all of the progress that's been made there in that time. We took the mansion tour which I highly recommend. The inside of the house has really been restored well, and the view from the tower is awesome! Looking to the east I could swear that I could just barely see the Borgata on the horizon. I think I may be slowly turning a skylands girl towards the pines. Finally-did anyone from here leave from Batsto to hike around 2:00 PM on Saturday? When we pulled in I saw a bunch of guys with packs, walking sticks, etc...getting geared up and ready to go-one had a Ford Focus. I thought about asking if they were from the site, but then felt awkward and walked on. :v:
On Sunday I got called into work which killed my morning. I was really looking forward to the cleanup, but duty calls :jeffd: Anyway, I got off at 1:00 and we ended up going to Washington's Crossing State Park in Titusville in northern Mercer County. It's a beautiful area of the Delaware which I highly recommend to anyone who's ever around the Lambertville/Hopewell area. The New Jersey side is very scenic, but the visitor's center is lacking. For a good tour park on the Jersey side and walk west towards the river. There's a pedestrian walkway that takes you over the highway to where the old D&R canal parallels the river. From there you can use the pedestrian walkway along the side of the Washington's Crossing bridge to cross the Delaware into Pennsylvania. Standing in the middle and looking north and south is pretty neat. The Pennsylvania side's visitors center is much nicer and informative. You can also get a glimpse of the boats the reenactors use to recreate the crossing every Christmas day.
So that was our weekend...hopefully after election day I'll be spending more Sundays in the pines!
