Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all! Enjoy it and stay safe!

 

Finding a New Park to Visit

On our latest trip to the Poconos during our wedding anniversary weekend, we discovered a new spot to visit. We headed to the area's Welcome Center where we found a wealth of information of places to see in Pennsylvania. We found that there was a park, the largest in Scranton, called the Nay Aug Park which had a tree house that overlooked a gorge.

The David Wenzel Treehouse is the first of its kind in Pennsylvania and was opened in 2007. Overlooking Nay Aug Gorge, we were 150 feet above the park's valley creek!

After gazing down at the fall foliage and our spectacular view of the gorge, we headed down a path leading to the playground.

We had the playground to ourselves and the girls went wild running and playing!

 

After the girls had exhausted every piece of equipment in the playground, we headed back down a trail that led underneath the tree house. 

We gathered leaves along the way and enjoyed the bright Autumn scenery.

When we approached the tree house from beneath, there was a wedding party on the bridge! With bagpipes playing, the bridal party was having their pictures taken. Can you spot the bride up there?

A few of the wedding party caught our attention and were waving down to us! I wanted to shout up that today we were celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary, but I wasn't sure they would have heard me 150 feet below. I guess it just must be the perfect day to be married!

And, a perfect day it was... our day in the Nay Aug Park and that day 11 years ago in a little chapel in Las Vegas where I married my husband!

Halloween Countdown

The countdown has been on for some time now. Only 12 more days until Halloween! Eek!

I am furiously gathering pieces to put together some homemade costumes for the girls. I try to put together unique costumes each year according to each girls' wishes. I love the individual personality and creativity we can put into our own costume making and it has proven to be (at times) less costly than buying a manufactured costume from the stores.

I never posted the photos of the Halloween countdown box that I painted and papered from the wooden box my Dad crafted for us last winter. 

Here is the box in steps, ending with the finished product. The last photos are not as beautiful as I would like. I had to use a flash due to all the rainy weather we had in the first half of October.

The box IS exactly how I imagined and hoped it would be, though. I love it and the the girls are enjoying their candy tricks and treats they find each day of their countdown!

 

 

 

 

Sleepy Hollow Cemetary

I left you at the foot of The Old Dutch Church and Burying Grounds of Sleepy Hollow. This burying ground is where Ichabod sought refuge and the spot identified in The Legend as the final resting place of the Headless Horseman. In these burying grounds, we found many of the people who inspired Irving's characters in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is adjacent to this church and burying ground. The author of the famous tale, Washington Irving is buried in the southern end.

Here are some more photos of the cemetery:

 

 

 

 

Sweet little Kate loved running around and being outdoors. Her cousins were especially glad she came along for the trip as well!

Photo op with my brother, Joshua and his girlfriends. This was actually not staged besides me calling them to look at the camera. It was pretty much what he had to deal with all day! They certainly love their Uncle "JOSH"!

This is part of the Pocantico River inside the south gate of the cemetery. Since the location of the old, timber bridge where Ichabod was unseated by a pumpkin has been lost to time, you can visit this wooden bridge.  We were able to imagine the clatter of hoofbeats on the boards under the wheels of passing traffic.

It was a beautiful day for such a melancholy location. However, we definitely enjoyed our trip to historic Sleepy Hollow, NY!

A Trip to Sleepy Hollow

 

Here we are at Thursday already! I am in the midst of planning another weekend trip and have not even posted about last weekend's trip to Sleepy Hollow, NY. 

We got to visit some historic locations related to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Washington Irving himself. 

We walked the path of Ichabod Crane's famous ride beginning at the site of the former Elizabeth Van Tassel house. This site is presently The Landmark Condominium building and was formerly the Frank R. Pierson School, which itself was formerly the Washington Irving High School until the 1920s.

Along the way, we paused at The Reformed Church of The Tarrytowns to take some photos.

My brother, Noah with his daughter, Kate and our Lana.

We then headed past the André captors' monument in Patriots Park. A monument marks the spot where, on September 23, 1780, John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wart captured British spy John André and exposed Benedict Arnold's treasonous attempt to turn over West Point to the British. At this same location is where Ichabod was met by the Headless Horseman.

 

We also got to view all the scarecrows from the festival held in Patriots Park that day. 

We contined further along the stream where we came across this spooky character, nicknamed by us as October Boy (a character from our Halloween book club choice, Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge).

Some other photos from our almost 1 mile walk.

 

Finally, we reached this wooden bridge. Unfortunately the bridge where Ichabod Crane was unseated by the pumpkin of the Headless Horseman does not exist, at least not in its original form or location. 

 

 

Our travels ended at the foot of the Old Dutch Church and Burying Ground where Ichabod sought refuge in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. We then visited the adjacent Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, which had not been established at the time Irving wrote the Legend. 

More later about the cemetery and some notable burials such as Andrew Carnegie and his wife, Louise, Walter Chrysler, William Rockefeller, as well as Washington Irving himself.

...Stay tuned...