Wissahickon Valley Park

Wissahickon Valley park is a Philadelphia treasure. And lucky for us, we live very close to it. It is enormous (1800 acres and 50 miles of trails) and has so much history and cool geology. The park includes the only covered bridge in a major city, miles and miles of hiking trails, horse trails, historic statues and stone walls everywhere. The creek has a few dams which are left over from when it was home to many mills.  It's incredible and there is always a new part of it to explore. 

 It runs along the Wissahickon Creek.

We spent a beautiful day hiking forbidden drive, up to see the statue of the an Indian chief, Tedyuscung, then to the Valley Green Inn for lunch. Every step of the way is an exploration, in a major city! We saw a blue heron in flight over the creek, turtles hanging out on logs, chipmunks, another heron scouting out his next meal on a branch, and finally we saw the Indian statue. I don't know how I just found out about that this year, but he was an amazingly cool statue who is looking out west over the creek. 

The sun reflecting onto the bridge.

 That's a Blue Heron on the branch, patiently waiting for his next meal.

What is your favorite spot on the Wissahickon? I know there is so much more of it to explore. 

iceland: reykjavik

Dave and I took an amazing long weekend trip to Iceland in the beginning of January. It was so much fun and even more incredible then I imagined it would be.

This was Hallgrimskirkja, don't ask me how to pronounce it

It was by far the most ornate building that I saw while we were there. The architecture was very modern and simple and I loved it. I will devote a future post to the architecture and design. 

blizzard

Our winter had been incredibly mild, but winter just arrived in the form of a 2 foot blizzard.

Here is when it started, Friday night.

And Saturday morning we woke up this.

Happy New Year

Our New Year's Day was spent in Philly with the Mummers. It was a blast, as usual.

Day drinking and hanging out with dogs. This guys is Jackson, our friend Ben's dog. 

go outside

Last week we spent a few days in the Poconos with friends. We were looking for a place to hike with waterfalls nearby and landed at this place after a google search and a couple of tries with phone based maps.

Glen Onoko Falls

It starts with a graffiti covered bridge.

snow day

We finally got a nice, big snow storm today. I was hoping that we would get at least one this year, and we did-- in March. But I'll take it. Although tomorrow I will be back to wanting Spring to arrive at any moment.

Here are some photos from around the house.

 

Valley Forge National Park

Last weekend we went to the Valley Forge National Park, which I have never been to before. What an incredible place! It is in King of Prussia, so the next time you want to go to that way-too-gigantic mall, skip it and go here instead. 


According to their website: Valley Forge was the site of the 1777-78 winter encampment of the Continental Army. The park commemorates the sacrifices and perseverance of the Revolutionary War generation and honors the ability of citizens to pull together and overcome adversity during extraordinary times.

I wish we would have toured it with someone who knew the history of the area, but I just did a little internet research and found out some interesting facts. 

 There were 2,000 of these houses built by the army. 

This monument was stunning. I noticed that a lot of families and photographers were taking photos around the park. 

It was built in 1910 and it is modeled after the Arch of Titus in Rome. 
Click for more photos. 

fall

I don't know about you, but I love fall. The chill is in the air and it smells amazing. Here are some pictures from around the house

We have had this wrought iron set since we bought our first house, about 11 years ago. If you're buying outdoor furniture, you can't go wrong with wrought iron. This is one thing that is worth the extra money. And you can get steals on it with craigslist; more on that later.

 The fireplace above was on my wish list for years. And my Dad just so happened to barter one of his customers for it and then gave it to us. What a great Dad :-)

 We got some landscaping done over the summer. The hardscaping that they did was amazing. We love it.

 I'm not sure if I showed you before, but this was a crazy shed. It was very large, but didn't hold much due to the design. Plus it was falling apart, so we (aka Dave and some very nice friends) tore it down and had a new shed built. Our landscaper suggested the best location for it and it is a perfect spot. It's tucked away behind those trees.

 This is a little pathway we DIY'ed. We had some slate pieces laying around and dave placed them in the ground. Once the moss (hopefully) takes over it'll look much better.

 This back patio is a great addition, and overlooks the creek "valley."

This patio set was scored on craigslist for $100! It was a steal and exactly what I was looking for. If you get it with this type of base you don't have to have cushions. And if you live here it's a good thing, because the squirrels will tear apart your cushions, take out the stuffing and use it to build nests.

They did an amazing job laying this stone. It was not an easy thing to haul thousands and thousands of pounds of stones to the back of our yard.

 The new shed.

 Moz likes it.

 The coleus are still alive. Although time is running out, so I better propagate some.