Fun at Lake Wallenpaupack

 Lucas graduated on the 19th and we went to his party on the 20th - Frank and the boys built a beautiful outdoor bar to complement their outdoor fireplace.  They do amazing work!  Lots of friends, family and fellow graduates were at the party and the food and company were great!

Timothy designed and built this lovely Koi Pond

The next day, I met up with high school friend, Linda and her husband and we drove up to her son's home in South Orange for a wonderful steak dinner, lots of laughter and reminiscing. 

The owner has a lovely rose garden

On Monday, my bestest (and only) brother, Chas, fixed a few things on the RV that Jack just can't physically do anymore.  He saved the day!  Had a nice dinner with Chas and Rayne, and left the next day for Lake Wallenpaupack where my son, Frank and family have a lake house.  We had tried to visit here before but couldn't find a campground anywhere nearby with sites available, but this time I called a place that only rents sites for the entire season.  Luckily for us, the owner said he did have an open spot and we could stay a couple of days!  

Frank picked us up from the campground to tour the lake property and their house.  The brutal heat wave continued, so we ended up eating dinner inside, but still had great views of the lake.  The next morning, Frank picked me up and we (Frank, Karen, Timothy, Lucas) went jet skiing (first time for me) and it was great!  Not quite as good as a roller coaster when my grandson decided to get us flying over other boats' wakes, but it was a great time.  Stopped at a couple of islands with small sandy beaches - really nice lake.  Later, we picked Jack up at the campground and we had lunch, then went out on the lake to watch Lucas and Johnathan surf the waves produced from their wave boat (unfortunately Timothy is still recovering from shoulder surgery, so had to pass up the surfing).   Then Frank took us on a boat tour around the lake, seeing more than few mansions, including one rumored to be owned by Kid Rock, and trying to get a glimpse of the baby Eagles in a nest on one of the islands.  A fabulous, but exhausting day.  I sure wish I was younger and could try that wave surfing, but doubt I would be able to get up without hurting myself......I'd probably face plant on the surfboard!

Our "rides"

Frank, Timothy, me and Lucas

Eagles' Nest on one of the islands

Rumored to be Kid Rock's House...one of many gorgeous homes on the lake

Start off using the tow rope to get up, then once in front of the wave, they drop the rope and surf!

Karen, Frank, Timothy, me and Lucas

Exploring one of the small islands

Next day, we left the campground and the owner offered to let us stay again next time we were in the area - we will definitely take him up on it!  Stopped at a great roadside stand and got some vegetables and an Amish chicken pot pie for dinner (delicious).  We then headed west, through the Scranton area and then Route 6 across the top of Pennsylvania.  A couple of times, we were very close to Elmira and I was afraid the Elmira magnet was going to pull Jack back, but we resisted and survived and stopped at Crooked Creek Campground in Gaines, Pennsylvania, just east of Coudersport.  It's a nice, spread-out park with lots of room between sites on a creek where the kids go tubing.  We decided to stay a second day to get laundry done, enjoy the welcome break from the heat, and begin to plan the rest of our trip to Michigan in detail because 4th of July weekend is coming up and we may have trouble finding places to stay.

Update, update:  just got off the phone with Thor (our RV manufacturer) and we will be going to their Indiana service facility so they can try to figure out why our water pressure is so low.  We are very happy for this small delay for our Michigan portion of our Summer 2025 trip to hopefully get this water system working correctly after over a year of problems!