Wednesday, August 03, 2005

PA Weekend

We had a great time out in PA this past weekend. We hadn't seen Ollie and Carol in about 10 years, yet when they showed up at Joe and Linda's place Friday night it was like that time gap was never there.

When Ollie left the EPA and Jersey City State he did so quietly. Since then he and Carol have been up and down the east coast moving from place to place and, usually, buying waterfront property. They have places in Maryland, VA, and South Carolina in addition to the PA property. Only the latter is away from the water, but Ollie is doing something about that. He's having a small pond built. Their three boys are scattered from Maine to VA, again on the water. Probably has to do with their having been brought up on the Wading River of southern NJ.

After a lovely dinner and visit at Joe and Linda's on Friday night, we met again Saturday morning. Ollie took us on a field trip. We drove up Mt. Pisgah (some great views to the northeast and southwest) and through Stephen Foster State Park (state record largemouth bass was caught here). Then I led them to our property outside of Mansfield (excellent views to the west, north and northeast). We lunched at the University Club in Mansfield and then drove up Route 15 to Hammond and Tioga Lakes (tiger muskie, channel cats, white and stripped bass and lots of good fishing). We didn't drive to Cowenesque, which is a little further north and gets stocked with lake trout among other things. We did stop at the beautiful new visitors' center on the south side of Route 15 to pick up informational pamphlets for the area. Finally we headed back to Ollie and Carol's place for an evening of good food, adult beverages and friends.

Early Sunday, Terry and I headed back to NJ thinking how we would have our own place in PA within the next 18 months and wishing it could be sooner.

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