Western Pennsylvania, vacation destination?

I spent last week on vacation in western Pennsylvania. I wasn't originally viewing the trip as a "vacation". While I was looking forward to the trip and to seeing family, I was daunted by the thought of a long plane ride by myself with three girls, imagined that watching six kids for a week would be overwhelming, and wasn't looking forward to my mother-in-law's plan of spending all day Monday at an amusement park, something I generally find to rank up there with sitting in a dentist chair. Much to my surprise, I was completely wrong on all accounts. Noni slept for over two hours on the plane and then amused herself with her Sesame Street toys for the rest of the ride. The cousins all got along beautifully, so much so that Evie and Lucy decided not to come home, but to instead spend the next week at skating camp in Connecticut with them. And as for the amusement park? Maybe it's just that I've been in dry southern California for a year, but walking around a shady, old fashioned amusement park turned out to be a wonderful day.

Some highlights from our vacation:

- Seeing Pam and Bill's place in Sewickley, Pa. I had never been to Sewickley before and it turned out to be a beautiful little town. We spent the first day there at the pool and park near their place and the last day of our trip walking around the shops downtown. I took a yoga class at a studio there and walking back along the tree-lined streets (have the trees always been that big and green back east??), it reminded me of Frederick and made me nostalgic for living in a small town.

- Spending the day at Idlewild with all of the cousins. Noni turned two that day and it really struck me, as she whirled above my head on an airplane ride with her cousin Jack, that she is growing up. I also loved watching them all run ahead of us and enjoy each other. The girls are so fortunate to have fun cousins, all close in age, on both sides. It makes trips with family even more special for them since they have built-in friends every time. At one point on the trip, I asked Noni her sisters' names and she said, "Evie, Lucy and Millie".

- Sitting on the back porch of the log cabin and watching the fireflies. I have never seen fireflies like that. It was a cloudy night and the sky was pitch black. We sat out back, drinking wine, and watching what was more like a light show than anything else. It reminded me of looking at a Christmas tree's sparkling lights. There were thousands of them.

- Discovering the natural water slide. My mom and I planned on taking Millie, Lucy and Noni for a hike to see a waterfall in Linn Run State Park (about 1/2 mile from the cabin). We noticed people heading along a different trail and decided to follow. We ended up at a natural slide in the stream, where people were sliding down the slippery rocks on their stomachs. Lucy and Millie were cautious, but loved it at the same time.

- Running on a wooded trail. Before heading out to run in the park, Pam warned me that she was worried about me running alone in the woods. I told her I'd be fine, but considered her warning after fifteen minutes of running in the woods without seeing anyone. With thoughts of Shandra Levy on my mind, I held onto my cell phone and looked out for scary men hiding in the woods as I ran. It was with those thoughts in mind that I found myself looking straight on at a baby bear probably ten feet away from me. I froze for a split second, long enough to consider the words "mama bear", and sprinted as fast as I could back the other way. I turned only once to see the fuzzy black bear bounding up the hill. Apparently, I had scared her as well.

- Driving back from dinner and pulling the car over to take in the sight of cloud-covered hills. It was truly a sight to take your breath away - a layer of low clouds had settled in the valley. Behind the clouds were rolling green hills and a setting sun. Before them were fields of horses and fireflies. We pulled the car over, let the kids out, and took in the sight together.

Of course I have other memories from the trip as well, but those are the ones that stand out as I think back on our week. I'm already looking forward to our trip back east in August!