Results matching “hiking” from Only in York County

Remember gun bingo?

Well, if you missed last year's, we're only about a month away from a similar event. The Airville Volunteer Fire Company will host Sportsman's Bingo on Aug. 29 at the fire hall on Route 74 in Chanceford Township.

Door open 4 p.m. and games begin 6 p.m.

The event feature 20 games with sports-related prizes and a raffle for a muzzle-loading rifle. Bingo tickets are $15 and raffle tickets are $3 each or two for $5. Both may be purchased in advance by calling 862-3282.

I'm not a sportsman or sportswoman of any sort, though my maternal uncles and aunt have long been trying to get me involved. I've fished. I've even baited my own hook. That's about as good as I get at outdoor sports, though of course I do love hiking.

But if you go... let me know how it is!

Yesterday evening, Hubby, Sarah and I took Coby the dog for a LONG walk on the rail trail.

We parked at Brillhart Station and headed two miles to the Howard Tunnel to find our next letterbox (this was No. 6), then hiked back.

What a walk! Even the dog was beat by the end. Here are Coby and Sarah at the tunnel (halfway point).

The good news is, while walking, we ran into my doctor and a friend, also walking. So next time he says I should exercise more... Hahaha!

You know how I said I was spending Saturday in the Hanover area?

I used my weekend plans as an excuse to try a Hanover-area specialty that I hadn't had before - the downtown Famous Hot Weiner!

Despite being pretty familiar with the Hanover area, I'd never eaten at the original location at York Street and Broadway, just the newer one over at Dart Drive and Eichelberger Street.

So when Hubby suggested that we stop in with Sarah for our Saturday night dinner, I was totally up for it.

I went with a twist on my favorite - hot dog with ketchup and mustard - the twist being the last-minute addition of bacon after I heard another diner order it.

Sarah went with plain dog. Nothing on it.

We all shared some really, really good fries..

And Chris went for it, ordering two "famous" weiners with their "everything" - onions, mustard and the special Famous Hot Weiner chili sauce.

I have never seen so many onions in one place before!!

All in all, it was a good meal. I like my dogs basically burnt, so mine was a little light for my taste, but still yummy. Chris polished almost all of his two off, and Sarah did a great job on hers. And the fries... wow! I really liked those. (Yes, I'm a big kid at heart.)

The whole weekend was great, and I have some more pictures to share of letterbox hiking, the Summer Blast and more, but those will have to wait. Back to work for now!

While I was off in early March, I got the great idea to travel York County's historic Norman Wood Bridge, pictured above.

So I bundled Hubby and Girl into the car, and off we set for Lower Chanceford Township. We headed to Wrightsville, then followed the river south along Routes 624 and 425, cutting over to Route 74 in Airville and heading a little further south. The bridge, if you don't know, is along Route 372 (Holtwood Road, on the York County side) and runs just south of the Holtwood Dam.

Now, the funny thing is, I hate crossing bridges. I'm afraid of heights - and this is a particularly high-up bridge, of course! Don't ask me, but I really enjoyed it nevertheless.

We stopped at PPL's Lock 12 Recreation Park - they maintain it because of their connection to the dam - and took some photos, including the ones here.

Our favorite sights were the prominent danger signs - because the water level changes so suddenly because of the dam, they direct people to leave immediately if they hear sirens or see flashing lights. Here's one:

And here's a shot of the dam itself:

We finished our drive by coming north in Lancaster County and home along Route 462 (Market Street), crossing back into the county over the Columbia/Wrightsville bridge.

Overall, a highly recommended, York County-based day trip. Anyone else been down there? I'm hoping to spend a little more time in that area, maybe exploring some of the hiking options, when it gets a little warmer!

I've been saying for a while that I need to get healthier. I had lost about 40 pounds back in 2005, and while I certainly haven't gained it all back, I'm probably close to 20 pounds heavier now than I'd like to be.

I've also gotten a sudden motivation to get skinnier over the next year - my very best friend from high school proposed to his fiancee, and I've got to be a "groomsman" in his wedding. Now, if I could wear a tux like the other groomsmen, I'd be set, but I'm worried that his (very awesome) fiancee is going to put me in a dress that shows off my belly fat in nasty ways.

So, it's time to get fit. What's the plan, you ask?

So you have probably noticed I've not been around much lately. Well, first I was sick, as I mentioned earlier... then, I came back to work for a whopping two days and took off again because my brother was flying out from Tucson, Arizona, to visit (yay!)

Yesterday was my first day back to work, and today I finally feel like my head is above water.

It was great having my brother here - it's the first I've seen him since my high school graduation, and his first time meeting my daughter and my husband, who've come along since then. I've got tons of photos to post - taken with my "real" camera, not my cameraphone - but it'll take me another couple days to download them first. So keep checking back - I've got some updates on my summer hiking adventures and some news on my new weight-loss adventures (yikes!)

So come visit me tomorrow... and the next day... and the one after that...

The good news is, I might talk about food a lot, but I also talk how I like to hike a lot. One would hope that balances out?

Recent hikes looking for letterboxes took us around southern York County. We found the lost stamp at Apollo County Park, collected three more around Lake Williams and Lake Redman at Kain and Nixon parks, and hit the rail trail to find a fifth.

That's Hubby and Kiddo (aka Chris and Sarah) pictured along the rail trail, just past the Railroad parking area.

Like a couple of our other park adventures, this marked the first time I'd really gone any distance on the rail trail. It was fun! We still have another letterbox to find, this one near Brillhart Station, so we'll be out along the trail again soon.

Any rail trail hikers/bikers out there? One of our Exchangers is keeping a Rail Trail Journal of his biking experiences - you should check it out!

One of our recent Eight for Eight hikes took us to Raab Park in North Codorus Township, home of the former York Iron Co. iron mines - and a lot of bats, who hibernate in the old mine adits in the winter.

Besides seeing views like this, of huge drops made from the remains of former quarries, we saw the results of some recent archaeology camps for kids. The stuff they found was pretty neat - pieces of old buildings, old railroad tracks from the railroads that served the mines, all sorts of neat stuff.

It was one of the county parks that I'd never been to, so it was doubly neat. I'd definitely like to go back!

In our ongoing summer quest, we spent an evening last week up at Pinchot Park, planning to look for the three letterboxes hidden there.

We only got to do two, because it ended up getting dark (boo!), but we had a great time. This time, we brought Big!Fluffy!Dog! (also known as Coby) and let him "hunt" with us. Poor thing. He's very furry, and he got VERY hot and lazy about halfway through, but he was a good sport.

During our second excursion at Pinchot, the letterbox clues indicated we'd pass a rock shaped like a big cube. Never a family to resist a challenge, we (OK, they) climbed on up! (The top of the rock was about even with my shoulders, so I stayed on the ground with the trusty cameraphone to be the recording secretary.)

First, we had hubby plus dog (THAT was an adventure, getting 90+ pounds of dog up there!)

Then, the girl joined in...

Just found out that yesterday's post was my 200th. Somewhat appropriate, as our country marked its 232nd year... Shame I couldn't make an extra 30-some posts yesterday, huh?

We're doing another of our Eight for Eight hikes today, weather permitting, in Rocky Ridge... I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I've also got an update coming on my daughter's search for letterboxes around the county... this time, we took The Dog on our adventure. I've got pictures, too, but they'll have to wait till tomorrow!

A zebra swallowtail takes a quick sip from a clover flower in Newberry Township. The smallest of the swallowtails in the area -- called swallowtails because of a "tail" trailing from both wings--the zebra is not nearly as common as the others, including the spicebush, tiger or giant swallowtails. The caterpillar feeds entirely on young paw-paw bushes. (Photo by Bil)

Not the football team. (Sorry, I'm a Cowboys fun!)

Hubby and I did another of the county parks Eight for Eight hikes yesterday, this one along the shores of Lake Williams in Kain County Park.

This was a bit less strenuous than the last hike in terms of hills, although we had some pretty good inclines. We also had quite a few more people than last week, including a group of Boy Scouts.

Among the nature spotted: A zebra swallowtail moth (the first one I'd seen; it was beautiful!) Enough minnows to sink a boat. And one very special piece of York County that I wasn't expecting...

Bill Styer and his reptiles are a big part of Repile Week at Nixon Park, but 4-year-old Jake Sampson of Salem, Va., wasn't quite sure he wanted to experience the 75-pound Burmese python in this photo by Bil Bowden.

What I forgot to say was that it was the beginning of "Reptile Week" there, which continues through Sunday.

So, hubby and I had a fun (and free, and environmentally friendly, AND good exercise) date Saturday morning, courtesy of the York County Parks Department.

We've decided to take part in the parks' "Eight for Eight" hike series, which leads you through - you guessed it - eight of the county's parks in 2008.

Saturday's was a two-hour "ridge to ridge" hike in Nixon Park. It was the second in the series, though we'd missed the first one. I would HIGHLY recommend future hikes to you all, but first, let's look at some lessons learned.