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!

Posted in Around town Dallastown/Red Lion Southern

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Our quest for letterboxing stamps with daughter Sarah led us all around southeastern York County last week. We did good, finding stamps at the Hopewell Rec complex, Red Lion's Fairmount Park, Lower Windsor Township's Rexroth Park, and Samuel S. Lewis State Park overlooking the river, also in Lower Windsor Township.

But we couldn't find the stamp at Apollo County Park in Chanceford Township! It was rainy, the roads were gravel, and it was basically not a good day to go thrashing about the underbrush! But, we did find one cool thing...

A turtle! Hubby saved him from the middle of the road (though if another car would have come along that road that day, I'd have been shocked...) But we took him into the car first to see if he'd stick his head out and say hi to Sarah. He didn't, so we put him down on the side of the road and went on our way.

Cute, though!

Posted in Dallastown/Red Lion Joan's randomness

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Having some time to spare before coming in to work yesterday, my mom, daughter and I headed down to Brown's Orchards and Farm Market in Springfield Township to pick up some good, fresh produce - and lunch!

On the produce side, we got some tomatoes, zucchini, peaches, radishes and bananas. (The radishes and a banana came to work with me as my after-dinner snack.)

My lunch choice was slightly less healthy than all that produce, though! Lunch there is one of my favorite things, and normally I get a hot dog on a pretzel roll. I know, boring. So today, I mixed it up a little.

Wondering what, exactly, that is?

Posted in Dallastown/Red Lion Things we eat

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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...

Posted in Dallastown/Red Lion Things to do

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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.

Posted in Around town Dallastown/Red Lion Things to do

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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.

Posted in Around town Dallastown/Red Lion Things to do

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Well, especially to my loyal readers Bear and Burkey, this one might be even better - sportsman's bingo, with prizes of guns, decoy packages and more.

Posted in Dallastown/Red Lion Southern Things to do

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In honor of fellow York County blogger Jim McClure and all our other local history bloggers, I thought I'd drop in with a post on York County online in the present - but focused on the county's past.

The Providence Journal up in Rhode Island (the newspaper my father-in-law receives; small world?) was one of several papers to run a neat syndicated Antiques Roadshow-type feature for New Year's that featured a piece of furniture from our area.

Specifically, it looked at a dining table made by Ebert Furniture Co., which was in business from 1854 until the late 1950s - and which was located in Red Lion from 1917 until it was sold.

After I looked at that, I decided to find out a little more about Ebert, and I found this site, devoted to finding more information on the Ebert Furniture operation and apparently organized by descendants of the Ebert family, which I thought was pretty cool.

Posted in Dallastown/Red Lion York County online

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We didn't get this in time to give it more than a short mention in this week's Weekly Record for the Dallastown/Red Lion area, but I did just learn about this event taking place this weekend and wanted to share!

As part of the big "Christmastime in Loganville" celebration, Christ Lutheran Church, 80 S. Main St., Loganville, will hold its annual bazaar 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Crafts, plants, a raffle of valuable prizes and a handmade Maple Leaf quilt, soups, baked goods, and sandwiches will be available. A sit-down luncheon will be served and will include chicken-corn, ham-bean and vegetable-crab soups, barbecue pork and barbecue hamburg sandwiches, desserts and drinks. Soups are available by the quart for takeout. To order soup, call 741-1554 or 741-0001.

They're also offering a make-and-take craft table for the children, as well as an adult-supervised babysitting service for those who want to shop without "help!"

Sounds like a good time. And good food! (I might have mentioned before that I like good York County food, right?)

Posted in Dallastown/Red Lion Things to do

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So if you're feeling some post-Fair letdown, maybe it's time to check out some other local fall festivals.

Lori Badders' "Neighborhood Notebook" this week features several, including one Saturday in New Freedom, another Saturday in Shrewsbury, and a couple of events Sept. 29, one in Windsor and another in Stewartstown.

Posted in Dallastown/Red Lion Southern Things to do

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