Shickshinny, Wapwallopen and Mehoopany

If there's a state with more colorful town names than PA, I'd like to see it. On Friday, I went on a campout (yes, moi, on a campout) to a camp owned by our church on Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in New York. I drove there with some friends from church. This was a women's campout and it was a lot of fun. The fall colors are amazing and Seneca Lake seems to go on for miles. The highway goes along the side of the lake and you see bed and breakfasts, historic towns and vineyards everywhere. We went through Watkins Glen which is legendary for car racing. I didn't know it had one of the most beautiful state parks in America. Michael and I will be going back. The Saturday of the campout, the girls and I drove thirty minutes to the Palmyra Temple which is right by the Hill Cumorah. The temple overlooks the Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith received his first vision. What an amazingly beautiful place!

While I was gone, Michael went to a place called Council Cliff which is near Wapwallopen. He also passed through Shickshinny. He was looking for hawks but didn't see many. Instead he got a glorious view of the Susquehanna with fall foliage. On Sunday, we drove back through some of the towns I had seen on Friday and Saturday. We went past Mehoopany, went through Meshoppen, Wysox and Wyalusing. The pictures are as follows: A scenic overlook near Wysox, PA which shows a curve of the Susquehanna. The Palmyra Temple grounds with the Sacred Grove in the distance. My own sugar maple in my back yard. In the couple of days since I took this photo, the leaves have turned orange red and the tree is on its way to the deep red we associate with the Canadian flag.

We are in awe of the beauty of fall here. I think winter will have to be incredibly harsh to negate the effects of the gorgeous summer and mild and colorful fall.