30 Days of Biking Day 23: The Mountains Win Again

The family and I awoke on Saturday morning in the great state of Pennsylvania, in my home town of Palmerton specifically. I didn't intend on having a ton of time to ride a bike while we were there, but I did make sure to have My Therapist in tow so I could take a short ride or two around the town if nothing else:

It may not look like it in the above photo, but it was an absolutely picture perfect Spring morning, the kind I've been waiting for all season. Even if only for three miles, I was extremely grateful to be able to enjoy it.

I spent the majority of the late morning and early and afternoon with the family enjoying the outdoors somewhat in another way, in the quaint mountain town of Jim Thorpe:

It's been called "The Switzerland of PA" by some. I used to love coming up here for the day to hike, bike, or buy some local food and drink (including last year during 30 Days of Biking). We didn't do much hiking, but we did shop and walk most of the downtown area. I think my girlfriend may be in love with it. Of course I'm biased, but there's just nothing that compares to the atmosphere of mountain towns. I'll always love 'em.

Finally, in the late afternoon, the primary reason we made this whole trip to begin with: my nephew's birthday party! He turned 5 on Friday. After I moved to Ohio, I promised him that I wouldn't miss his birthday. Other than the COVID year, I've held true to that promise so far:

This may the first year that I/we didn't get him any bike-related gifts, but in all fairness, he has everything he needs for now. I did appreciate that some of his gifts were reproductions of classics from my childhood:

No matter what new technology comes out, sometimes you just can't beat the classics. You really can't. I'm looking forward to playing this against him when we come back in about a month.

At any rate, it was a pretty good way to spend a Saturday, and I'm glad we made the trip. Here's to many more!