Vacation: Poconos Mountains Weekend

We slipped away last weekend for a long weekend with my brother-in-law and his family in the Poconos.  At the outset, I have to say I had pretty low expectations.  Although I have one friend with a house there, I heard many not so great things about the casinos, dirty lakes, and general dumpiness of this area. On tope of that, I generally prefer the beach but I like the mountains and lakes (after all, I grew up in the Adirondacks!).  BUT, I am happy to say we had a great time, the weather held out, and our house worked out well.  I think we'll go back again next year for a few more days.

Here are some pictures of the house we rented on Lake Harmony.

Having a bear on the wall was slightly disconcerting but we got used to it!

We got a lot of use out of the kayaks at the house.

The kids did a lot of swimming in the lake.

And fishing.

We went to Hickory Run State Park for a few hours on Saturday morning where we checked out Boulder Field - crazy!!  

And took a short hike to Hawk Falls where we watched people jump into icy cold water! 

In the evenings we hung out on the deck and played a lot of air hockey and pool in the basement rec room. 

My kids learned about the Game of Life from their patient cousins!

And enjoyed a couple of really nice sunsets.

On Sunday I took the kids to Bear Mountain Butterfly Sanctuary. Worth the trip if you are in the area.  We spent an hour and a half learning all about butterflies. The kids loved it!

The best part about the weekend was watching my kids have a great time with their cousins in the great outdoors.  I'm so glad they have great role models as teens.

Any great vacation locations that you would recommend?