During the Summer we have been limited in time for travel. We both don’t like heat, which there has been an abundance of and I don’t like places that are overcrowded with tourists. When we found a clear weekend, we thought about places that might be cooler and fun. Last year we did a rafting trip with Whitewater Rafting Adventures in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania (you can read about it in 4th of July in Pennsylvania). We did one of their milder trips with little white water, and it was fun. But when water is released from the dam above the Lehigh River on numerous weekends throughout the Summer, Whitewater Rafting does 13 mile Whitewater trip with lots of class three rapids. That was this year’s adventure.
Once we decided to do the whitewater trip we looked for places to stay in the area, since the drive is a lot for one day up and back, especially after a day on the water. We were about to give up, not liking the options that were open, when Steve found a nearby (30 minutes away) campground with an air conditioned cabin for rent. We rented the cabin for Friday and Saturday nights and we were set for our adventure to begin.
We left early enough to allow time for De -tours before we had to arrive at the campground by 7PM. We both had had smaller meals in the early part of the day, so I suggested a late lunch in Doylestown. Quinoa is the sister restaurant to our favorite restaurant El Tule in Lambertville, New Jersey. That meant we could have ceviche! As Steve drove, skirting the traffic as much as GPS could, I was researching other interesting spots in Pennsylvania to visit. I stumbled across information for a castle in Doylestown. Fonthill Castle was the home of archaeologist, anthropologist, ceramist, scholar and antiquarian Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930). Mercer built Fonthill Castle as his home and as a showplace for his collection of tiles and prints.
As we approached Quinoa I called the castle to see if there were still spots on the last tour of the day which was in about an hour away – and there were. We got our ceviche to take out and drove the short distance to the castle. I purchased the tickets while Steve set up our food at a picnic table on the grounds. We enjoyed our food, though my ceviche bowl was a little more spicy than their usual. Then we headed to the tour.
There was just one other couple for our timeslot, and Tom, our wonderful and knowledgeable tour guide showed us as much as possible before the castle was locked up for the night, going a little over the time. The castle is built from concrete, which is it’s first unique feature. Henry Mercer draw up all the plans himself. As the owner of a tile plant, the walls, floors and ceilings are not only adorned with tiles from his tileworks (also on the grounds) but tiles and other artifacts and oddities brought back from world travels. Everywhere you look there is something unique to see. There are 44 rooms, of which we only saw a fraction. Patios, balconies overlooking lovely landscaping, twisting and hidden stairs and many more interesting features. At the end I asked Tom, our guide if there are other tours of the parts of the castle we didn’t see. He said there used to be a “behind the scenes tour” and some others that were discontinued during the Pandemic and have not yet reopened, but I would definitely go back for one of those.
We headed to Lizard Creek Campground next as we had to get there no later then 7PM. We made it with a bit to spare. Despite our late lunch we started a fire and cooked enough burgers for dinner and lunch the next day for rafting. The cabin was more spacious then an RV and had all the amenities we needed. A semi-comfortable bed, a bathroom with shower, a small kitchen area with a coffee maker, toaster, fridge and microwave. The next morning, we actually got up in time to do a fire and cook eggs and veggies over it.
It was about a half and hour drive to Whitewater Rafting Adventures. After checking in, getting a water tight bucket for our lunch, and applying our sunblock, we waited for the next steps. At orientation we found a man traveling alone to join us in our raft. We got life jackets and paddles, learned the rules and tricks for getting unstuck from rocks that we would encounter, and loaded on buses. It was about a 25 minute very bumpy ride to the launch site. Once everyone was in their raft, we started our journey down the river.
The group would stretch out between the guides and then regroup each time before we encountered the next set of rapids, so the guides could steer everyone through the best passage and away from the worst rocks. Steve was the first person to fall out of a raft, but hardly the last for the day. Fortunately, no injuries. The fact that people were falling and there were so many rocks was a little scary. You secure your feet under the side of the raft to decrease the likelihood of going over, but it’s not foolproof. As I already mentioned, everyone gets their raft stuck on some rocks, most of the times the tricks they taught us about shifting in the boat worked to free them, also sometimes another boat can give a tap and free a stuck raft and when all else fails the guides help you to get lose. One of the things I noted are that we had three in our raft, many had six. Four seems like an ideal number, allowing lots of help paddling but leaving more room to shift when you are stuck.
I know that last bit had a lot of negatives, so now for the more positive. It was beautiful weather and the scenery is idyllic and peaceful. Going up and down on the rapids is a blast. The bigger groups, who had several rafts were having a great time throwing water on each other with the bailing buckets in the rafts and we only got caught in the “cross-fire” once. Everyone was having a great time!
There was a stop in a beachy type area for a lunch break in the middle, by which point everyone was starving. We were glad we had packed lots of food and drink. By the time we reached the pull out point, about 5 1/2 hours after entering the water, we were all wiped out but talking about next time.
After another shorter but just as bumpy ride, we were back at the Whitewater Rafting buildings. The last half hour or so of rafting there was a light rain on and off. After grabbing our clothes, we excited the changing room to a covered pavilion and the skies opened up, with torrential rain. The timing was amazing and once the rain lightened we headed back to our car and the campground.
We spent some energy thinking about the best way to cook our planned dinner in the rain or if we should forgo it for something we didn’t need to cook. Eventually we figured out a way to start a fire and cover it for a bit. By the time it got hot enough to cook over, the rain was mostly stopped and we made some wonderful pasta and vegan sausage. I had picked up a jar of my new favorite garlic pasta sauce from Spotted Horse Provisions, a small local company, before we left and it was so tasty and we were SO hungry! As we finished eating the rain stopped for good so we moved from under the porch umbrella to the fireside where we had a very mellow evening until we couldn’t stay awake any longer.
We had made plans for Sunday to meet our son Brian and his wife, who were celebrating their third wedding anniversary with a stay in the King of Prussia area. We met at a quirky little dinner in Hatboro, Pennsylvania called DaddyPops. The food was good, the server very attentive. They didn’t have gluten free bread or potatoes so our options were a bit limited, but we had actually had an early breakfast by the campsite so we worked around it and still ate plenty. They told us they had visited among other places a really cool museum in the are called the American Treasure Tour Museum. It’s so big that the second floor features a tram car to help visitors see everything. We might have considered going ourselves after breakfast but it was a lovely day to be outside, so we filed that for another time. Brian and Lauren were continuing their journey to meet up with a friend, so we went back to our adventure.
A quick internet search led to the fact that there was a local farm market in nearby Horsham, Pennsylvania that was open for another hour. If you follow my adventures, you know I am always up for a farm market. It was quite a big market, they had a lot of farmers, food trucks, and vendors outside and then another full room of vendors inside as well. After buying a pack of notecards from Emmett’s Journey, we spent a bit talking to the mother of Emmett about his art, his autism and her activism for her son and others with special needs. We were rushed to see to many other vendors but we did find a few great things, both produce and other food stuffs.
We decided we weren’t that far from our favorite spots in New Hope, PA and Lambertville, NJ, so we headed that way. Despite all the paddling exercise from the previous day I wanted to get some walking in, so we found a spot to walk in relative shade along the tow path a little south of Lambertville. After a short walk we went into town for some iced coffees and a bit more walking on both sides of the bridge. An early dinner outside at our favorite restaurant, the aforementioned El Tule, capped off the trip. They had a special ceviche for the summer, with a passion fruit sauce, it was amazing! I hope they add it to their regular menu.
It was then time to head back home from an adventure that was a lot of fun but over too rapidly. Stay tuned for what’s next.