Hawk Mountain

When Paul and I were dating we hiked at Hawk Mountain on more than one occasion. I also went there with my brother once. I'm not sure how many times I had been there before, but it had been at least 16 years since I had been there. Last week my friend, Cheri, asked if the kids and I would join her at Hawk Mountain this week as she had never been there before. She figured we should take advantage of the unseasonably warm temperatures lately. On Sunday our pastor said that he was thrilled with how short our winter was this year and that we were already moving into spring. Ha ha! I wish that were true. Anyhow it has gotten up into the low 70's the last several days, which is NOT a normal high for November in Pennsylvania. I wish it was! They have people posted at two lookouts from sunrise to sunset from August 15-December 15 keeping a count of the raptors as they migrate south. We mostly saw turkey vultures, but we did get to see one bald eagle soaring above us. From the south lookout to the north lookout we ascended 221 feet (1,521). When Paul and I did the River of Rocks trail many years ago (elevation 700) we saw a large bear coming our direction. I had hoped to go back to Hawk Mountain with my kids and Maurice, but that became impossible 20 months ago. One thing that surprised me was that the VAST majority of people hiking the trails today were wearing masks. I had never seen so many people wearing masks outdoors aside from when we were at an amusement park where we were required to do so. We brought them but hardly wore them at all. It was easy to stay 6 feet away from people so I chose that over wearing a mask. Cheri said she thinks we will be wearing masks until sometime in 2022. I already assumed we'd be wearing masks for a good chunk of 2021, but I admit I was hoping we could ditch them in 2022. Time will tell.

I was surprised to find that they were charging a fee to hike the trail. It cost $25 for the kids and I. We dropped Cheri off at her house, she let her dogs out for a few minutes, and then she joined us at Friendly's for dinner. Paul had told me that Friendly's had filed for bankruptcy. We had been given two gift cards for Friendly's over the last 10 months, so he thought we should use it in the near future in case the restaurant near us was closed. I hadn't seen my friend since we went on a hike together in July with her foster son. Knowing I'd have many hours to chat with her was the main reason I was willing to drive over 3.5 hours today round trip. I was pleasantly surprised on the way home to discover the on ramp to I-80 had been reopened in Danville. I was surprised that Paul hadn't mentioned it because for the months it's been closed his trip home has been at least 10 minutes longer than usual, which when your commute is already 60 minutes long one way, you really feel that extra 10 minutes. When he came home tonight I asked him about it, and he said he didn't realize it had been reopened. I'm sure he'll appreciate being able to use the ramp tomorrow and avoid the detour he's been taking for months. 

Because we packed our lunches and used the gift cards at Friendly's for dinner, I got the day off in terms of cooking. Yesterday I made paninis for lunch - pepperoni and mozzarella for Ian and ham and mozzarella for Nadia, Oliver, and myself. The kids LOVED them. They were telling me I should buy a panini press. I told them the method I used worked just fine and didn't involve me finding a place to store another gadget in the kitchen. For dinner I made chicken chilaquiles. Those did not go over very well. I thought a recipe that primarily consisted of tortilla chips, chicken, and cheese would be accepted better than it was. I had originally planned to make two chilaquiles recipes - the other one featuring eggs rather than chicken, but since they were not fans, I'm taking the other one off the list. I've tried 43 new recipes over the past 2+ months, but we still have many new recipes to try in the coming months. I'm happy that the kids discovered that panini sandwiches can be delicious. My first choice at Panera is the strawberry salad they only offer in the summer, but if we go there when that isn't available, I get a panini.