Our girls weekend in the Poconos was a success! I think that’s the first time I’ve been to the Poconos and actually felt like I was on vacation.
I took Julia and Cheryl in my car and had absolutely no trouble getting there, yay. My dad had already turned off the alarm for us, so I didn’t have to worry about that. He also got guest passes for the pool so we could go swimming :)
We were 40 minutes late, Helen, her sister Irena, and Emily arrived about an hour after us. That’s about the time I was expecting them though :D
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We snacked a little and then left for Bushkill Falls. Really close to the house. I can’t believe it took me 10 years to go there. It was a pretty nifty hike. We even saw a monkey. It was someone’s pet, but still, not something you see every day.
Then we went back to the house and pigged out on more snacks. We decided to go swimming at the indoor pool. It took us forever to find the pool due to some miscommunication, but we saw a deer drinking milk from its mother, some wild turkeys and a couple of lost teenagers along the way.
I think we spent more time in the hot tub than in the pool, but it was well worth the drive. When we got back we made African Peanut Sweet Potato Stew for dinner. Julia volunteered to chop the jalapeños which turned out to be a terrible mistake. For some reason, those little guys were much hotter than usual and burned her skin pretty badly :( She spent the next three hours in agony. Lesson learned: wear gloves when chopping jalapeños.
Plus Helen’s spinach and artichoke dip, some bread and eggplant dip, some spinach pie… For dessert we had Julia’s forzen bananas and I had made dairy free oatmeal raisin ice cream and piña colada ice cream which I proceeded to ruin by adding too much rum. It was probably a good thing because we would have eaten too much otherwise.
But really, we didn’t drink nearly enough. I don’t think we started drinking until like 10. Four of us drank and we only got through half a bottle of wine. Pathetic really.
After dessert, I made more dessert :P And we watched Firefly. Most of the night was spent giggling and talking, good times :)
We actually did sleep, though not enough. We woke up around 9:30. Had a huge breakfast consisting of Emily’s Maple Walnut Scones, Julia’s leftover rice pudding, pancakes with leftover oatmeal raisin ice cream on top, eggs and bacon. It was pretty awesome.
Unfortunately we then had to clean up and go home. Getting back somehow took us three hours. We veered off course in search of a toilet and I guess it really screwed us up, lol. We did eventually make it home and then it took Julia forever to get to her house because of the Jets game :( Poor girl had no luck this weekend. She still had fun though, I swear, she said she did! :D
We will definitely have to do this again.
Sounds like you had an awesome time. It looks really nice up there. I’m flattered you like the stew so much! Now I have a hankering for it again too! :)
Aww, indoor pool?! I’d love to swim in one! Hehe.
Hmm, maybe try “chopping” the jalapenos with scissors instead? That might work, might not work because the pepper’s too big, LOL.
Well, glad you had a GREAT weekend! Too bad it was only a 2-day weekend! :(
Sounds like a lot of fun, minus the jalapeno burn. I have used sandwich bags over my hands and that works pretty well.
Sounds lovely. :) But jalapeno burn? Oouucchh!!! At least the stew was delicious! :)
I’m glad to hear that you had a good time! My friend just moved up to the Poconos at the beginning of the year, she loves it there.
That sounds like you had so much fun! My boyfriend’s family used to live there and they always went for the summer. I’ve never been but it sounds like a great place. Also, spinach artichoke dip is amazing and is also my demise when it comes to dieting, haha.
Looks like so much fun.
And yes, when you visit Toronto, let me know and I’ll make dinner!!
PS I chopped habaneros w/o gloves……………………………………….
horrible mistake!!!
You had a wonderful time! :D I had no idea jalapenos could burn… I shall keep that in mind if I ever deal with cooking with hot spices. XD
Mmmmm lots of yummy food. :D
It was super fantastic fun, thanks for organizing, Lissy! I’d love to do something something else with you and our fabulous female friends again sometime soon! Our dudes are cool too, but organizing gal only adventures is a treat.