Pennsylvania

I spent all of last week in southeastern Pennsylvania on business.  Normally when I travel for business, it's long and dedicated work, but this particular trip offered me a bit of autonomy toward the end of each day, for a couple of hours before nightfall.  My only perspective of the area prior to my departure was through Google maps and a few websites.  I left on short notice and my familiarity of the area was limited to what I had learned from those maps and websites over a day and a half.

Anyway, here's a quick tour of a few of the interesting places I visited in PA.  I only had my iPhone, so excuse the poor quality.

This is a view of a 19th-century building across Little Lehigh Creek at Pool Wildlife Sanctuary in Emmaus.  This stream has undergone restoration in recent years.  Part of that restoration included the removal of a dam.

 Common snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) - I think.  Native to Europe, and considered naturalized in PA. This was one of the few early emerging plants I saw in the woodlands.

 The path that I took at Pool Wildlife Sanctuary was an interpretive trail that showcased many trees common to the state.

 Visitors are encouraged to use this wooden boardwalk while passing through the stream floodplain.

 A blooming Crocus sp., one of the more showy flowers this time of year.

 I witnessed a murder in downtown Bethlehem, but nobody died.  Just hundreds and hundreds of noisy crows.

 A sign at a wooded area near Jacobsburg State Park in Northampton County.  I unfortunately witnessed no bears.

 Still quite a bit of snow.

 Bushkill Stream at Jacobsburg State Park.  This state park is located on the northern edge of Lehigh Valley, on the foothills of the Pocono Plateau.

 A partially frozen waterfall.

 I was hoping I might get lucky and witness some early amphibian breeding behavior, but virtually all of the vernal ponds were frozen.

 While driving back to my hotel one night late in the week, I noticed what appeared to be an abandoned house immediately of the expressway.  I pulled off the road at the first available exit, about two miles away.  Then, I managed to find the house via a motel parking lot - a dilapidated, OLD house that seems to have been partially buried, possibly during the construction of the expressway.  I would have gotten better photos, but as it was I was parked illegally and had to get back ASAP.

 Due to an onslaught of wind and snow, my flight was cancelled and rescheduled for the following morning.  Frustrated, I took this last shot from the airport terminal.  When I returned to Chicago, the snow followed me - less than two days later, we had over six inches of snow.