We like to hit the woods in Pennsylvania when we get a chance. The last two times we've been here, we've gone over to McConnell's Mill, southeast of New Castle. Slippery Rock Creek enters a gorge and carves its way over to the Ohio River. Back in the 19th century, the McConnell brothers built a mill on it to grind corn & stuff. Two years ago, the creek was high and people were kayaking. This fall had been dry, so the water was much lower. The day was blue and clear.
The dam that fed the millrace is still in pretty good shape.
We hiked upstream for a ways. Before long, we had to climb out of the gorge. On the way back down, we walked along this bluff.
Eventually, we went back down into the gorge and had a nice view of the Mill looking downstream.
One of the few covered bridges left in Pennsylvania spans Slippery Rock Creek.
As we'd hiked the gorge below the bridge a couple years ago, we drove down to the next bridge and went downstream. The trail became a little more rugged from there. Cathy took a break by the creek.
The creek falls fairly fast in this lower section.
One more view downstream.
On Wednesday, Cathy left for home. I took her to Pittsburgh early in the morning. It was early and I was in the vicinity, so I headed west a few miles and went to Raccoon Creek State Park. I had no idea what it was all about, as I'd never heard of it before. I found it while perusing a map in California. An old road went by this stone house.
The stones were set without mortar. Here it is from the inside. It's amazing that it has stood this long.
Pretty cool construction. In another part of the park was a place called Hartfort Springs. Apparently there was a spa here back in the mid-19th century. People had been coming here to take advantage of its reputed healing powers since the 1790s. The little cave reminded me of the parks down in Southeast Ohio, on a somewhat smaller scale. Make sure you pan over to the right. You can see the mineral-laden water coming out of cracks and staining the walls.
After that, I headed home, crossing the Ohio River at East Liverpool.
It rained the day after Thanksgiving
and I went out and helped my mom buy a new car. That's always
fun. Yeah right, like the flu. On Saturday, it was a lot cooler
than it had been earlier in the week, but still not bad. I headed
up to Erie. I'd been saying I was going to go up there the last
couple times I was back here, but never made it. It takes about
an hour and a half or so the get to the peninsula. Read about
it on the page that's 
