Lehigh Valley InSite

Jacobsburg State Park

So, what has 1,168 acres of land for fishing, hiking, biking, horseback riding, picnicking, hunting or cross-country skiing?

The answer would be Jacobsburg State Park/Environmental Education Center. It’s located in Wind Gap, which is in the northeastern tier of Lehigh Valley. It is the only state park located in Lehigh Valley.

fishing

Memorial Day will always be a day remembered for honoring our fallen veterans, parades and barbecues, but a new tradition is quickly making a name for itself in @visitpa and @lehighvalleypa, free fishing day.

Every Memorial Day and Labor Day, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission allows adults to fish for free, in hopes of catching the fishing bug and become a regular angler.

Mayfair-2012

On Memorial Day, I braved the heat and humidity to attend Mayfair Festival of the Arts, and I was not the only one. I had heard that this year Mayfair had doubled the number of artisans from last year’s festival. More art you say? Sure.

What about the rain? Surely, you can’t blog about Mayfair without mentioning the rain.

Where in the Lehigh Valley is Kim?

As part of a recurring theme, I’ve started a “Where in the Lehigh Valley is Kim?” series on the blog with pictures at popular landmarks. Here’s the last post.

Recognize the picture from a Lehigh Valley location?

Clover Hill Vineyard & Winery

The past two weekends were great for people who like visiting and having a great time at Lehigh Valley wineries. The weekend before last, the Large Flowerheads Trio played in the Vyneskeller at Vynecrest. The place was packed with people singing and playing tambourines along with the band as they went through the hits of the sixties and seventies. Of course, wine and snacks were available for purchase. Three of the four of us split a bottle of Vynecrest’s Pinot Grigio – a great pick! Three hours of the Flowerheads along with wine makes for a perfectly good Saturday afternoon. The folks at Vynecrest are having entertainment on a regular basis.

The following Saturday I was off to Clover Hill for their wine and Martins event. Dick Boak and Craig Thatcher from Martin Guitars were there and wine was available for all. Dick told the Martin Guitar company history and as each era passed, Craig played music from that era with a guitar from that time. The guitar from the 1850’s sounded great as did the Eric Clapton model from a couple of years ago. Once again I had the Pinot Grigio and sat back to hear the story of a great company, accompanied by great guitars. Craig performs pretty regularly at Clover Hill.

Freddy X

By the time you read this post, the winners of the 10th annual Freddy Awards will be known. I’m sure a lot of voices will have been lost to screaming, and tears of joy shed. I plan to watch the awards ceremony live on WFMZ tonight (Thursday), but I really don’t care who wins.

Honestly, I didn’t catch any of the 29 participating High School’s musical productions this year but after Wednesday night’s preview party and dress rehearsal, I won’t miss the opportunity again!

Rusted Root courtesy of Erika Liodice

Music has a magical way of taking me back to certain moments in my life.

Billy Joel conjures up childhood car rides with my dad drumming his hands on the steering wheel, Delerium whisks me back to dating my husband and gives me butterflies all over again, and Rusted Root reminds me of summers in Lehigh Valley when I was a teenager, driving around in my Jeep Wrangler with the top off and my hair blowing in the wind. They were carefree times.

Miller-Keystone Blood Center

Today, after getting that darn baby ready for school, getting myself ready for work, having a parent teacher conference, grabbing some breakfast and driving my morning commute, I also managed to save three lives.

Let me tell you, the saving three lives part was the easiest, most relaxing part of my day. The Miller-Keystone Bloodmobile comes right to our office parking lot at the Butz Corporate Plaza.

Doug piloting the wagon

As the weather turns for the best, runners of all sorts hit the pavement daily to log those miles. We are blessed to be in area with such great running trails and races. From the St. Luke’s Half-Marathon, Lehigh Valley Marathon for Via and the recently announced Runner’s World Running Festival in Bethlehem, we have some great races.

In particular I’m looking forward to the latter. This three-day event is sure to have something for runners of all levels; offering a 5K, 10K, half-marathon and even a children’s race. These are all special, but I felt compelled to share an incredible running story that began this past Sunday.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

I recently checked this weekend’s weather forecast and noticed that it is going to be a beautiful weekend in Lehigh Valley.

Since I don’t have any plans, I started to think about some of my options in Bethlehem and put together a list of the 5 places I plan to visit over the next 48 hours.