Only recently have I learned what an amazing story is the life of Jim Thorpe, but now I know the town that bares his name is equally as intriguing. Known as "Switzerland of America" and renamed from it's original Mauch Chunk to Jim Thorpe sometime after his death in the 50's, this minute little town rests in a valley between four or five sprawling mountain ranges that stretch thru the Lehigh Valley (which we learned means "Where there are forks" so now we call the utensil drawer "Lehigh") and has been drawing a good bit of tourism for quite a few decades. The only downside is the one highway that goes in & out of downtown, but the view from within the gridlock is more than enough to divert your attention (in a good way) and the absence of traffic while walking the streets is ideal.
So on to it...
We parked by my old pal the River Gorge and navigated a few rock beds to get a closer look and draw with some charcoal rocks. That's when we knew we had a beautiful day ahead.
One of the things Jim Thorpe is reknowned for is its railroad. It has a running Reading & Northern rail line that creeps along the mountain ranges (we didn't go), a large model train museum & display (we didn't do that either) and quite a few antique train cars throughout various spots in the city (we saw those).
Jim Thorpe is also known for its stylish architecture and picturesque landscape from within the city itself & tho I feel a few shops have unfortunately modernized themselves a bit, most of them still have their original paint jobs and crooked floors you wouldn't wanna be wearing rollerskates on.
We did a fair share of antiquing which got out tummies rumbling so we looked for a restaurant of some sorts. Fran couldn't decide if she wanted Tex-Mex or Italian. We stood in front of the two stores for about 20 minutes.
And pizza it was! BLT pizza & cheese fries.
From there we were ready for more and had walked both streets in town. Yup, small visit. So we hopped back in the car, off roaded over some mountains, and headed south to New Tripoli, the site of none other than the infamous Bear Rock Junction, where we would find ourselves lost inside miles and miles of some of the tallest corn mazes (or maIzes) you'll find this side of someplace where tall corn grows.
We got there just as the sun went down so we had the unique experience of maneuvering most of the course in the dark, which is creepy enough even before they Halloweened the place up.
Good day. Go find yourself a corn maIze before it's too late!
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