Kettle Creek Lower Campground
Originally uploaded by ratsinis.

We took one last weekend to get out before the weather becomes unbearably cold, staying at the camp in Hammersley Fork.

While we were in the area, we stopped by for the Renovo Flaming Foliage Festival, which proved to be interesting. Renovo is a nearly dead town in the middle of nowhere that draws a majority of its economy from Lock Haven, State College, and welfare. Every year, they host the Flaming Foliage Festival to celebrate the changing colors of the leaves. Certainly, there is some beautiful scenery around there, but the town itself is a bit of a throwback. What really struck us were the 12 year olds walking around smoking cigarettes and the eight year olds shooting each other with Airsoft knockoffs. But we’re privileged yuppie flatlanders, we’re supposed to be shocked by such things (even though I lived in and frequented Renovo in my youth).

The Festival parade itself similarly harkened back to much, much simpler times. Looks like everybody was having fun, though. I enjoyed almost all of my carnie food except for the semi-raw hot sausage sandwich. Pro tip… if you are ever tempted to eat at Rita’s sausage stand, don’t. Go elsewhere.

We also managed to stop in and visit my grandmother, who I hadn’t seen since 1998. This was her first time meeting Gareth, which made the trip all the more interesting. Even after spending two hours with him, my grandmother still didn’t seem convinced that he was a sentient, aware being. Most people think we’re delusional when we say he is as smart and aware as any other kid - they can’t get beyond his lack of muscle control - but 80 year old women are especially tough nuts to crack.

Lessee… what else… Oh yeah, I did a dawn kayak paddle, hitting the water about 45 minutes before the sun came up. Sure was cold, though. There was frost on my kayak when I unloaded it and frost on it when I put it back on the rack over two hours later. It was a very peaceful paddle. Nobody else was on the water, and the folks in the nearby campsites were all asleep. They didn’t start stirring until about 8AM.

After packing up camp for the weekend, we took a drive around Kettle Creek to take in some fall color. That’s what the pic is from.