My Adventures and Places Life Takes Me: NYC-DC-PA Vacation: Walking Around Carlisle and Boiling Springs

Mom got up around 7ish and I got up a little bit later because I was tired, and we weren't going to do anything until later that morning. It was a nice break from always having to be somewhere. This was a nice break from the past few days of our vacation. Both Amy and Josh had to do some work before they could hang out with us the rest of the day. Amy had her office set up in the bedroom next to the one I was using. Josh's office was set up down in the basement. She saw we were all up and got out the stuff for breakfast. Our choices were yogurt, granola, strawberries, bananas and toast. Josh warned us that we had to eat all of the bananas before we left because he got them for us.

She told us we could do laundry while she and Josh were working to pass the time. I threw in a load of underwear, socks, shirts and shorts. The other load were the heavy things like sweatshirts, sweatpants and pants. I worked on my blog for a little bit. I got ready for the day and put on some different clothes. Amy got out of her jammies and we all decided what we were going to do. First, Josh and Amy showed us around the outside of their house and took us down to see the Conodoguinet Creek, which is really a river. It is a tributary of the Susquehanna River. I found their gnome who survived the winter currents.

Amy said she wanted to take us around Carlisle for the day. Josh decided to stay home and continue working. He said that he was going to plan and cook dinner as well. I was excited to explore Carlisle. I found out later that my friend Lauren's older brother lives in Carlisle. I knew he lived in Pennsylvania but never knew which town he lived in with his family. We told Josh we'd be back and hopped in Amy's SUV.

She drove us through the middle of town, and we parked near the cemetery. We went into the Old Public Graveyard. This graveyard is famous for Molly Pitcher, a woman who has said to had fought in the American Revolutionary War. The Old Public Graveyard was Carlisle's first burial ground. The oldest surviving marker is dated 1757, six years after Carlisle founding in 1751. As one of the original seven public graveyards in colonial Pennsylvania, the Old Graveyard reflects the European pattern of public rather than private ownership. Today, the site is owned and maintained by the Borough of Carlisle.

The Old Public Graveyard in Carlisle is home to 750 veterans from the Revolutionary War through the Korean War. The graveyard is the burial ground for 550 Civil War veteran including the drummer boy from the 1st US Calvary, Charles Seebold. We spent some time wandering around the cemetery looking at the old grave markers. It was surreal looking at how old these were.

From there, we decided to walk through town. Amy told us a little bit about some of the historical sites including the cannon ball that hit one of the pillars of the City Hall building. They didn't bother fixing it so it's still there to this day. It was pretty cool to see. A notable person who resided in Carlisle was the iconic athlete, Jim Thorpe, who is known for his versatility in sports. It is home to Dickinson College and the US Army War College. There's a lot going on in this town.

We walked through the middle of town, and I knew there was a virtual cache here, A Sleepy Washington in Carlisle (GCF194). We stopped briefly to do it and I was super confused. The coords said they were on one side of the street but there wasn't a sign or anything to answer the question being asked. I did see that there was a sign across the street. I told Amy it wasn't a big deal, and we could do it later since we had to walk back this way to go back to the car. I found out later I could totally do this cache on the internet because the signs were historical, and you can look them up online.

Then I saw the historical sign for the famous Hot-Chee-Dogs at the Hamilton Restaurant. Amy said they are purchased by the dozen because they are so popular. I asked if we could eat here for lunch, and everyone agreed. We had to try the famous food here in Carlisle! We went into the restaurant and a lady sat us, asked for our drink order and we told her we were ready to order some Hot-Chee-Dogs, fries and onion rings. She told us she would be back with our drinks and food.

We visited for a few minutes, I got up and washed my hands and when I got back the lady brought our food and drinks. I was excited to try them. I always attempt to try new food or food that the area is known for when we travel. It was hard to pass up this opportunity. We spent a half hour eating our Hot-Chee-Dogs, fries and onion rings while Amy talked about living in Carlisle.

Afterwards, we went into the Cumberland Valley Visitor's Center and browsed around for a bit. I found some post cards and Mom found a couple things including a shirt to bring home with her. Amy also purchased a few things as gifts for her friends. We went across the street to Georgie Lou's Retro Candy shop and looked around for a bit. I found a couple things; Mom found a couple things and of course Amy found some stuff as well. We paid and continued on with our downtown visit.

We walked a couple blocks to Dickinson College. We looked at some of the old buildings and statues. It is a private liberal arts college founded in 1773 by Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and named in honor of John Dickinson, a signer of the Constitution and a former governor of Pennsylvania. They compete in the NCAA Division III athletics, and they are the red and white Red Devils. It was fun exploring a small east coast college.

We started our walk back to Amy's SUV near the cemetery. Along the way, she said we were going to stop by a chocolate store and on the way to Boiling Springs we were going to stop by the famous Rita's Italian Ice so we could experience it. Amy said it was her treat. We jumped into the SUV and headed towards Exquisite Chocolates of Carlisle. Amy knew the lady who was working inside. Both Mom and I got the caramel chocolate. We were in there for maybe 10 minutes or so. We thanked the lady and got back in the SUV. Amy took us to Rita's. She said this place is super popular during the summer. We stood in line. I got a cherry one and Mom got a blue raspberry one.

We ate them as we drove to Boiling Springs. Boiling Springs is about 6 miles southeast of Carlisle and it is roughly the halfway point for the Appalachian Trail, has some unique hydrogeology, cool Civil War buildings. We were there to walk a portion of the well-known 2,200-mile trail, explore the town, take some photos, do some geocaching and the Adventure Lab.

We found a place to park near "the bubble," grabbed what we needed, locked the SUV and walked over to The Bubble (GC680XC) which was an earthcache. I looked at what we needed to do to get the answers. I climbed down on the rock so I could feel how cold the water was. I answered the questions the best I could and then decided I would look it up on the internet when we got home. We continued walking along the Appalachian Trail. I snapped a bunch of pictures as we walked closer to one of the trail check points.

We also did the Welcome to Boiling Springs Adventure Lab along the way. We had to answer questions about "the bubble", the veteran's memorial clock, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the Carlisle Iron Works Furnace and a spa called Allenberry (which we had to drive to.) It was fun learning about new places. We grabbed a traditional cache called Carlisle Iron Works (GC7FPGN) which was a bison tube tethered to a really cool tree near the Yellow Breeches Creek.

We spent some more time walking around the rest of the lake, looking at the old Civil War homes and just enjoying the really nice April afternoon. The weather could not have been better for this trip. We have been so lucky to have sunshine just about every day. We got near the parking lot and noticed some geese. They were upset we were in their walking path and went out of their way to walk around us. We laughed at them. We walked back to the SUV and headed back towards Carlisle. Amy took us the long way around so she could show us a couple of places.

Meanwhile, Josh finished up his workday, went to the store and grabbed some stuff for dinner and proceeded to cook dinner while we were on our way back from Boiling Springs. We got back to the house and dinner was almost ready. Josh asked us how our day went, and we told him pretty well. I told him that Boiling Springs was not boring! He just chuckled.

We all sat down and ate burnt ends, smashed potatoes and salad. It was delicious. We chatted about the day some more and enjoyed each other's company. We helped clear the table and hung out the rest of the evening chatting and visiting. I uploaded pictures to Facebook and wrote in my blog for a little bit. Dad had gotten a hold of me earlier to ask me how to change is Facebook password because he thought someone had hacked into it. I changed it and decided to tell him about it the next day when we had some time to go step by step.