Hanging in Harrisburg

On Tuesday I got home from another beastly week-and-a-half long business trip to Washington D.C.  I hate those; I generally work nights and straight through any weekends that the trip might envelope.  You tend to lose your grip on time and reality, since every day is just one more in a bland succession of days, with nothing to anchor it to any specific day.  This trip did have one bright spot.  I was given an unprecedented Saturday off, and only had to work a couple of hours Sunday night.  (They're getting soft!)  I took full advantage of the free time.  On Saturday I jumped in the rental and hit the highway north to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to hook up with my long time old friend and best man, Jeff van Bastelaar.  He's been back in PA for the last nine years now, so its pretty rare that we get a chance to catch up.

We spent the day outdoors.  I met him up at his wife's parents house, said a quick hello to Liz and her family, then snatched Jeff and drove north, heading at Jeff's direction to the Boyd Big Tree Preserve Conservation Area.  It was a beautiful day and great hiking weather.  Unfortunately, while nice, neither compensates to much for being radically out of shape.  In the old days I could just about keep up with Jeff (kinda, sorta, if he was really tired, and maybe had a broken leg).  But that was many moons and many pounds ago; now I was content to let Jeff lead the way while I wheezed diligently behind him.  We did about 3 miles and then headed back to Jeff's house.

We relaxed a bit and were just about to head out on our second trip of the day, canoeing on the Susquehanna, when Liz and the kids got home.  We tweaked our plans, threw an extra life jacket in the boat and dragged Jeff's son J along for the ride.  Again, the weather was great and the river was smooth and silky.  The Susquehanna is the longest U.S. river that empties into the Atlantic, but also has the distinction of being essentially unnavigable.  We set out from City Island, right in the center of the river, and everywhere we went the water wasn't more than three feet deep - and often only inches.  Jeff's canoe got a couple of extra scraps on my end of the keel...

We headed up stream for about a mile and a half or so, weaving our way through bridges and around lots of little islands dotting the river.  We aimed for an island upstream that J suggested might have pirates, but when we got there we found that it was all mud from the water's edge, so we abandoned the idea, convinced that pirates would not want to get their cool boots all muddy.  We doubled back and found another island that was a little more accessible.  We beached, got out and roamed around a bit.  We did see some other boaters playing in the water, but we don't think they were actual pirates.

 Back in the boat we headed back downstream to City Island.  There are seven bridges spanning the Susquehanna as it weaves through Harrisburg.  Most of them are around the City Island area, and make for some pretty views.

Harrisburg from the River

 At one point we pulled out from under a bridge and I noticed way off downstream two twin clouds of steam towering upward.  Negotiating the arches of some further-down bridges afforded us a better view:  Three Mile Island of the 1970's horror fame!  (I was telling another friend about the trip later and he started singing "Glow, glow, glow your boat...")

We circled City Island and made it back to our launching point.  A total trip of about 4 miles.  We had no idea that it was almost 7:00pm and J was likely half starved.  Poor kid.  Liz was very kind in sparing us the tongue-lashing we deserved when we finally got back to Jeff's.

Sunset on the Susquehanna.