A Perfect November Day at R.B. Winter State Park

With absolutely perfect weather anticipated for Tuesday, I decided to take the day off to get some outdoors time. Temperatures have been rather mild lately, and it was the second Tuesday in a row where both the weather and my work schedule have permitted such adventures.

This time my husband and I decided to go and explore R.B. Winter State Park, located about a 45-minutes' drive east of State College, along route 192. It's a place we visited more frequently in the early days (which is to say the 80s and 90s), but that we hadn't been to in a few years.

The last time we were there, it was summer - a perfect summer day, in fact   And now here we are in November, and it was also beautiful. In fact, the weather dude presenting the forecast on TV on Monday night called it a "Terrific Tuesday," so let's go with that. :-) Perfect blue skies and sunshine, with temperatures approaching 60 degrees F!

We parked near the campground and walked all around from there. The campground itself was beautiful, every campsite spacious and flat. The Whispering Pines amphitheater was just a few minutes from our car, and it featured carved wooden benches and a lectern in the middle. A fun place to have an event, I'm sure. An outdoor wedding, perhaps?

And then we hiked just about every trail the park had! We admired the big trees (mostly old-growth white pines and hemlocks) at the Rapid Run Natural Area. We walked along the pretty streams that run through the park.

We strolled all the way around the lake - an easy, flat hike - and the reflections were glorious, as you can see above. (What you can't see very well is the small family with two little children and two black labs playing happily on the sandy beach near the left edge of this shot.)

There are several inviting swing sets along the lake, and we stopped and sat in one about half-way through our walk around the lake. You may see a photo I took of my husband sitting in one of the swings in the extras. The foreground had started to fall into shadow, but late-afternoon sun was lighting up the trees across the lake just beautifully.

I'm not sure I remember a prettier day in November, and we were fortunate to be out to enjoy it. I wanted the song for this day to be about the woods, so here is one I don't think I've ever used before: the Beatles, with Norwegian Wood.