We are saying goodbye to summer and our visit to the USA tonight. To celebrate, we went out to eat at General Zapata Restaurant in Bethlehem and walked around the Lehigh campus. It was another gorgeous late summer evening.
I want to thank Jack, Cathy, Julie, Alice, and others for being such gracious hosts. We really enjoyed our time together and hope to continue to see each other.
It was a summer of good food (way too much), friends, family, and exploring the mid-Atlantic region, from the Appalachian Mountains to the New Jersey Shore and many places in between. The classes at Lehigh were extremely stimulating and will really help me next year as I lead a new school. The kids loved spending time with Uncle Jack and Grandma Cathy.
We had a quiet weekend in Freeland, Pennsylvania. On Friday morning we packed and headed back to the Appalachians after a week on the Jersey Shore. We stopped to get haircuts at shop in Toms River, New Jersey. The kids look so much older with their their new hairstyles. We then checked out the Franklin Institute, a museum dedicated to science education in Philadelphia. I highly recommend a visit, although you can skip all of the extras, like the IMAX and 3D theatres, and the flight simulators. All three attractions were quite dated and not worth the extra cost. The regular exhibitions and activities were excellent however and the kids could have stayed there all day. It was the perfect thing to do on a rainy day. We didn’t get much time to see the city and I do want to go back and explore a bit of the history of the city, especially see the Liberty Bell, the building where the Second Continental Congress met, and most importantly, recreate the training scene from the movie Rocky. The museum district is quite nice and I recommend Matt & Maria’s Italian Sandwich Shop, where we didn’t have the famous Philly Steak&Cheese sandwich, but we did have some gourmet sandwiches that really hit the spot.
The Atrium of the Franklin Institute
The visit did make me reflect on the life of Ben Franklin. I can see why he is called the “First American”. He was such a tour de force of intellect, creativity, ambition, and service. His accomplishments and wide variety of interests are truly impressive. I got chills seeing one of the original lightning rods he designed and reading some of his original journals about electricity. He was also a great diplomat and politician. We are fortunate to have him as one of the Founding Fathers of our country and his personal characteristics helped forge the ideals of America.
We spent the rest of the weekend resting and spending time with extended family. I did take the kids for a hike in an old strip mine just outside of Freeland, near the “patch town” of Upper Lehigh. We climbed the giant ore pile nicknamed “Big Ben” and contemplated the legacy of the coal industry. The locals use the area for motorcycle and ATV riding and also as an illegal dump to avoid fees at a landfill.
This week we are finishing up with packing, doctor visits, and saying goodbye to family before heading out on Friday.
There were some good things that came out of the Stock Market Crash of 1929. One of them was the beautiful Island Beach State Park, here on the Jersey Shore. Henry C. Phipps, a childhood friend of Andrew Carnegie and a big shareholder in Carnegie Steel, bought the southern part of the long barrier island with the intent of making it into a resort. With the crash of the stock market, construction halted and with the interruption of World War II, the land was never developed. The State of New Jersey wisely purchased the land from his heirs in 1953, and hence today, it is the only undeveloped, large, piece of land on the entire New Jersey coast.
We spent the afternoon exploring the park. The kids felt bad for me that we didn’t see any birds in the salt marshes, so they pretended they were birds, in part to make me feel better. It is hard to believe that this is how the island looked before the extensive building of vacation homes and urbanization of the northern part of the island. In looking at real estate magazines, the big homes pictured below sell for over 1 million dollars and the smaller rental properties are also quite expensive. Park managers have done a pretty good job of allowing access to the park and preserving the environment.
View from the Boardwalk of Seaside Park
I wish they would have preserved more of the coast, not only in New Jersey, but everywhere. I understand that everyone wants waterfront property, but I find myself gravitating to coastlines without development, which are few and far between.
We are taking a few days of rest and relaxation to celebrate the end of my classes at Lehigh. We drove 3 hours yesterday from Freeland and are staying at the “Jersey Shore”. More specifically, in Seaside Park, which is a small town on the Barnegat Peninsula, a narrow barrier peninsula, just off the mainland of north-central New Jersey. We chose Seaside Park because it is just outside the Island Beach State Park, the largest undeveloped coastline in the state.
The peninsula is very crowded, as is most of the coast, due to its proximity to the metro areas of New York and Philadelphia. For generations, Americans have come to summer on the “Jersey Shore” (I would call it the Jersey Beaches instead). It is some pretty expensive real estate, and people are attracted here because of the white sands, blue water, and cool breezes coming off the Atlantic. We had a wonderful afternoon and evening, making sand castles, throwing the football around, and diving in the big waves crashing on the sands. The water is a bit cold however, not Lake Superior cold, but extremely refreshing. The beach was not crowded with plenty of space for everyone. We are staying at the Beach Club Hotel a small, family-run hotel near the beach which is perfect. The peninsula is still recovering from Hurricane Sandy, which hit the New York/New Jersey area in October of 2012.
Nadia and I are taking great pleasure in watching the kids play and have fun! That is what raising a family is all about.
We had a nice quiet weekend taking advantage of state parks in the area. On Friday we rode the Delaware & Lehigh Trail from Whitehaven to Glen Summit. Oliver described it as “dreadful” and the 22 miles tested his patience. He loved the ride back as it was all downhill. Biking is one of my favorite things to do with my family and it is very easy on my knees! I want to get into the sport even more this year.
Ocean is shown above at Sand Spring Lake in the Hickory Park State Park. Park officials created a little lake and beach area by damming the creek. It was a pleasant afternoon in the bright sun and cool water. We packed for our trip for Jersey Shore and hung out with family.
It has been nice to have my family with me this summer! Last summer, when I started work on my doctorate, I was here by myself. When the work is done, I certainly look forward to seeing the kids and my wife Nadia.
There is a lot to do here in the Lehigh Valley. The Valley, as the locals call it, consists of three cities, Allentown (75,000), Bethlehem (75,000) and Easton (27,000) and numerous smaller cities and towns. It lies on the eastern edge of Pennsylvania and has a border with New Jersey. With the end of the coal and steel industries, the area has environmentally recovered. There are a lot of businesses and industry still here today, with large hospitals, Penn Power, Mack Trucks, Crayola, Air Products, etc. It also serves as a bedroom community for Philadelphia, which is 97 kilometers south, and New York City, which is 140 kilometers east. Real estate and the cost of living here is much lower for them.
They have the AAA Minor League Baseball affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies, Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. The Iron Pigs play in the 10,000-seat Coca Cola Park in Allentown, which is a great night out. They are really set up for families. We got $7 tickets for the outfield grass, and had a nice evening out. The kids could roll around and there was plenty of good food and drink. I think the majority of people were there for all of the extras, and the baseball game was just an excuse to get out. They also have the Philadelphia Flyers minor league hockey team, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and a building a new arena in Allentown.
Ocean in the center field grass – L.V. Iron Pigs vs. Buffalo Bison
The Lehigh Valley is also culturally rich, with many universities, including mine (Lehigh), art galleries, theaters, etc. I am learning more about Pennsylvania and really like it here. It is very similar to the midwest and reminds me of where I grew up. There is a bit more going on with a higher population, but it is still easy to get out and away from urban areas. It is a great place to be in the summer.
I am getting in touch with my family roots here in Pennsylvania. Both sides of my biological family are from Pennsylvania’s Coal Region, located in the north east part of the state, in the Appalachian Mountains. The largest cities in this region are Wilkes Barre and Scranton. It is the location of about the only place in the USA where anthracite could be found. Anthracite is the purest form of coal, consisting of 92-98% carbon. From the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century, this was a big industry here, peaking in the 1920s. Today there are a couple of small specialty mines still in operation, but for the most part, the industry is dead, with most of the good coal gone and competition for other countries and other forms of fossil fuels, most notably natural gas making it unprofitable. This triangle of 5 counties helped fuel the industrial revolution in America, propelling steam engines and producing steel in the big foundries in Bethlehem. Waves of immigrants came to work in the mines, most notably Irish, but also my ancestors from Eastern and Central Europe. The Molly Maguiresa 1970 movie starring Sean Connery, portrayed the radical Irish group, the Molly Maguires, who fought for mine workers’ rights in an age of exploitation. The stories of mining accidents, low pay, and the struggles of these immigrants to make a living are sad and often tragic. Although many of their ancestors benefit today from life in America. My son Ollie (photo above) found this piece of anthracite coal in an old strip mine, just outside the town of Freeland last week.
The industrial revolution was an environmental disaster for the region however. First, as in many places in the USA, including my home region in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the land was clear cut of the majestic white pines and hemlock trees that covered the mountains here. Canals were dug and railroads put in to transport materials to the cities on the east coast and steel plants in the Lehigh Valley. More than 70 years later however, the Appalachians (this part of the chain is called the Pocono Mountains) are making a comeback. We rode the 25 mile bike path from White Haven to Jim Thorpe in the Lehigh Gorge State Park this weekend. I was proud of the kids of making the whole way. The views were stunning! We took an old tourist train through the valley and rode down. There are also lots of whitewater rafting and hiking in the park. I hope to explore more of it while I am here and glad that an area that was once a denuded, polluted, “super highway” is now going back to nature.
The mountains, although not the size of Rockies or Alps, have their own stunning beauty and it does remind me of the Great Lakes Region of Northern Michigan. In mid-summer, the sheer walls of green, the brown rapids of the Lehigh River, and the bright bloom of Mountain Laurels, makes for a pleasant place to relax and recharge.
The view from the bike path of the Lehigh River.
I will be exploring more of the Pennsylvania Coal Region this summer and exploring my family’s past here as well.
Today we went for an afternoon hike in the Nescopeck State Park, which is very close to Freeland, Pennsylvania, where we are staying this week. The 3,500 acre park is located between Mount Yeager and Nescopeck Mountain in Luzerne County. The valley is special because it is one of the few areas here in Pennsylvanian coal country that was not mined for coal. The park does not have spectacular waterfalls or dramatic rock formations, but it is a just a nice, forested, relaxing area. We hiked along the Nescopeck Creek and it had many beautiful old, Eastern Hemlock trees along the banks. The kids were playing hide and seek. The trees and ferns along the creek, gave it the look of the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which we saw last night. We could imagine the monkeys swinging through the trees attacking humans.
It is a newer park and I am glad the state was able to purchase and preserve the valley. So many people have moved out of towns and cities to build their 2 acres of paradise, that there are precious few unbroken forested areas left. Most of the park has a secondary forest feel however, but in about 50-100 years, it will look more impressive. They have a nice environmental education center. There are a couple of small lakes, many wetlands, and the Nescopeck Creek running through the valley. With a wet spring and all that water, the mosquitos and bugs were a bit bothersome, but overall it was another great day. I really love getting out into wilderness and showing my children the beauty and wonder of nature. As Nadia wrote on her Facebook page, I am in heaven!
For the second consecutive summer I am studying here at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA. It is better this year to have my family with me! I love seeing Nadia and the kids when I get back from my classes. The class I am taking has been very stimulating and it is nice to spend time with family. I really love the atmosphere of a university town and the Lehigh Valley in particular.
We were here for the 4th of July celebrations although we kept it low key. We did watch the fireworks display in Bethlehem and say Happy 238 Years to the USA. We also went to the Kutztown Folk Festival in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. This is the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch (German settlers to the USA) and Mennonite/Amish country in eastern Pennsylvania. The festival celebrates farm life (agriculture/livestock) and the “olden” days of America settlement. The kids watched a sheep shearing demonstration, saw many old engines for pumping water, sawing wood, husking corn, etc. I read to them a couple of books in Laura Ingalls Wilder series, and we particularly liked Little House in the Big Woods which is set in 1870s Wisconsin. I highly recommend the series for children and to see the stories come alive for them at the festival was really interesting. We also had some old fashioned kettle corn and sasparilla root beer.
One impression of the USA is the amount of space here for everyone compared to Europe. There is a lot of land for not that many people! As you can see below, the sports facilities of Lehigh University, which can be used by the public, are immense. I can just see the sports fanatical Serbs going crazy here with all this room to move. Nadia runs the cross country loop on the grounds while the kids play soccer.
Jared and I celebrate our 7-0 victory at the 2014 Diplomatic Community Tennis Tourney
This morning I played in the US Embassy’s Tennis Championship at the Novak Tennis Center on the banks of the Danube River. The US Ambassador to Serbia, Michael Kirby, is a keen tennis player and he organizes a social tennis outing a couple of times a year. I was invited to play this year as a substitute for a player that backed out. I am not a diplomat, so was grateful for the opportunity to play. The Novak Tennis Center is located underneath the fortress of Kalemegdan in the downtown Belgrade suburb of Dorcol. Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic has a gift shop, a trophy room, and a nice cafe. There are 14 clay courts, and with him playing in the finals of the French Open today, I was pumped up to play. It was a 25-minute round-robin, “speed-dating” doubles tennis format, which was fun, because you got to meet a lot of people and play against and with many different styles and levels. I really enjoyed the rounds with four strong players. I ended the day with a 22 wins – 20 losses record. There was bright sun and temperatures in the 90s (32+ C) so was glad when my final round ended around 1:30 PM.
Ambassador Kirby Addresses the Players at the Awards Ceremony
I really love playing tennis and would like to play more often. It is stress relieving, challenging, active, and a great way to interact with people. I would like to work on my game this summer a bit, I need a better second serve, better fundamentals at the net and just overall, work on all my strokes. I didn’t grow up playing the game, and only picked it up in my 30s. I would like to thank Ryan from the US Embassy for asking me to play this year. Hajde Nole!!!!!!
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