Today was a rest day. Or really, a driving day. According to Google Maps, it would have taken more than nine hours of driving to get home from Vermont. And that’s before you add in breaks for meals, gas, and rest stops. Oh, and traffic.

Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley looked to be about two-thirds of the way home, so I dropped a line to my friend Phil to see if he was free for lunch on Saturday. He is, so I made a reservation for a hotel in that area with the plan to arrive late afternoon and then Sweet Potato and I would go for a hike somewhere in the area.

Remember that “nine hours” to get to Maryland? Google Maps was being quite optimistic (Connecticut will be a nice state once they finish building it). It took nine hours to get to the Lehigh Valley. Sweet Potato was so patient with the car ride – hopping back into her “nest” after every rest stop – that I felt I owed it to her to find a place to go for a walk that wasn’t just a hotel parking lot.

So, based on a suggestion from the desk clerk (three good suggestions at three different hotels), we spent the last half-hour of daylight on a trail in the Hickory Run State Park.