FUN FACT ABOUT POCONOS: “The Poconos are comprised of 2,400 square miles and contain: 4 counties; 2 National Parks; 9 State parks; 150 lakes; 19 waterfalls; 170 miles of rivers; and 7 ski areas”
How tempting it is to lay on a couch through out the day covered in a warm quilt when it is snowing outside and sipping tea! ☕
Most of us enjoy staying indoors when it comes to winter. Me on the contrary being from a tropical country wanted to go out to build snowman when blizzard warning was announced.
Me and husband Tarak started looking for places online where we could see frozen lakes, find people skiing as it is something we don’t do in my home country, India. After our search we decided a place 200 miles from where we live and known as the Pocono mountains or the Poconos in Pennsylvania.
Next we booked our hotel room in Days Inn in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania for one night as we planned on exploring places during the daylight.
On the day of blizzard warning we left at seven in the morning and reached Gouldsboro State Park at 11:30 A.M. It was snowing heavily and there wasn’t even a single person or a car inside the park. We found a frozen lake and took out our 5$ Snowboards which we had brought a day before from Five Below and started sliding. After spending half an hour we left for our hotel as the cold had become unbearable for us.
After reaching our hotel we rested for a while, had lunch which we had already packed in the morning and inquired at the hotel reception about skiing places nearby when they suggested about this place called Montage Mountain Resorts.
There are a number of other skiing resorts in Pennsylvania as well but we chose Montage Mountain Resorts because of its proximity to our hotel. By the time we reached the resort it was already 4 P.M. This resort like other resorts is known for winter sports like Skiing, Snowboarding, and Snow-tubing. One can rent the winter sports equipment, buy the lift tickets and also join skiing and snowboarding classes. Though I attended a 60 minute skiing class but had no luck skiing 😓.
Anyways, this place also has a food court and a small gift shop for its visitors. The plus point is you can also bring in your own sports equipment and use the park facilities. The resort has no entry ticket and its literally pay for what you use. We rented our skiing equipment for $30 and tried to play around for a little while with it (as skiing is not our cup of tea😉). We left the place at 7 P.M. for our hotel room. Now, if you wonder what happens to these skii resorts during summers? Well they are converted to water resorts or water theme parks.
Next day we started at eight in the morning. We had our breakfast, got ready and checked out at ten. Our first destination was Seven Tubs Nature Area. This place is known to have beautiful waterfalls and its natural scenic views. We went inside the park did trekking for an hour praised the beauty of the frozen waterfalls and left for our next destination.
Next we went to Tobyhanna State Park where comparatively we found a few families and kids playing with their snowboards. We sat by a frozen lake inside, I also tried to walk on the edges of the lake and again took out our snowboards to play. The parks have small hills inside where we played for an hour or so. By the time we were tired it was already 1 P.M. We then went to a nearby restaurant to have our lunch and left for our place by 4 P.M.
TRAVEL GUIDE:
- Location: The Poconos in Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
- Language: English
- Currency: Dollars $
- Best time to visit: There is no best time to see this place it has a lot of parks, lakes, waterfalls and mountains. But if you are going for winter sports it is November-February
- Packing: Snow and woollen jackets, Snow boots, woollen gloves, woollen socks, woollen mufflers, woollen caps
- Food: There are a lot of restaurants and can be found using google maps
- Commute: Take your own car or rent a car. It’s comfortable in winters to have a car than relying on public transport
- Whom to travel with: Family and friends. Avoid bringing your toddlers in winters who are less than a year old
- How to travel cheap: Book hotel room in advance, pack all your winter clothes and sport equipments
- Places to see: Gouldsboro State Park, Tobyhanna State Park, Seven Tubs Nature Area
- Winter resorts: Camelback Mountain Resort, Montage Mountain Resorts, Blue Mountain Resort, Jack Frost Ski Resort, Big Boulder Ski Area
Where did you spend your winter holidays? Comment below.
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