Thursday, March 8, 2012

Discovering Bear Creek

It has been a very busy 2 months for me.  A full renovation of the  basement level of my home and the result were worth it...I now have a huge sun lite, walkout studio with place to spread out all my supplies and projects,  and  a very large TV viewing space for the less ambitious moments of my life..Special thanks to Gregg and all the men from GH Remodelers..and to Larry Pierce and the men  of Chester County Painting.

During all the chaos, I did manage to sneak out for some afternoon excursions.  One particular discovery trip was to Bear Creek Ski area.  I was on a fact finding mission for a friend who is relocating  to the east coast after decades living in the mountains of Colorado.  He is looking for a location that will have all the amenities of 4 seasons, but without the harsh long winters of his home state of NH. Golf, skiing, the sea shore and cultural venues.

Now, it is important to note that I am also a transplant from NH and I spent many years as a professional skier at some of the largest ski areas in the Northeast. When I moved to this area of  Pa., over twenty years ago, I had already resigned from the sport I loved passionately due to  bad knees, so being aware of ski areas near my new home was not even in my consciousness. I knew there where several areas in the region but had not explored them.  So, after reviewing their web site for its location, I was surprised to discover that Bear Creek was only 14 miles from my home. I had to check this out... and headed up route 100 north to Church Street which becomes Mountain Road.  It was the beautiful sunny afternoon of Feb. 9th,  and as I came to the top of a hill... there it was in front of me.  It was a magnificent site.  A big mountain with wide sweeping trails covered with snow. The chairlift moving steadily up the mountain full of skiers and snow boarders.  My heart began to flutter with a feeling of excitement I had not experienced for decades.  You see in 2007, I was blessed with a brand new knee and no longer a cripple.  I realized that the possibility of putting on the 'boards' again was very real and here was this wonderful mountain facility right in my back yard.

Later that day I reported my findings to my friend. I had sent him the link to their web site, but actually seeing the area is much more impressive.  He had been looking at several of retirement regions but never considered Southeastern Pa.  Who knew that it had so much to offer.  There are 7 golf courses in a 10 mile radius of my town, the ski area is 14 miles away, the shore just 2 hours away and  access to arts and historic culture, both local and regional is unsurpassed. So now  my friend is very excited and will be arriving here soon, and I am looking forward to some wonderful afternoons on the slopes next winter.

We really do have it all right here in the Tri-County region.

No comments:

Post a Comment