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What to do in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania

8/29/2016

Every year, the husband and his friends go to Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania for a weekend of camping. Since entering the picture, I've gone for five years in a row now. There is a ton to do in this quaint little town of less than a hundred people, and it makes a great vacation, for children and adults alike! If you're wanting to plan a quick weekend getaway, Ohiopyle Pennsylvania is the perfect quick, budget vacation for everyone! Here is what to do in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania!

The first thing you need to do, is set up a campsite! In town they do have a cute little motel, but we always rough it outdoors at Scarlett Knob Campground, it's really nice there! This is legit camping; no running water, no electric, and no restrooms (although they do have a couple porter potties sitting around)! Scarlett Knob Campground is right outside the town of Ohiopyle, so it's a quick drive down the wind-y mountain roads to get to all the activities I have listed here!

Go white water rafting.
We did this the first year I went along, and it was a complete blast! It's a guided tour, and don't worry if you're not experienced, they have multiple difficulty levels, so you can even take children! We went with the Laurel Highlands rafting company.

Visit Laurel Caverns.
Laurel Caverns is Pennsylvania's largest cave, it has over three miles of passages! The guided tour is super neat, and the caves are incredible! They are so beautiful, our friend proposed to his girlfriend in these caves!

Visit the scenic overlook.
I'm not sure exactly where this is at, but just ask anyone in town, and I'm sure they'll point you in the right direction!
We're always sure to visit this spot, because the view is absolutely stunning! You can see over the entire town of Ohiopyle! This is a great spot to take pictures of the whole family!

Forge the river.
In the town of Ohiopyle, the river that runs through it is the main attraction. This is the river that you go white water rafting on. However, if you start up by where the bridge is, you can walk across the river (this is not for children, the current can get pretty strong!). Us girls walked over the bridge, while the men walked the river. The bridge offers spectacular views! Which brings me to our next one...

Cross the bridge.
Like I said before, this bridge offers spectacular views! The above picture is a photo I took of the bridge from below. But once you get on top of the bridge, you get spectacular photos like these...

Play by the river.
Once you've crossed the bridge to the other side of the river, there is a biking and hiking trail. There is also a bunch of rocks jutting out into the river, and it's a great spot for taking pictures, exploring and even picnic-ing!

Ride the natural waterslide.
The Meadow Run natural waterslide is a must-visit! Above is my husband going down it! It then empties into a beautiful pool, with a large rock that people were jumping off of.
Parking is available adjacent to the SR 381 bridge crossing Meadow Run. Follow the signs to Meadow Run Trail, or follow the path at the back of the parking lot. The address is PA-381, Ohiopyle, PA 15470.

Visit Falls Market.
This adorable little general store/restaurant/ice cream shop, is right across the street from the river, in the center of town. It's the perfect spot if you want to get out of the heat, and eat something other than campfire food!

Cucumber Falls.
This summer was pretty dry,so Cucumber Falls wasn't as roaring as it usually is, but it was still fun! We even went behind the waterfall!

After you get out of the falls, follow the trail down (be careful, the rocks are super slippery!), and watch as it empties into the river, even watch white water rafters go by!

Where Cucumber Falls empties into the river. Stunning!

As you can see, Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania is a perfect vacation spot for families, couples, young people, nature lovers, photographers, and adventure seekers!

*Just a quick word of caution! Everything I mentioned in this article has the potential to be dangerous! So be sure to use caution, pay attention to your surroundings (always watch the water levels, and the swiftness of the rapids!), and enjoy at your own risk!*

Peace Love and Ohiopyle Pennsylvania
Jess <3

How to Make Your Own Organic Vegan Fair Trade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

8/22/2016

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Organic, Vegan, Fair Trade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

If you regularly read my blog, you know that I am an advocate for Eden Ministries, as well as the head of social media and volunteer for P.A.T.H.S. Both of these organizations help fight against human trafficking, which is a cause I am very passionate about. I had known a lot about the sex trafficking scope of the spectrum, but I was absolutely horrified to learn of another form of human trafficking, labor trafficking. Labor trafficking can look like a number of different things. Whether it be sweatshop labor, people kept against their will and forced to work long hours for little to no pay, and also, child labor. So when I found out that child labor is rampantly used in the chocolate industry (today's chocolate industry!), I decided to boycott it. Seriously, the everyday chocolate brands we eat in America, use chocolate that comes from child labor slaves in different countries. While these companies are totally aware of this, they continue to use this chocolate. Why? Because it is cheap. And it makes them more money.
So I decided to do my part. No more chocolate peanut butter cups (which are my favorite!). My husband was quite sad when we went to the store and looked at all the candy bars, only to find that they were all manufactured by companies that support child labor. So I made these, and here is how you can make your own!

What you need to make your very own organic, fair trade, non child labor version of chocolate peanut butter cups;
-Cupcake papers
-Organic, fair trade peanut or almond butter.
I use Once Again Almond Butter. Once Again is an American, employee owned, and completely fair trade company, whose products are all completely organic.
and
-Organic, fair trade melting chocolate.
Some good brands are Mama-Ganache, and Dolci Frutta, You can find more online, or at your local health shop. Just be sure to look for a fair-trade certified kind!

Step 1. Melt your organic, fair-trade melting chocolate, following package instructions.

Step 2. Spoon a little of the melted chocolate into the bottom of the cupcake papers. Don't make it too full, there's two more layers about to be added!

Step 3. Melt your organic, fair trade almond (or peanut) butter in the microwave, in a microwave safe bowl.
Step 4. Spoon some of the melted nut butter on top of the chocolate.

Step 5. Spoon more chocolate mixture on top of the peanut butter layer.

Step 6. Let sit and cool for a bit before diving in!

So start reading up on this topic, and find out which companies refuse to help end child labor. Write letters to them. Tell them you are going to boycott them until they make an effort to change! And until then, enjoy your own homemade delicious organic, vegan, fair-trade chocolate peanut butter cups!

Peace Love and Child Labor Free Chocolate
Jess <3

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Fourteen Hours in New York City

8/15/2016

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Wow, is the Big Apple crazy! But what's even crazier, is taking a whirlwind fourteen hour trip there...So of course that's exactly what we did!
Me, my mom, and my sister hopped on an overnight bus Friday night, and slept the entire eight hours to New York City. The bus dropped us off in the middle of the city Saturday morning, then left! Fourteen hours later the bus came back and picked us up, getting us back to Ohio early Sunday morning! Whew! What a weekend!
Here is what we did in fourteen hours in New York City, spending almost nothing!

Grand Central Station
Once we hopped off the bus, this was the first place we went. Not only is Grand Central Station absolutely beautiful, and a must-visit, but we wanted to use the restrooms to get dressed and do our hair and makeup!

Gettin' pretty in Grand Central Station's Bathrooms

Grand Central Station in the early morning

Ground Central
Once leaving Grand Central, we wandered around trying to find a cute, New York City styled coffee shop. There were no shortages of Starbucks that's for sure, but we managed to find a crammed, and adorable little coffee shop by the name of Ground Central (get it?!). It doesn't get much more New York City style than that! And I got a passion fruit flavored donut the size of my head! Yippee!

My Mom enjoying her coffee

Times Square
I figured Times Square was a must see, so once we filled our bellies, we made our way there. Times Square is a great place to visit when you don't have a lot of time, but want to experience a lot! You can find anything (or anyone!) there!

In Times Square, you can find a Naked Cowboy, and a Princess, all at the same time!

Crazy-ness!

The Mnm Store
I'm not even a big MnM fan, but this store was pretty insane! It had multiple levels inside, all filled to the brim with every shade MnM imaginable, plus MnM shirts, cups, robes, pillows, golf balls, and anything else you could think of! It's located in Times Square, so it's really easy to make a pit stop there while you're making your way through.

Bryant Park
From Times Square, Bryant Park is just a hop, skip, and a jump (a couple blocks) away.
I could only describe Bryant Park as ethereal. With plants and gardens and fountains, you feel like a sprite, making her way through a magical fairy kingdom!
There's coffee, plenty of places to sit, a carousel, and even a place to sit and play games!

The New York Public Library
This magnificent house of literature is directly beside Bryant Park, so once you've finished your cup of coffee, head on inside, and prepare to lose yourself in the architecture, bookshelves, and exhibits. Be sure to grab a free map of the city from the information desk, this was a huge help to us the rest of our trip!

I found a phone booth!

I highly recommend visiting the map room

Central Park
This one definitely needs no explanation! From the Library, we walked to Central Park. It was a bit of a walk, but there was no shortage of stuff to look at along the way!

We passed the NBC Studios on our way to Central Park

Strawberry Fields
Strawberry Fields in right on the outskirts of Central Park. I knew that we needed to go there, since we are all huge Beatles, and John Lennon fans. Strawberry Fields is quite a serene and peaceful spot. It's very Hippie-rific, and you can always find someone playing a Lennon song nearby.

Tom's Restaurant
Any Seinfeld fans out there?!
From Strawberry Fields we took a cab to Tom's Restaurant (it was pretty far to walk, plus we were hungry!). Tom's Restaurant was a must visit for us, because my entire family is completely obsessed with Seinfeld, and the outside of Tom's Restaurant is famous for appearing in pretty much every single episode of Seinfeld, as Monk's Cafe that they frequent! The inside isn't the same, since they weren't actually on set in New York. But we were still super stoked to stand outside, and marvel at the place we have seen so often in our favorite t.v. show!

Chinatown
I wanted to visit Chinatown, so we took the Subway there. It was completely surreal to know that I was still in America, but to look, feel, and even smell(!) like I was in China!
From Chinatown we walked through Little Italy, made our way to a Subway, and cruised back up to Grand Central Station where we met our bus to go home.

Grand Central Station at night

Holy Moly, can you believe we did all of that in just fourteen hours?!! What a blast! Have you ever visited the Big Apple? Were you there for longer than fourteen hours? What are your must-visits for New York?

Peace Love and New York City
Jess <3

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The 2008 China Earthquake

8/8/2016

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As you all know, I love to write about fun things like travel, fashion, weddings, and so on. But I also sometimes like to share with you from my soul. Today I want to share a personal story with you. A true story that happened to me, and something that I feel called to share right now. This is my firsthand story of the 2008 China earthquake...

I had only been living in China for about four months, when the 2008 China earthquake happened on May 12. I was living in Xi'an, a city about 460 miles from Chengdu, which was the epicenter of the quake. I had decided that I wanted to go out for a walk, maybe stop at some of the adorable roadside stores, and do some shipping. My first stop was a little underwear store, with small cardboard signs, exclaiming in Chinese characters all about their sales, hanging from wires from the ceiling, and a waist high bin in the middle of the store, holding hundreds of pairs of half priced underwear. It was in this bin, that I was digging, hoping to find a pair of cute, cheap underwear, that would actually fit me, when it happened. I suddenly felt very dizzy, so I made a mental note that I needed to drink more water. I then glanced up, and saw the signs on the ceiling swaying back and forth as if some strong breeze had swept quickly through the store. Suddenly, the giant metal bin in front of me was being tossed from side to side. This was about the time when me, the cashier, and the three or four other girls in the store, realized that the ground beneath us was moving. We ran outside onto the street. I looked around, and saw, in all directions, hundreds of people, flooding out of buildings, like a tsunami wave out into the street.

Thinking back, the large shocks couldn't have lasted more than a minute or two, but as I was clinging to a complete stranger (one of the random girls from the underwear store!), the once solid ground, throwing me violently down, never letting me stand fully to my feet before tossing me to the other side, I had no realization of time, or any other person, place, event, or thought, besides the girl who was clinging to me and I to her, and the thought, "I am going to die." The entire time of the quake, there was a dead, eerie silence. You could hear the ground moving, and the buildings shifting, but there were none of the comforting sounds of normal life. No car engines, beeping horns, laughing children, no birds in the sky. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. When the ground stood still once again, there was a moment of complete stillness, quiet, and calm, then it was as if the entire city suddenly at the same time, snapped out of some daze, and started rushing around. I slowly made my way back to my apartment, scared and confused, and trying to comprehend what had just happened. It was mass chaos; all cell services were jammed, you couldn't reach anyone on your phone. Once I reached my apartment, I saw that the entire sidewalk in front of it was full of people. I finally found my friends, and my roommate. No one was allowed back in the building until it was cleared. I later learned that my building had earned the nickname "dofu lou" (tofu building), for it was shifting to and fro like a piece of jiggly tofu during the earthquake.

That night most of the city slept outside on the ground, for being inside a tall building with aftershocks happening, was not the safest thing you could do (especially in the dofu lou!).
Luckily we had a friend that lived in a nice apartment complex, that had grass we could sleep on. I did walk around the city though, and take pictures of the local park, of all the people sleeping on the ground.

This was us the morning after. Yes that's me in the glasses.

I later found out that the earthquake that hit had a magnitude of 7.9, killing about 70,000 people, and leaving over 18,000 missing. It was the 3rd most deadly earthquake in China since 1990. It was a tragedy, through and through.
The above picture is in the days following the earthquake, people donating money to the victims.
It has been eight years, and I have not forgotten, nor will I ever.

Peace Love and Earthquake
Jess <3

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What to do in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania

How to Make Your Own Organic Vegan Fair Trade Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Fourteen Hours in New York City

The 2008 China Earthquake

I'm Jessica!

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