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Will they call YOU the breeze?
August 21, 2014
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In designing this year's Great Pennsylvania Outdoor Challenge, we scanned the "offbeat holidays" for inspiration and, sure enough, there it is on Saturday, August 23. Ride the Wind Day.
That suggested a lot of possibilities to us. Like these folks at Samuel S. Lewis State Park in York County, you could go fly a kite. The panoramic view of the Susquehanna River valley makes quite the backdrop (and, yeah, there's nearly always a breeze up there).
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Or maybe you're ready to take the adventure to the next level? At Hyner View State Park and the Haldeman Tract at Weiser State Forest, you can try hang gliding (with instruction, of course) or just check out what might be happening there on any given day. (You might find the Friends of Weiser out horseback riding with the wind in their hair.)
 Then, too, there's always sailing! The Friends of Yellow Creek have an active community sailing program; check out DCNR's Where to Boat page for quick access to other potential regatta locations.
Ride your mountain bike down a challenging single-track or just let the breeze blow while you fish or picnic.
And don't forget the pets. Dog lovers know that their pups always love a good breeze through the fur! Let's celebrate them this week with a copy of What's the Matter with Henry, the True Tale of a Three-Legged Cat and Amazing Animal Stories, awarded in a random drawing of anyone who posts his or her breezy photo to the Facebook page or sends it to Pam for the website photo gallery.
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Marci and Pam are only 17 days away from #OSP2PSP! A huge thank you to all the GPOC-ers (and NON-GPOC-ers) who have given their support to the effort.
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 As Gloria discovered this week, this little pavilion at Sizerville State Park is like a little dream cabin in the woods.
The CCC has a lot of fans in the GPOC - as noted in the Facebook group, with central-western Pennsylvania parks being most often mentioned (Trough Creek, Cowans Gap and Blue Knob, all right there in the same mountains).
Pam just put her picture of the Jones Mill Run Dam at Laurel Hill State Park on the Facebook page. Check out the interviews with Laurel Hill's CCC boys on the history page of the park's website!
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Health Watch
Just this past week, a long-time friend of Pam's posted on her Facebook page that it turns out her best buddy in high school is actually her sixth cousin. It was a mini-miracle as the buddy's family were truly lifesavers during a tumultuous adolescence.
Curiously, the blog at Experience Life magazine also posted this past week that our friends often share 1% of our genetic markers, which on the family tree makes them roughly equivalent to your fourth cousin! “Looking across the whole genome,†[researcher James] Fowler said ... “we find that, on average, we are genetically similar to our friends. We have more DNA in common with the people we pick as friends than we do with strangers in the same population.â€
What does this mean to your health and well-being? The researchers' conclusion was that health choices you make (both good and bad) are reflected back to you in the people with whom you surround yourself, reinforcing the behaviors in ways beyond the simple pleasure of their company.
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