After the buffalo, deer, and lighthouses in the early part of our afternoon yesterday, our day continued to be amazing. Right on the border of Pennsylvania and New York, we stumbled on this awesome place. 

This really neat tunnel through the hill was finished in 1905 and caught our eye from the road.  

When we turned the car around to come back to the neat tunnel, we discovered we were at Twenty Mile Creek. 

Right next to our neat tunnel was a bridge that spanned a deep ravine, and a second, massive tunnel had been built to direct water at the bottom. This was the view down from the bridge. We knew we had to go check it out. 

 From the bridge, we saw a path that led down to the creek. I wasn't really dressed for an adventure and it wasn't terribly practical, but we couldn't resist.  

Clearly this path has been well traveled. The climb is steep, so some kind souls had put ropes between the trees all the way down to the creek. They were really helpful. 

When we got to the bottom, we saw why this was such a popular spot. There was the perfect swimming hole! This would have been an even more delightful find on a really hot summer day. 

There was also an unlimited supply of excellent skipping stones. 

This was a really beautiful place. 

The water was freezing! We walked across the shallow section to take pictures from the other side. 

After we left the creek, we continued along Rt. 20 North in our quest to avoid the tolls on I-90 across New York and take in more scenery. This was one of those beautiful surprises; it turns out Rt. 20 runs straight through New York wine country and follows along the Chautauqua wine trail! I'd never driven through any wine country before, and that drive definitely goes on our top three places on this trip so far. Seeing nothing but vineyards, wine tasting spots, and adorable houses for miles and miles was breathtaking. It was Sunday evening, so none of the wineries were open, but just cruising through, passing miles of grapevines that stretched as far as the eye could see, and driving through a string of picturesque small towns and villages was perfect. 

Since we've been in New York, we encountered several abandoned old schools like this one, which was at once eerie and neat to see. Oddly, they are still cutting the grass in front. 

We continued our drive along Route 20 and eventually landed in Buffalo, where we stayed the night. We couldn't have asked for a better first day back on the road! We love exploring and the freedom this offers us at this time in our lives. 

We took a family hike in Raccoon Creek State Park, about half an hour from our house, on Tuesday. It was such a beautiful day; every other day this week has been rainy! The vegetation was lush and a dozen shades of green. 

We hiked on several different trails. First, we took the Upland connector trail to the Mineral Springs Trail, which led us here to the source of the creek flowing through the park. 

It's so neat to see the water dripping out of the rocks at the springs, and it's even neater to know that trickle of water feeds the creek. We think the water made this pool in the rock, too. 

Near the springs was this dilapidated structure, which was once Frankfort Springs, a 19th century health spa. People stayed here to bathe in the mineral springs. It was restored in the 1970's, but unfortunately, it has fallen prey to serious vandalism. It was so sad to see the amazing, thick original support beams inside covered in graffiti. 

This section of the Uplands trail leading back to the trail head was really overgrown. At some points, we could hardly see the path. However, it was really cool being in the midst of so much life and growth, and thankfully we all came away poison ivy and tick free. 

Part of the mineral springs fed creek we stopped by. In the brush nearby, we heard rustling sounds and saw movements. Dave gently turned over a leaf and uncovered an adorable blind, confused little mole, sniffing the air to catch wind of his predator. Soon, he happily went back to rooting around under the leaves, searching for yummy bugs to eat. 

These wildflowers were the butterflies playground. We'd never seen so many butterflies in one place before except in indoor butterfly gardens. They were beautiful to watch. 

The second trail we hiked was the Lake Trail, which followed along an old road and led to Raccoon Creek Lake. 

We found this guy, who we named Max the Millipede. 

Along the Lake Trail was this old structure, which was once a springhouse. There was also an old stone wall alongside the road, and you could see many areas people had created out of stone on the hillside to direct the flow of the water. The springs must have since dried up or diverged, because there was no longer any visible water flow.