Down Along the Little Juniata

It was Super Bowl Sunday, and we had big snacking plans for the big game that involved multiple pepperoni pizzas and steak nachos with all of the trimmings. (I mean, isn't the big game about the food, in the end? And all of those cool commercials?) But before that, a beautiful day broke out, and we just had to go out and have some fun in it.

Back in October, I was dying to get to the Little Juniata River to get some fall foliage shots of the railroad tracks and bridges. It's awesome there any time of year, but especially colorful in autumn. But somehow, we just never made it there . . . until this day.

The sun was bright and the sky was blue, and it was very pleasant and warm. And so we walked several miles down along the Little Juniata, enjoying the bridges and rails. The Little Juniata is one of the most active places I know of for trains: we easily saw a dozen and a half trains in the two hours or so that we were there.

The main pathway was clear and dry; easy walking. And there was nobody there but us! We had the place to ourselves, which is very unusual, but perhaps not so much for this time of year. There were icicles in spots, formed from water dripping out of the rocks, but as the day warmed up, the icicles began to melt. (See "Icicles, But Not for Long" in the extra photos area.)

It was a glorious day, and we were so glad to be out, especially as several days of snow are coming. Sometimes the prettiest days either precede or quickly follow upon the heels of snowstorms, and that was definitely the case in this instance!

The song to accompany these images is an 80s favorite, and it goes along especially well with the melting icicles shot in the extras: Modern English, with I Melt With You.