Pocono Talk

The Red Lobster in the Poconos looks to be opening shortly.  The construction looks totally complete and a sign is up saying they’re hiring which is a good sign that they’re just about ready to open.  It’s location is on 611 in Bartonsville where Crossroads(the truck stop) use to be and the new Giant supermarket is.  There is also a large number of yet to be determined retail spaces available.

There have been many other chain restaurants that have opened in the Poconos in the past 5 years:
Olive Garden – Stroudsburg
Panera Bread – Stroudsburg
Five Guys – Stroudsburg
Red Robin – Bartonsville
Longhorn Steakhouse – Bartonsville
Chilis – Bartonsville
Sonic – Bartonsville

and plenty more.

As soon as we get word on the opening date for the Red Lobster we’ll be sure to post it.

This  past Sunday, December the 13th, was predicted to be icy, and sure was it.  The weekends are always busy in the Poconos with tourism in both the summer months and winter months it can make for crowded roadways.  What made it especially traffic laden this weekend was the ice that arrived in the morning hours on Sunday.  In the higher elevations it started out as sleet (picture above), changed to freezing rain and finally just rain.  There was at least some visual with the sleet that the roads could be slippery.  Unfortunately in the lower elevations the rain came down, but the problem is that the ground was frozen turning it into ice and very deceiving ice at that.  You would have just assumed it was raining, and it was warm enough too, but the frozen ground from the previous week made for quite a dangerous drive.

There were plenty of fender benders, people sliding off the road, and unfortunately a fatality or two due to the ice.  With many people heading out to church or home, it’s easy to rationalize the fact that you ‘must’ drive.  At the same time you really need to double check the weather, and the conditions, and weigh the outcomes.  Getting in an accident or being stuck in hours for traffic in the cold is not worth it sometimes.  The snow they’re pretty good about clearing, the ice, with these roads…you really need to be careful.  Unfortunately we get a lot of weather changes in the winter, it doesn’t just snow and stay snow for the winter.   Here’s hoping for more snow, and no more ice!

I thought with the changing seasons that I should take the time to update the theme – it is not one that I personally designed but rather a free one I grabbed from here: http://freebiesdock.com/freemium-wordpress-theme/

The banner is a picture that I took today December 5th, 2009 from my backyard.  I love it when the snow is wet enough that it sticks to the trees! It makes it so beautiful.