Poconos 2026, Day 5, Reindeer and stuff

 My family and I are on a week-long trip to the Poconos which I am recording parts of here. Join me and follow along, if you'd like. 

The rain and wind yesterday brought down a lot of leaves.

Yesterdays storms ushered in a cold front, and we saw temperatures in the 30s when we awoke. But, while cold, the day was supposed to be clear. So in the morning, we were off to visit a local reindeer farm with discussions of hiking in the afternoon.

Spruce Ridge Reindeer was a very interesting experience. There are very few reindeer farms in the lower 48 US states because they are not adapted to the warmer climate. Raising them involves several extra procedures to keep them safe and healthy. For instance, they have no immunity to ticks and other bugs that live in the warmer climate. Also, they don't do well with humidity. The tundra, the natural habitat of reindeer, is too cold for many bugs and very dry. We had to walk through special disinfectant on the way in so we wouldn't carry in any hazards for the reindeer.

We learned some basic facts like both males and females grow antlers and they shed them every year. The blood supply to grow them is on the outside of the antlers under velvet, unlike the blood supply in the middle of horns. Reindeer and caribou are not the same, but similar - caribou are wild while reindeer have been domesticated for a 1000 years and are very docile (because of this, Spruce Ridge takes them around to visit schools, nursing homes and community events). 

This reindeer was about a year old.

After the informational talk, we got to go into the pen with some of the herd. As promised, they were calm, friendly animals that we got to pet and feed. 

We were given willow leaves to feed the reindeer. This 4 month old girl knew how to work the crowd to get them.

We got our picture taken with Curly, named because of his curly coat which is unusual for a reindeer. 

While we were with the reindeer it started to rain. Not hard, but enough to get wet. And just enough, that I decided it was time to go back to the car. I was not alone with this decision. There we had to rethink what we wanted to do next, because there's nothing more miserable than a cold rain. We decided that we would make this a reset day. 

We went back to our house for lunch, laundry, and vegging. However, by mid-afternoon, we decided we were bored. Thus, we ventured out to get another puzzle. Ward had already worked the two we brought and was ready for another.

That led us to the Country Junction The World's Largest Country Store in Lehighton which some say is a must see attraction in the area. The store was huge with an additional arcade, petting zoo, hay rides and who knows what else. We didn't explore everything they had to offer. It was definitely an experience, but not one that I need to do again.

Here are a few pictures from the store.

There was a Wizard of Oz theme throughout the store using old animatronic figures.

The store had a little bit of everything for sale including these 3' high Rolling Stone statues for only $3,700 each.

and this taxidermy deer for only $35,000.

However, the only thing we bought was this puzzle.

We will see what the weather brings, but tomorrow we hope to see some waterfalls.

Until next time...