Laurel Hill State Park
I certainly did not expect Memorial Day to be our first camping trip this year. We had made reservations to camp at a state park in March and to be in Williamsburg for Memorial Day, but of course our reservations were cancelled. When the state parks were finally able to begin reopening we chose Laurel Hill because it was located in a county we expected to be open and we'd visited before so we knew we enjoyed the area. We had visited Fort Necessity and Johnstown from the camp on previous visits and every time we're in the area we've gone to Flight 93.
Laurel Hill is a relatively secluded park but still close enough to town to conveniently go for items you've forgotten. We found a little mennonite store between camp and town that has a dairy and bakery called Moo Echo. Through the closures one of my big concerns has been to support local business and we thoroughly enjoyed their breads-so much so that we had to stop on the way home and get another loaf. There was also a farmer's market in Somerset Saturday morning that we visited and got some maple roasted peanuts and maple balsamic vinaigrette (both were so good!) Pets were not allowed in the farmer's market but across the lot there was a dog park that we took Sirius to. He loved being able to run and sniff new areas but didn't get too excited about most of the toys.
The main park entrance is steep but the last time we were there we experienced flooding so we became familiar with a variety of entrances to the park and used the one closest to the campground which is far less steep. One of the features we liked about the pet friendly loop at the campground is that there's a wide open yard for you to enjoy with your pets. This visit they were at full capacity and we didn't take Sirius through the yard but we did see people playing and flying kites. The bathhouse sits on one side of the yard and it was nice to be able to walk straight across rather than circle the entire loop. The bathhouses are older and could definitely use an update but they were clean and the water was warm.
Ironically, even though we've visited three times now we've only done one of the trails in the park because most of our visits have been spent exploring other attractions in the area. The one trail we did walk was called the Copper Kettle trail; it goes along the beach side of the lake and was wide and relatively flat. We didn't complete the trail but it was very nice to see the lake area.
Laurel Hill is a relatively secluded park but still close enough to town to conveniently go for items you've forgotten. We found a little mennonite store between camp and town that has a dairy and bakery called Moo Echo. Through the closures one of my big concerns has been to support local business and we thoroughly enjoyed their breads-so much so that we had to stop on the way home and get another loaf. There was also a farmer's market in Somerset Saturday morning that we visited and got some maple roasted peanuts and maple balsamic vinaigrette (both were so good!) Pets were not allowed in the farmer's market but across the lot there was a dog park that we took Sirius to. He loved being able to run and sniff new areas but didn't get too excited about most of the toys.
The main park entrance is steep but the last time we were there we experienced flooding so we became familiar with a variety of entrances to the park and used the one closest to the campground which is far less steep. One of the features we liked about the pet friendly loop at the campground is that there's a wide open yard for you to enjoy with your pets. This visit they were at full capacity and we didn't take Sirius through the yard but we did see people playing and flying kites. The bathhouse sits on one side of the yard and it was nice to be able to walk straight across rather than circle the entire loop. The bathhouses are older and could definitely use an update but they were clean and the water was warm.
Ironically, even though we've visited three times now we've only done one of the trails in the park because most of our visits have been spent exploring other attractions in the area. The one trail we did walk was called the Copper Kettle trail; it goes along the beach side of the lake and was wide and relatively flat. We didn't complete the trail but it was very nice to see the lake area.
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