Lehigh Valley activities this weekend?
 

My BF and I are heading to Dorney Park in Allentown on Saturday to attend my company picnic. We thought we'd stay overnight, and try to find something to do on Sunday. Any ideas?

We like hiking, canoeing/kayaking, driving through beautiful countryside, antique shops, flea markets, quaint villages.

We DON'T want to go to Philly (been there many times already) or visit museums. We prefer outdoor things.

Thanks in advance!

ttt

Take a stroll through historic Bethlehem; shop along Main Street. Have dinner at The Edge.
Get some of the country's best soft ice cream at the the little drive-through where routes 29 and 100 meet (between Macungie and Emmaus). Used to be the Shimerville Drive-In, I think it's called Countryside or Countrytime now.
The drive down Limeport Pike to Hosensack, once you pass Limeport, takes you through some very pretty rural areas.

Thanks BTilke!

We actually have hotel reservations in Bethlehem so we could stroll around town on Saturday night even. My BF will be thrilled about the ice cream.

How about BICYCLE races? The Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown http://www.lvvelo.org/ has both professional and amateur racing events, and open periods when you can try riding the track yourself.

If you want to dine at the Edge, you will need reservations...ask the hotel to book a table for you.
http://www.edgerestaurant.net/

If you head out routes 100/29, enjoy the soft ice cream!

We use Bethlehem as a stopping point between DC and Portland, ME...and all for the beer. If you are interested in beer at all, Bethlehem Brew Works is great - microbrewery (and food) up top, and fantastic Belgian beer bar in the basement. Bethlehem Brew Works is one of two places in the US that I've been able to get my fave Belgian beer on tap...highly recommend it for a drink!

I'm back!

TRIP REPORT:
Traffic was horrendous Saturday AM. It took an hour to get from Brooklyn to Staten Island. We got to Dorney Park around 2PM.

It was extremely hot out so after having lunch at the picnic pavillion w/my coworkers, we headed to the water park. BIG mistake. Lines for each ride (including the lazy river!) were several hundred people long. So we went to the wave pool (aka Sea of Humanity). After geting bumped by a few dozen slimy, stubbly people we decided we had enough. So we got out and waited about 40 minutes to go on one of the "baby" waterslides. Then headed back to the dry side of the park, where we were told that everything was shut down due to lightning. Aargh! Later we managed to get in a ride on the bumper cars, but that was it. I can't believe people pay $30-something to go to this place (we got in for free so I shouldn't complain).

We then drove to Bethlehem. Whoa!! The ruins from the old steel mills (?) were AMAZING! And so was the historic downtown. Lots of little Moravian shops. We had dinner at the Brew Works, and of course tried a sampler of the beer...some of them were excellent, especially the blueberry and the ESB.

We stayed at Hampton Inn and Suites off of Rt 22 in Bethlehem. Generally it was nice but the sheets were kind of scratchy (I'm spoiled) and there was some big stain on the side of the boxspring which I didn't notice until morning. But I will continue to stay at Hampton Inns...I think they have great customer service and they have breakfast food I can deal with.

In the AM we drove around Easton (another cute, historic downtown) and stopped at the Museum of Pez Dispensers, LOL. We took a walk around the lock in the river there, then drove to the outlets in Reading for shopping. As usual, the BF found a ton of stuff and I found nothing!

We drove around the Wyomissing area...beautiful houses! Then we headed east, then up Route 100 to get ice cream at Countryside. I am not a fan of soft ice cream, but I tried my BF's vanilla and it was very good and creamy. We then headed back to NYC, getting home by 9PM without a single slowdown in traffic the whole way - miraculous!

Overall a very nice weekend...thanks to all for your advice here!

Glad you had such a fun weekend...thanks for coming back and reporting on your trip!