Around the Poconos
Ritter’s Winery and Cidery
In the good season, Ritter’s Winery offers a beautiful setting with a large outdoor patio, games for kids, and often live music. The address is: 1459 Mt Cobb Rd Winery, Lake Ariel, PA 18436. It’s just around 15 minutes drive from Tall Hill Lake House.
Biking
Biking around Lake Ariel and in the Hideout is fun!
Some of our favorite routes:
Promise Land State Park
6.9 miles biking trail within the Park
Delaware State Forest
Lake Wallenpaupack – Decker Pond Loop
28 miles of moderate difficulty, it’s a great loop!
Eales Preserve at Moosic Mountain
Shopping
Vintage shopping is big in this area! Just visit downtown Hawley, and you will have plenty of stores to browse through.
In Scranton, shopping opportunities abound; a good one for Vintage and Antiques is On&On Scranton.
Summer Sports
We should say Spring/Summer/Fall sports, and the options are numerous!
The Community where Tall Hill Lake House sits has plenty of amenities: pools, tennis courts, pickleball courts, basketball.
There is a beautiful 9-hole Golf Course immersed in nature.
Water sports abound: we are very close to North Beach on Lake Roamingwood, where swimming, boating, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, are all possible and a lot of fun!
Lake Wallenpaupack is nearby, the second largest lake in PA, and there also there are many options for fun activities, including renting motor boats and getting lost in the large Lake!
RC Racing
If you are into RC cars, or just want to take a nice trip with the kids to check out incredible equipment and Saturday night indoor and outdoors racing, you can’t miss Marshall’s Hilltop Hobbies. A map how to get there is below.
Winter sports
Here in the Near West we have good things going during the winter. Between downhill, Alpine skiing, snowboarding, cross-country, snowshoes hiking, tubing, you have plenty of options near Tall Hill Lake House.
You can start with skiing and tubing at our own Ski Hill in the Hideout Community, a 5 minute drive within the Community.
It’s a fun downhill for beginners and anybody who wants to put some practice at the beginning or during the season. Tubing is available too – check with the Main Office to make sure it is functional during your stay.
Montage Mountain is one of the best Poconos Ski resorts, and it is about 30 min from Tall Hill Lake House. Check it out at their website here: Montage Mountain
About 40 min away, going past Hawley to the North East, you can enjoy Ski Big Bear, another renowned resort in the area.
Another great resort, about 50 minutes south, is Camelback Mountain Ski Resort. This one is actually more than just skiing, as you can enjoy their waterpark in the Spring/Summer/Fall as well.
Another option, South East from us, is Shawnee Mountain, about 1 hour drive.
Scranton’s The Office Tour
Scranton is the fictional location of the show The Office, and although years go by, the show is still very popular and has a lot of fans who enjoy memories from the show and their locations. When you stay at Tall Hill Lake House, you are only 20-25 minutes from Scranton, and you might want to check some of the iconic locations that The Office mentions, for example:
- Steamtown Mall – the Marketplace is there
- Cooper’s seafood house – Great restaurant with a popular gift shop with memorabilia from the show
- Poor Richard Pub – a dive bar often mentioned in the show, it’s inside a Bowling Alley
- Penn Paper Tower, shown in the head titles of the show
A great blog post about these locations, by real fans, is at this address: https://travelingtwogether.com/2021/01/16/5-spots-every-fan-of-the-office-must-visit-in-scranton-pa/
Breakfast places
We find that breakfast must be taken with patience! Most diners around can serve delicious food, and often the service is very slow.
A quaint place we like is Doc’s, sitting by Lake Wallenpaupak:
Our favorite Restaurants
Even if Tall Hill Lake House is in a sparsely inhabited area, there are plenty of options for every palate and mood.
The Clubhouse, Lake Ariel
Right within the Hideout, the Clubhouse is a great Restaurant and Bar. In the summer, they have a nice outdoor patio overlooking the golf course. Food is very good, atmosphere is friendly, drinks are delicious! Find it here.
The Glass, Hawley
This is arguably one of the most scenic restaurants in the Poconos. They have a wonderful indoor bar and, outside, your tables are in multi-level patios under the waterfall. Excellent gourmet food.
Nurnberger Bierhaus, Lake Ariel
Authentic German bierhaus, I was able to find Underberg, the digestif bitter liquor which was common in my area in Italy, near Venice, because of all the German tourists. Expect great German beer, food and ambiance! Find it here, or check the map:
Drafts Bar & Grill, Lake Ariel
A very cool sports bar, large spaces and a post-industrial architecture. Friendly service and great food and pizza. Just outside the Main Gate to the Hideout. Find it here.
Capri Restaurant
Good Italian food and an incredible view on Lake Wallenpaupack. The Restaurant and Bar maintain a nostalgia, 80’s feeling to them. Definitely worth a night out!
Dyberry Forks, Honesdale
In a reclaimed building that was probably a barber shop sometime in history, the Restaurant offers casual dining and a small bar. Food is gourmet level, and service is perfect. The place has a character that reminded us of places out West, like Sedona or Flagstaff.
The Dock on Wallenpaupak
The Dock is about 20 min from Tall Hill Lake House. It’s a good restaurant on the Lake, with breathtaking views and excellent service. Good seafood, including a Fresh Catch section, and other options.
Native, Honesdale
Excellent gourmet food, and a nice bar. We will definitely be back!
Overboards, Greentown
Just 18 minutes drive from Tall Hill, this place serves great seafood dinners very close to Lake Wallenpaupak.
Music
When you come to Tall Hill Lake House, you cannot ignore that you are only less than an hour away from Bethel Woods, the location of the original 1969 Woodstock concert. Our Music Loft is inspired by that event. We have original posters and memorabilia from our trip for the 50th anniversary concert at Woodstock (Bethel Woods), a turntable, some nice vinyl LPs, and some instruments to enjoy the Hippie feeling upstairs.
A visit to Bethel Woods is worthwhile, they have great concerts and events, and the Museum from 1969 is a must-see.
The music scene is lively around Lake Ariel, Hawley, Honesdale and Scranton. And if you are in the mood for jazz, in less than 1 hour you can be at the Deer Head Inn, the oldest continuously operated Jazz club in the USA, in Delaware Water Gap.
