Bikes and Bites: Shippensburg, PA.

by Jane Adams

It was the last weekend of July, and with summer quickly passing the school right around the corner, the foodie teen daughter and I searched for something to do on a free summer afternoon.  
In a recent push to be a little more healthy, we decided we are going to start combining our relentless search for good food along with a physical activity. We could both use a lot more exercise, but rather than punish ourselves with unrealistic workouts at the gym, we decided to attempt to incorporate modest but fun activities into our travels.

On our first outing, we chose the town of Shippensburg. 

Shippensburg, Pennsylvania is only twelve miles from Carlisle, and is the western hub of the Cumberland County Rail trail, which runs to Newville. The trail is paved with stone and is mostly flat due to being on a former railroad bed.  With a new bike rack and bike in tow, we headed out right before lunch time.

Before our jaunt, we pulled into CJ's to grab lunch.  

CJ's is an upscale bar and restaurant on the eastern side of town. 

As we walked in, we hung a right into a booth in the lounge area, where several business people were eating lunch. 

There is also a separate dining room to the left of the lobby. A server dressed in crisp black came up quickly, and we ordered several light dishes to eat.

For an appetizer, we ordered Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps. I did not realize it when I ordered, it but these wraps came disassembled, allowing you to build each wrap to your liking. The plate included sauteed chicken breast, Bibb lettuce, carrots and peppers and Thai sweet chili and Thai peanut sauce. The only thing missing was a blazing hot Thai sauce.

This was a fun option at lunch for an appetizer and we scarfed down the dish, which made about 4 wraps. For lunch, I had the special, which was a shrimp tempura wrap with seasoned chips. 

The restaurant also offers a variety of salads, pannini, and burgers, as well as full dinners for evening.  

I did not have a beer, but CJ's has a good list of craft beers available, on tap and in bottles. Prices were reasonable, with lunch for two and an appetizer tallying up around $30.

After lunch, we headed over towards Shippensburg University, to find the start of the rail trail. The rail trail runs 11 miles and was donated by Conrail in 1995.
The map lists North Earl and Fort Street as the start of the trail, however, there is no parking there.  There is municipal free parking available on Burd Street, however, if you have little ones you may want to avoid this egress since it involves biking along some busier streets.

A better starting spot is Shippensburg Township Park, which has ample parking, easy access to the trail and is safer for younger family members. We also found a splash pond there.  

One unexpected benefit of using the Burd Street parking (and inadvertantly losing the trail between there and Shippensburg Park) was the beautiful views we spied at Shippensburg. 
Rather than traveling past the Elementary School and through the student parking, we biked up a pedestrian path to Old Main. 

Although I had always heard of Old Main, I had never seen it in person.  The fountain was running and a quiet student was reading on a park bench. I paused and snapped a few pictures before traveling on our way.

Next time: BIKES AND BREWS:Gettysburg.