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Loyalsock Creek Readers of last year’s vacation journal will
recall that we didn’t really have a vacation. In our hustle
to have a variety of experiences, and see a variety of people, we
came away with a variety of things we’d do differently. The
first thing was to not spend a large portion of time in a hot car,
driving around the Interstate. The process was just too stressful,
and while we did get to do almost everything on our list last year,
we returned exhausted. So we knew that we wanted to take a different
approach this year. We also knew that our multitude of projects would
have us pretty crispy by the summer. So while there was still plastic
on our windows and earmuffs on my head, I took the liberty of booking
a one-week cabin retreat at Worlds End State Park. Those arrangements
turned out to be one of the smartest things I could have done. By
the time the Summer started, our incredibly busy Spring season included: As much as we love working with the community, we were in need of a true "get away". Part of the idea with this year’s vacation was to have no particular schedule, very little human contact. When it comes down to it, the energy required for so much activity can only be harnessed when I have a good balance of alone time. Sometimes a person just needs to disconnect, and we’re both finding that our high-visibility activities make us susceptible to burnout if we don’t get some time to ourselves to reconnect to the reasons why we do so much stuff. Though I have been fairly prolific of late, I felt the need for a stretch of time for inner creative work and thinking. While it was not meant to be a “working vacation,” I had some things that needed to be addressed – namely: reading, and especially writing. In preparation for the trip, I took a survey of some writing workshops and retreat centers online, and came up with a loose program for my own, personalized, workshop which included:
Audra, on the other hand, had no plan whatsoever and just wanted to be herself, whoever that was. The only structure she really imposed was in the diet arena, where she wanted to keep things similar to a Pendle Hill menu (fruits, vegetables, grains, low-fat). I can respect Audra’s laid-back approach, and I think it worked well for her, but I needed more structure to make sure that I actually made use of the time appropriately. I was looking for a combination of our Maine experience, Hickory Run-type camping, and a Buddhist retreat or day of mindfulness such as I’ve seen at Mt. Equity. I was also sure to have a rainy day plan, which turned out to be a very good thing. We left Bloomsburg around noon on 6/23 after Audra performed one of her best car packing jobs ever. We almost didn’t fit everything. On our way up to Worlds End we stopped at the Vale family restaurant for lunch – turkey Reuben, fries, seafood chowder – and looked at some antiques there before heading to Worlds End Campground. We were both introduced to Worlds End via BABA, who had a picnic there in 2005. I really need to thank them for showing us the place. I got some great pictures that first time, and the place stuck in my mind as something special. As soon as we saw Loyalsock Creek and the Canyon Vista overlook, we knew we wanted to try camping there. Though we have usually done tent camping in past years, we always wanted to try a cabin camping, both for the experience and because it would be less hassle, and less likely to be impacted by weather. Worlds End is one of the few State Parks in the area that offers cabins.
Playing on the back porch |
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