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bearshortyNow for a more fun blog: Bear and I took a little trip last week from Wednesday to Sunday. We just wanted a small summer vacation and it was pretty fun. We decided to go to the Poconos because Bear's godmother lives near Scranton, PA and we wanted to visit her. So we sort of planned around that. My mother-in-law recommended a hotel where she usually stays when she goes to visit and even printed a coupon for me, which did come in handy.
So on Wednesday we drove up for about two and a half hours up to the Poconos. Bear is very picky and a creature of routine so sometimes traveling he gets a bit grumpy. He did want to switch rooms upon room inspection and I did like the new room better. We arrived in the late afternoon, and we had enough time to go to Lake Wallenpaupack to take a boat cruise on a pontoon boat with only two other people. We saw the damn that make this man-made lake possible and had a really nice relaxing time. And then we had ice-cream. And then a nice dinner at a diner. Ice-cream before dinner is essential for a vacation.
On Thursday, in the morning after the hotel breakfast (I do love waffles and breakfast buffet), we drove up to Scranton to go to Lackawanna Coal Mine tour. The tour took an hour and we went down 250 feet into the coal mine with our group. The tour was very interesting. Also it provides perspective - although our salaries are pretty low, it is nothing compared to the mines and the miners didn't live long. After the tour, we went to Mary's house (Bear's godmother) and had a very nice visit with her and her grandkids. Her late husband actually designed the house, which I didn't know. It is deep in the mountains, all isolated too. I loved her kitchen - very huge.
The best day of the trip was probably Friday. Bear wanted to do a zip line and finally settled on Treetop Adventure - where he got to be up to 72 feet above ground in the trees going through an obstacle course. I'm not great with heights and I knew this was not for me. Instead I headed into the Camelbeach Waterpark right next door and spent a day there. Lazy river, the wave pool and some tube slides is more my speed. It wasn't very hot and got a bit chilly later in the day but it was still very fun. And I haven't been to a waterpark in twelve years. Bear finished his Treetop course and came to join me in the waterpark around 4pm and he dragged me on a couple of more complex tube slides. So lots of fun.
On Saturday, we drove another two and a half hours to get to Corning, New York to visit their Glass Museum. When we got there around 1pm we signed up for sandblasting. Bear and I each got a glass, decorated them with various stickers, letters and tape and then sandblasted it. Instant souvenir and also fun. We had lunch then and I started feeling all terrible so the rest of the day was not that fun for me. I still liked all the modern glass sculptures, and history of glass and the flame presentation and glass breaking presentation and the show where the person made a giant turtle with blow glass and hot furnace right on stage, but I felt so out of my body. I felt a bit better in the car on the way to an upstate New York town where we stayed overnight. Bear and I went to college there and met there and I haven't been back there in eleven years. So we were going for a nostalgic trip. We checked in an old, cheap but clean motel where my parents often stayed when they visited me in school and then drove to the Walmart plaza. We had dinner at the awesome Chinese Buffet we ate often in when we were in college and went to Walmart which was the place we went a lot on weekends, since there are not that many places to go to.
And on Sunday, Bear woke up super early so we went to Denny's for breakfast around 8am. It is right next to campus and therefore was the only place two freshmen without cars (freshmen couldn't have them) could go to on a date. So it was the site of our first 'official' date (although it came about a month after we started seeing each other). Breakfast on Sunday was two plates - pancakes with bananas and eggs/sausage/hash browns. Too much. But delicious. After that large breakfast, we spent four hours roaming around campus and reminiscing. There was and is a lot of construction in the last decade and we couldn't recreate many memories. Our dorm buildings were gone with new, bigger and fancier ones in approximate places. Our favorite dining hall is getting remodeled. Another dorm complex encroached on the Nature Preserve where Bear loved to run around in the evenings. And the Union with the bookstore where we met was closed because of summer. But we still could visit the lecture hall and the library and a lot of campus and walk some trails too. It was very nice and lovely but it also reinforced how long ago college was. And when we went into the Lecture Hall classrooms, it was weird for me to sit in the student chairs where I used to sit and not in the front of the class.
And then we drove home. It took many, many hours, although we did stop for Subway sandwiches and bubble tea and also at Delaware Water Gap. The trip was very nice but it was also good to be home and cooking dinner while Bear did the shopping.
So on Wednesday we drove up for about two and a half hours up to the Poconos. Bear is very picky and a creature of routine so sometimes traveling he gets a bit grumpy. He did want to switch rooms upon room inspection and I did like the new room better. We arrived in the late afternoon, and we had enough time to go to Lake Wallenpaupack to take a boat cruise on a pontoon boat with only two other people. We saw the damn that make this man-made lake possible and had a really nice relaxing time. And then we had ice-cream. And then a nice dinner at a diner. Ice-cream before dinner is essential for a vacation.
On Thursday, in the morning after the hotel breakfast (I do love waffles and breakfast buffet), we drove up to Scranton to go to Lackawanna Coal Mine tour. The tour took an hour and we went down 250 feet into the coal mine with our group. The tour was very interesting. Also it provides perspective - although our salaries are pretty low, it is nothing compared to the mines and the miners didn't live long. After the tour, we went to Mary's house (Bear's godmother) and had a very nice visit with her and her grandkids. Her late husband actually designed the house, which I didn't know. It is deep in the mountains, all isolated too. I loved her kitchen - very huge.
The best day of the trip was probably Friday. Bear wanted to do a zip line and finally settled on Treetop Adventure - where he got to be up to 72 feet above ground in the trees going through an obstacle course. I'm not great with heights and I knew this was not for me. Instead I headed into the Camelbeach Waterpark right next door and spent a day there. Lazy river, the wave pool and some tube slides is more my speed. It wasn't very hot and got a bit chilly later in the day but it was still very fun. And I haven't been to a waterpark in twelve years. Bear finished his Treetop course and came to join me in the waterpark around 4pm and he dragged me on a couple of more complex tube slides. So lots of fun.
On Saturday, we drove another two and a half hours to get to Corning, New York to visit their Glass Museum. When we got there around 1pm we signed up for sandblasting. Bear and I each got a glass, decorated them with various stickers, letters and tape and then sandblasted it. Instant souvenir and also fun. We had lunch then and I started feeling all terrible so the rest of the day was not that fun for me. I still liked all the modern glass sculptures, and history of glass and the flame presentation and glass breaking presentation and the show where the person made a giant turtle with blow glass and hot furnace right on stage, but I felt so out of my body. I felt a bit better in the car on the way to an upstate New York town where we stayed overnight. Bear and I went to college there and met there and I haven't been back there in eleven years. So we were going for a nostalgic trip. We checked in an old, cheap but clean motel where my parents often stayed when they visited me in school and then drove to the Walmart plaza. We had dinner at the awesome Chinese Buffet we ate often in when we were in college and went to Walmart which was the place we went a lot on weekends, since there are not that many places to go to.
And on Sunday, Bear woke up super early so we went to Denny's for breakfast around 8am. It is right next to campus and therefore was the only place two freshmen without cars (freshmen couldn't have them) could go to on a date. So it was the site of our first 'official' date (although it came about a month after we started seeing each other). Breakfast on Sunday was two plates - pancakes with bananas and eggs/sausage/hash browns. Too much. But delicious. After that large breakfast, we spent four hours roaming around campus and reminiscing. There was and is a lot of construction in the last decade and we couldn't recreate many memories. Our dorm buildings were gone with new, bigger and fancier ones in approximate places. Our favorite dining hall is getting remodeled. Another dorm complex encroached on the Nature Preserve where Bear loved to run around in the evenings. And the Union with the bookstore where we met was closed because of summer. But we still could visit the lecture hall and the library and a lot of campus and walk some trails too. It was very nice and lovely but it also reinforced how long ago college was. And when we went into the Lecture Hall classrooms, it was weird for me to sit in the student chairs where I used to sit and not in the front of the class.
And then we drove home. It took many, many hours, although we did stop for Subway sandwiches and bubble tea and also at Delaware Water Gap. The trip was very nice but it was also good to be home and cooking dinner while Bear did the shopping.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-06 03:13 pm (UTC)Man, I can’t remember the last time I went to a waterpark myself … but I remember having a blast the last time I went. I think we have one around here somewhere (that’s not Six Flags). Sounds like a totally great day!!
You trip to your old college sounds like mine recently … the changes were so much that I barely recognized a lot of the layout/school. But it sounds like you guys still got to reminisce about your beginnings and that’s very romantic :D