Summer Vacation
Summer vacation started this year in West New York, NJ. I should note here that there was a familiar journey to this place. During a stop we popped into a Barnes and Noble to get a gift for our friends. On the way out we were blocked by two teenagers selling candy for the Boys and Girls club and a varsity sports team. Kim warned me to have a strategy before we reached them, but I looked into their eyes and damned if they didn't get me. I left $8 the poorer and two snickers bars and two packages of skittles the richer. Feeling like a fool after returning to the car, Kim encouraged me to return the candy as we don't eat that stuff anyway. So I did. Return the candy that is, not eat that stuff anyway. I think my action created enough confusion that a couple of B & N patrons escaped unnoticed.
Our friends Ellen and Geir (gehr) are moving from West New York to Wyoming to raise their family where Ellen grew up. We've visited them at their high-rise (32 floors?) condo a few times in the last few years since she took a job at NYU. It was a little hectic and fun and we missed meeting a friend in the city because of time constraints. We went to a party that was filled with an interesting group of people. I had a couple of pina coladas and a thing that tasted like an orange creamsicle. I talked to an architect named Errol about our cohousing project. He was knowledgeable and we talked about design stuff in general. His partner took Gabe and me out to go swimming, where unasked for a nice woman offered Gabe a floaty noodle. I am amazed at the difference in buoyancy that I feel in fresh water vice salt. I should mention that all of this occurred in the same building. They have the community for which cohousing strives.
The heat wave started coming on about the time we left NJ. We drove west, braving the dangers and delays of summer road construction emerging victorious in the Delaware Water Gap, a misty green mirror image symmetrical log function of gigantic proportion spreading out ahead of us. We shot through the gap at an insignificant percentage of the speed of light and entered another world. That world was the Pine Valley RV and Campground.
We pitched a tent and had a snack, then jumped in the pond. There were not many folks around, but the city of RVs and occasional noises that we attributed to the local inhabitants were occasionally heard or seen peripherally made us almost certain that we were not alone. Also, the ducks were very bold coming right up to us in the water sizing us up. I got the distinct impression that they were shaking us down for our bread. Probably a reaction to the teenagers outside B & N, but this time I had wisely left the goods back at our campsite where no direct ducky gaze could play my sympathies sufficiently to move my body through cubic meters of hot air to retrieve. Who's the fool this time, eh duck? Of course, I was swimming happily in their toilet so perhaps I should reevaluate.
We spent two days there. Almost all of our waking time was wading time in the pond. It was a nice place overall, but we couldn't help but wonder about all the RVs. It seems that this is a version of summer homes for our fellow americans. Thin metal walls with TV, AC and of course, gray parabolas pointing skyward to receive the subliminal commands of our commercial overlords. Oh gods of thermodynamics, I prayed often to you over these two days as I made extra trips to the recycling area and the lodge for ice and ice-cream. Reeling in the glory of jets of cool air springing from my dashboard over my naked skin. Yeah verily, even as I contemplated the exacerbation of the exterior heat problem this must cause according to the laws of thermodynamics.
With some degree of trepidation we left Pine valley, and charted a course for Thunder Mountain. We did not know what to expect. But, that is another story dear reader and will come later.
Our friends Ellen and Geir (gehr) are moving from West New York to Wyoming to raise their family where Ellen grew up. We've visited them at their high-rise (32 floors?) condo a few times in the last few years since she took a job at NYU. It was a little hectic and fun and we missed meeting a friend in the city because of time constraints. We went to a party that was filled with an interesting group of people. I had a couple of pina coladas and a thing that tasted like an orange creamsicle. I talked to an architect named Errol about our cohousing project. He was knowledgeable and we talked about design stuff in general. His partner took Gabe and me out to go swimming, where unasked for a nice woman offered Gabe a floaty noodle. I am amazed at the difference in buoyancy that I feel in fresh water vice salt. I should mention that all of this occurred in the same building. They have the community for which cohousing strives.
The heat wave started coming on about the time we left NJ. We drove west, braving the dangers and delays of summer road construction emerging victorious in the Delaware Water Gap, a misty green mirror image symmetrical log function of gigantic proportion spreading out ahead of us. We shot through the gap at an insignificant percentage of the speed of light and entered another world. That world was the Pine Valley RV and Campground.
We pitched a tent and had a snack, then jumped in the pond. There were not many folks around, but the city of RVs and occasional noises that we attributed to the local inhabitants were occasionally heard or seen peripherally made us almost certain that we were not alone. Also, the ducks were very bold coming right up to us in the water sizing us up. I got the distinct impression that they were shaking us down for our bread. Probably a reaction to the teenagers outside B & N, but this time I had wisely left the goods back at our campsite where no direct ducky gaze could play my sympathies sufficiently to move my body through cubic meters of hot air to retrieve. Who's the fool this time, eh duck? Of course, I was swimming happily in their toilet so perhaps I should reevaluate.
We spent two days there. Almost all of our waking time was wading time in the pond. It was a nice place overall, but we couldn't help but wonder about all the RVs. It seems that this is a version of summer homes for our fellow americans. Thin metal walls with TV, AC and of course, gray parabolas pointing skyward to receive the subliminal commands of our commercial overlords. Oh gods of thermodynamics, I prayed often to you over these two days as I made extra trips to the recycling area and the lodge for ice and ice-cream. Reeling in the glory of jets of cool air springing from my dashboard over my naked skin. Yeah verily, even as I contemplated the exacerbation of the exterior heat problem this must cause according to the laws of thermodynamics.
With some degree of trepidation we left Pine valley, and charted a course for Thunder Mountain. We did not know what to expect. But, that is another story dear reader and will come later.