"I'm going to regret asking this, but has anyone seen any tiny nuts?" -Ross Ervin
We woke up Saturday morning to find that Luke had appeared, as if by magic, in the dead of night. It was great having Luke around again, as well as having his magical van of goodies at our disposal. And there was only one way to celebrate the arrival of Luke: by going camping on our first day off.
We worked a half day on Sunday, and then packed up Luke’s van so the first wave of people could set up the camp site. I stayed behind so I could pick up Ross from the Monticello bus station that afternoon. We decided to surprise Ross on his first day about the camping trip, so I didn’t actually tell him where we were going, but I assured him there were rouge pirates involved in our final destination (ok, so I stretched the truth a bit). My GPS took us through some long and winding roads where there were so many trees we didn’t see the sun for a good hour. A lot of the houses, bridges, train tracks, bars, and motels we passed were run and very creepy looking. We felt like we had driven through the location of every major horror movie in two hours. Every now and then we drove a really beautiful, carefully hidden, small town tourist oasis, but those were few and far between.
When we got to the campsite the temperature had dropped severely and continued to due so, and when Brenda and Amanda arrived they notified us of a frost advisory for that night. Needless to say, we were all freezing, but they were lots of food and lots of great stories told by the camp fire. When it came time for bed we all huddled close for warmth (most of us only had blanket and comforters instead of sleeping bags). Most of us felt like we couldn’t tell if we had slept at all that night because of the cold, but everyone assures me I slept. Apparently less than ten minutes after we all settled down I was snoring.
The morning consisted of a big breakfast and the arrival of Sara and Erin. Once the whole gang arrived, it was time for some hiking. We hiked all around North Lake and stopped at some of the places the Hudson Valley artists used to paint, and we saw where the Kaaterskill Palace used to be (before the Hippies burned it down. Lame). The area was very beautiful and it was good to be out in the open for a while. We went back to the camp site for lunch and then headed down to the road to hike the Kaaterskill Falls, a 120+ foot high waterfall. There was a trail to use to get to the top, but myself, Luke, Dan, Brenda, and Amanda decided to hike to the top by following the steam upwards. It was a lot of jumping from boulder to boulder, balancing across fallen trees, and running up steep hills to get to top. It was a great work out and everyone was having a blast. The falls was a sight to really take in, especially after you spent three quarters of a mile going up hill to get there. And surprisingly enough, none of us were that tired the next day, except for Meghan, who fell into the river on the way back. We ended our day with a trip to the world’s largest lawn gnome.
The week went by quickly. For the most part the weather was cold and rainy. A lot of building has been going on in the shop in order to get Wish You Were Here finished and ready for opening. There have been a lot of trips to Port Jervis to pick up Chitty Chitty Bang Bang sets and use them for out shows. A trip to Vino’s on Thursday night was interesting as always, complete with lot of a singing and dancing on the ResCo’s part (except for when Ross and Sean would pump the jukebox with songs from Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys. Nice).
If I was to sum up an awesome night in Forestburgh, Friday would be the night to talk about. Everyone on the back deck was itching to do some crazy shenanigans, and before we knew what was happening we loaded into Luke’s van and headed to the Deer Lodge to stock up on supplies before we headed over to the abandoned house across the street. Surprisingly, it was very easy to convince the four or five ResCo that were still up to come with us. They were pretty petrified walking up to the house but they had a great time exploring the house with us. Basically, we made their night aq hundred times better by showing up and inviting them to come with us; it’s always a nice feeling to know you’ve made someone’s day a bit better. When we got back to the Deer Lodge they kept saying “I can’t believe you guys wanted to do that, you’re all such bad asses!” We left the Deer and got back to the Playhouse for some games of Cornhole, and every game was dominated by me and Luke, going undefeated the entire night (trust me, this is a big deal to brag about if you’re from the Playhouse).
We got a half day on Sunday because Meghan needed to go back to her old theatre to pick up supplies for us. I spent my afternoon off sitting in the theatre chatting with people and having some laughs. There was a party for the Tony Awards at the Manor (where all the equity actors live), but myself, Ross, Brenda, and Luke opted to stay at the theatre and play cards. We had a great time sitting on the back deck enjoying each other’s company, the quiet, and learning a new card game. Ross and I also decided to have some fun with the girls in the Coop by putting Mr. Bojangles (the dead body we made last year) in the stairway to their room. We hid while Erin went to the room, saw the body, then went to get Amanda and tell her about the body, then Ross and I grabbed Mr. Bojangles and threw him in the mens room to hide it. They came back, saw the body was gone, then freaked out and ran back to the back deck. Once they ran off we put the body back and waited for them to come back. Then they freaked out again and everyone had a good laugh about it, me and Ross laughing more than them of course. Then later in the night Sean decided to visit the girls by climbing the roof to get to their room and freaked them out even more. What a great night.
Today was a day off, see a band of packed in my car and went down to Middletown to pick up some provision and have a taste of civilization once again. We also saw the movie Up, which was very good (like all Pixar movies). There were part of the movie that were pretty sad and a little off putting for a Disney movie, but still the movie was enjoyable. The dog was my favorite part (reminded me of my dog a little bit). Currently I’m at the Manor downloading some Ramblin’ Jack Elliot for Luke and enjoying a decent internet connection. There’s also no one here, so it’s very quiet, which is a plus because quiet is something that doesn’t happen around here a lot.
Not a whole lot special planned for the following week, aside from Vino’s on Thursday and Salinger’s party on Saturday. Very excited for Salinger’s party, it’ll make me feel like I’m rich and mingling with the elite for one afternoon.
We worked a half day on Sunday, and then packed up Luke’s van so the first wave of people could set up the camp site. I stayed behind so I could pick up Ross from the Monticello bus station that afternoon. We decided to surprise Ross on his first day about the camping trip, so I didn’t actually tell him where we were going, but I assured him there were rouge pirates involved in our final destination (ok, so I stretched the truth a bit). My GPS took us through some long and winding roads where there were so many trees we didn’t see the sun for a good hour. A lot of the houses, bridges, train tracks, bars, and motels we passed were run and very creepy looking. We felt like we had driven through the location of every major horror movie in two hours. Every now and then we drove a really beautiful, carefully hidden, small town tourist oasis, but those were few and far between.
When we got to the campsite the temperature had dropped severely and continued to due so, and when Brenda and Amanda arrived they notified us of a frost advisory for that night. Needless to say, we were all freezing, but they were lots of food and lots of great stories told by the camp fire. When it came time for bed we all huddled close for warmth (most of us only had blanket and comforters instead of sleeping bags). Most of us felt like we couldn’t tell if we had slept at all that night because of the cold, but everyone assures me I slept. Apparently less than ten minutes after we all settled down I was snoring.
The morning consisted of a big breakfast and the arrival of Sara and Erin. Once the whole gang arrived, it was time for some hiking. We hiked all around North Lake and stopped at some of the places the Hudson Valley artists used to paint, and we saw where the Kaaterskill Palace used to be (before the Hippies burned it down. Lame). The area was very beautiful and it was good to be out in the open for a while. We went back to the camp site for lunch and then headed down to the road to hike the Kaaterskill Falls, a 120+ foot high waterfall. There was a trail to use to get to the top, but myself, Luke, Dan, Brenda, and Amanda decided to hike to the top by following the steam upwards. It was a lot of jumping from boulder to boulder, balancing across fallen trees, and running up steep hills to get to top. It was a great work out and everyone was having a blast. The falls was a sight to really take in, especially after you spent three quarters of a mile going up hill to get there. And surprisingly enough, none of us were that tired the next day, except for Meghan, who fell into the river on the way back. We ended our day with a trip to the world’s largest lawn gnome.
The week went by quickly. For the most part the weather was cold and rainy. A lot of building has been going on in the shop in order to get Wish You Were Here finished and ready for opening. There have been a lot of trips to Port Jervis to pick up Chitty Chitty Bang Bang sets and use them for out shows. A trip to Vino’s on Thursday night was interesting as always, complete with lot of a singing and dancing on the ResCo’s part (except for when Ross and Sean would pump the jukebox with songs from Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys. Nice).
If I was to sum up an awesome night in Forestburgh, Friday would be the night to talk about. Everyone on the back deck was itching to do some crazy shenanigans, and before we knew what was happening we loaded into Luke’s van and headed to the Deer Lodge to stock up on supplies before we headed over to the abandoned house across the street. Surprisingly, it was very easy to convince the four or five ResCo that were still up to come with us. They were pretty petrified walking up to the house but they had a great time exploring the house with us. Basically, we made their night aq hundred times better by showing up and inviting them to come with us; it’s always a nice feeling to know you’ve made someone’s day a bit better. When we got back to the Deer Lodge they kept saying “I can’t believe you guys wanted to do that, you’re all such bad asses!” We left the Deer and got back to the Playhouse for some games of Cornhole, and every game was dominated by me and Luke, going undefeated the entire night (trust me, this is a big deal to brag about if you’re from the Playhouse).
We got a half day on Sunday because Meghan needed to go back to her old theatre to pick up supplies for us. I spent my afternoon off sitting in the theatre chatting with people and having some laughs. There was a party for the Tony Awards at the Manor (where all the equity actors live), but myself, Ross, Brenda, and Luke opted to stay at the theatre and play cards. We had a great time sitting on the back deck enjoying each other’s company, the quiet, and learning a new card game. Ross and I also decided to have some fun with the girls in the Coop by putting Mr. Bojangles (the dead body we made last year) in the stairway to their room. We hid while Erin went to the room, saw the body, then went to get Amanda and tell her about the body, then Ross and I grabbed Mr. Bojangles and threw him in the mens room to hide it. They came back, saw the body was gone, then freaked out and ran back to the back deck. Once they ran off we put the body back and waited for them to come back. Then they freaked out again and everyone had a good laugh about it, me and Ross laughing more than them of course. Then later in the night Sean decided to visit the girls by climbing the roof to get to their room and freaked them out even more. What a great night.
Today was a day off, see a band of packed in my car and went down to Middletown to pick up some provision and have a taste of civilization once again. We also saw the movie Up, which was very good (like all Pixar movies). There were part of the movie that were pretty sad and a little off putting for a Disney movie, but still the movie was enjoyable. The dog was my favorite part (reminded me of my dog a little bit). Currently I’m at the Manor downloading some Ramblin’ Jack Elliot for Luke and enjoying a decent internet connection. There’s also no one here, so it’s very quiet, which is a plus because quiet is something that doesn’t happen around here a lot.
Not a whole lot special planned for the following week, aside from Vino’s on Thursday and Salinger’s party on Saturday. Very excited for Salinger’s party, it’ll make me feel like I’m rich and mingling with the elite for one afternoon.