Space to Breathe

I have felt underwater for some time. Some of it is IEP season, some of it is this year's schedule, some of it is undoubtably the neverending winter (that seems to be turning a corner, finally), some of it is just existential exhaustion from the world in general. Between February break and Spring Break, I pretty much just put my head down and muttered "just keep swimming" like a lunatic. I am pretty sure I feel somewhere in the region of the overwhelm that I feel now every year at this time, but it just feels amplified. 

So, we planned our trip to go glamping in the Catskills mountains. Partly because February break was spent prepping for and stressing about my bonus colonoscopy and so it felt distinctly un-break-like, I really, REALLY needed to go somewhere for this one. 

There is something about going somewhere else, about disrupting your regular routines, that presses a reset button. There were two recent posts that made me think on this again: Mali's The Healing Power of Travel and Klara's Twenty Years Since the Glacier Taught Us to Breathe Again, which was the inspiration for Mali's post. I feel these posts, because we have also used travel (albeit less exotic travel) to heal. We went on our epic 2-week California Coast trip in 2017 when we ended our parenting journey. More recently, we escaped to Vermont for a quick weekend overnight when our beloved cat, Lucky, died. 

This time, I needed to feel...away. I needed to escape a feeling of constantly being behind, of never feeling done, and frankly a rise in anxiety and depression. Instead of hopping a plane to another country (still something we desire to do but feels impossible right now due to current events), we drove less than 4 hours to a glamping compound on a lake. 

It was amazing to plan for -- that alone lifted my spirits. What will we cook? What will I read? Can I finish a 1000 piece puzzle in 2 days? (Um, no.) I went to the website for the place almost daily to review the photos of the domes, of the lake, of the firepit area. We haven't done anything quite like this before, which was also good because we are serious creatures of habit. We find something we like and then BOOM, that's what we do ad nauseum. It's a comfort thing, so I was proud we branched out this time. 

I am struggling with how to describe the place, because there were lots of things we really liked -- the dome was super cool, and we loved the deck and firepit. The short trail by the lake was very pretty and we saw and heard a lot of birds. I think if we had a forcefield around just those areas and couldn't see past it, that would have been the ideal setup. 

It kind of felt like the difference between Instagram and reality. Depending on the angle, it was wild and serene. Or it was a logger's paradise. Clearly the photos on the website were very carefully angled.

Here are photos of the things we really loved: 

View out the window of the dome, taken from the floor for reasons you'll see later

Seating area on the deck outside the dome

The little reading nook -- that chair was quite cozy

The sitting area with cool mod fireplace and what I hope is a fake cow rug

Cute kitchenette with induction cooktop and minifridge

The outside of the dome from the firepit side

The firepit on our first night

Reading by the fireplace, the light did something interesting here

Woods by the lake

The lakeshore

Fun little Adirondack chair spot on the lake

Here's the problem... these photos are very carefully angled. There was beautiful woods and rocks (for March anyway, March is a notoriously unattractive month in the Northeast US), but also the area where the domes were was pretty devastated by downed trees and cut wood that was just left there. Here are some uncurated reality shots: 

The domes were pretty close together. This looks like some kind of space village out of Star Wars to me, but that didn't bother me as much.

Our dome was on the end, so most private in terms of other domes, but looked out onto cut trees galore.

The view from the far side of our deck into the woods. Not quite so picturesque.

More view from the deck. I guess they're building another maintenance shed. And storing a ton of things in the woods in a giant pile. 

This is the door to the shed at night. It was always lit up inside. The first night I might have yelled "knock if you need help!" because it was giving abduction/murder shed vibes.

Slightly different, huh? Also, the lake was way smaller than we thought and you could literally see tons of lit up houses on the other side and hear barking dogs. There was also a small airport nearby. All of which fairly ruined the illusion of being in the middle of nowhere, in the "majestic forest." 

The camp gets most of its guests from NYC and the surrounding areas, so I wonder if all the reviews about how serene and wild it was were in contrast to the concrete jungle? It felt like woods for people who have never been to real woods. Probably because we're spoiled by Maine and Vermont. Or snobs.

To be fair, maybe it is more secluded when the trees leaf out. But also, they said they had tons of trails, and that was definitely an overstatement. I loved the lake trail, and there was a trail that went into the woods (but passed the Graveyard of Adirondack Chairs Gone By and Ethernet Cables of Yesteryore). 

But did we have a great time? Yes, yes we did. Mostly because of what we brought to the place. Bryce loves cooking outside, and we had some amazing meals.

This is the "lobster mac and cheese in a cast iron dutch oven situation" series... jeez that was delicious! 

 

Night #3 was a delicious cheddar burger w/grilled onions & jalapenos with pan roasted broccoli and shingled cheesy potatoes roasted in the dutch oven again. 

I'm glad we cooked, because it added to the camping vibe and was definitely safe for my Celiac self. It was so yummy! (Night #1 was a pasta dish with veggies from Hello Fresh, gobbled so we could have our First Night tradition of champagne by the fireplace.)

We saw interesting things -- a bald eagle or three, buffleheads, Common Merganser ducks... and a variety of "gargoyle" metal sculptures about the property that were various creatures with oddly detailed genitalia (I thought they all had male junk, but Bryce showed me a picture I will spare you of a full on anatomically correct vulva, and we did see one that was a fire entity of some sort with flames for genitals... which is a choice). We heard spring peeper frogs, songbirds, and woodpeckers. 

A catwoman entity by the lake

This one initially scared the crap of us because it was literally in the woods, and then Bryce went to check it out and discovered it was a girl thing. 

Lastly, the best part of any trip is the time we spend together. It was nice to get out of our routine and do something different, clear the head and lungs, and refresh. Our last night had a crazy thunderstorm that was super cool in the dome (rain on the outside is super cozy), but also a bit terrifying (so much wind and rain, but thankfully the 1" hail and 60 mph winds went north of us). It was a lovely time mostly because of the time we spent together. 

Nighttime parallel play -- he's got a Lego knockoff kit, I've got a puzzle...