A Week Ago Yesterday

It's been a while.  Having a baby makes it hard to get household projects done, which was the original intent of this blog.  When I shared this thought with a family member, she said "Yeah, however your house looks now is how it will look for the next 20 years!" with a laugh.  I'm okay with that.  The only room we haven't painted or done anything with is ours (although technically the kitchen is unfinished as well, it's just harder to notice).  In the meantime, I'm going to write a bit about experiences or otherwise - utilize this blog (or whatever you want to call it) as it's name would suggest.

A week ago yesterday, John and the baby and I were literally just setting out towards Tioga County, PA.  I can use the word "literally" here because as I'm writing this, it's currently 5:27pm and that's the exact moment we left the driveway.  I had spent the entire day packing the car, a task which used to take just under an hour, and John had managed to leave work a little early.  If you've ever met his boss, you know this is no small feat, although if you haven't met his boss, I'll have to fill you in another time.  Let's just say he's not a big believer in vacation time, unless it's for him.

The car was packed to the brim with exciting things I only get to pull out once a year.  We had the kitchen box - a plastic storage bin with various kitchen necessities like a toaster, some knives, paper and plastic dinnerware and a bagel cutter in it, and the bedding box (whose contents should be self explanatory... Bedding and towels).  I said "exciting" at the beginning of this paragraph and then described storage boxes full of household items.  It may be time to reevaluate my life.  Anyways, we packed those and we also packed a week's worth of clothes for us, a bag for the baby and the two big baby items I knew we'd want/need/use; the pack and play and the stroller.

Packing light is not something at which my husband excels.  He means well, but forgets that we are only leaving for a week and will be in civilization so we don't really need to pack up the entirety of our belongings.  I say "we" but I mean "he".  It's something we argue over as I pack the last of this year's hobby (drones, thanks to a relative on my side) his bag overflowing with clothes ("You know it's only 6 days right?") a second bag with some shoes and things that didn't fit into the first bag (an eyeroll for this one) and some miscellaneous alcohol (two six-packs and a nice bottle of Jack Daniels to which I say "You know there's going to be beer up there, and there's a liquor store in town, and aren't you going on the winery tour?") because it's hot, the baby won't stop fussing, I've been packing all day and I am wearing my cranky pants.  We all have our faults.

At 5:27 I put my foot on the gas pedal and our arguing stops ("Sorry I snapped at you, it's been a long day.  I am glad you get to bring your drones, that will be fun!") because we CANNOT be sad when we leave for the week that I know we are about to have.

This is the week we look forward to all year.  More than all year!  It's the week we look forward to as soon as the vacation ends.  On our drive home you'll hear "I can't believe it's over... I can't wait for next year!".  We are headed to Tioga County, PA to spend a week at a state park in their cabins with my extended maternal family.  Each family member who wants one reserves a cabin at the park (or rather, sends a request for a cabin to my Uncle Dan who then spends a large amount of time, effort and money - which is reimbursed- reserving the cabins for us).  It used to be five cabins, one for my mom, three of her four siblings and one of her cousins, but now John and I require our own and the tally is up to six.  The cabins are all on a single road so it's a bit like having a commune or familial neighborhood for a week, which is great, and also probably long enough.  We generally rent out the end of the road if possible, since we all have preferred cabins after 14 years of this tradition, but the park recently made Cabin 1 dog friendly so now we rent out Cabin 1 and the end of the road.

Depending on how you feel about nature, cabins, camping or family, this may or may not sound like a great vacation.  Some of you are probably cringing and thinking we are insane to get excited about sleeping in a cabin with no wifi, cable, cell phone signal or otherwise (although they do have electricity, indoor plumbing and a small kitchen area) in the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere.  Some of you are possibly looking online to find out where these cabins are and how much it costs ($482, at my last tally) and some of you are saying "Cabins! Psh, cabins are for the weak.  Give me a tent any day!".  I fall into the second and third category as I clearly enjoy all things nature, cabins, camping and family.

The first night is not something to which we are ever privy.  My husband (and his previously mentioned boss) usually works until 6pm, gets home at 6:35 at which time I tell him he has 10 minutes to get to the bathroom, change, grab something to eat or drink in the car and get buckled.  The trip for us used to take 4 hours (no stops, and 9 miles over the posted speed limit the entire way if possible) putting us at an estimated 11pm arrival time.  By that point, the rest of the family has enjoyed dinner together, chatted and caught up with each other and are now in their respective cabins sleeping off a very long day.  John and I know from two earlier trial runs (the McInroy reunion, my dad's family, as well as the Laurel Festival) that we will need about 4.5 hours.  We managed to get on the road by 5:30 so we could get in before midnight, but we still missed the Friday night festivities.

We did not, however, miss out on a great time.  We took a different route than our usual one and it led us through what some call Pennsyl-tucky.  The middle of the state is a very different place than the ends.  I once heard someone say that Pennsylvania had two liberal bookends with Alabama in the middle.  It's hard to argue with that.  As we drove, we encountered a litany of American-made trucks with giant tires and off-road suspension that had stickers relating to the NRA, the South, Rebel Flags, Don't Tread On Me slogans and general American things (flags, eagles, PBR, etc.).  I suggested a game of  "Radio Roulette" in which a person presses the scan button, stops when they hear something interesting and no one is allowed to change the station until the song/topic of conversation has finished, regardless of what is playing.  I stopped when I heard a banjo.

Have I ever mentioned my weird love of bluegrass music?  Well, now's probably the time for that.

Anyways, I heard the banjo, pressed the scan button to stay on the station and we listened until the end of the song.  The radio tag let us know that we were listening to Bluegrass Gospel music.

Wait, what?

Like, bluegrass or gospel music?  I guess that could work.  It seems like a weird combination but I suppose maybe there's not enough of either genre to have a real radio station with the appropriate amount of variety.

Oh, nope.  It's bluegrass AND gospel music.  As in, bluegrass music with very religious words, like you'd find in gospel music.

Now, I have no problem with religion of any kind, or with religious music, but I was rather dumbfounded that this very VERY specific genre of music not only existed, but existed with enough music in it to be radio station fodder.  We listened until the station turned to static, it was exactly the right music for that portion of the drive.

Shortly after we left bluegrass gospel territory, we saw an elderly couple pull off to the side of the road and proceed to fight, physically fight, as in kicking and pushing and hitting with canes (I wish I was joking).

Ah, America.

Neither John nor I knew what to say since all the elderly people in our lives are sweet, baking, advice-giving types.  Not the pull-the-car-over-ass-kicking types.  We rode in silent disbelief after that for a while.

After the geriatric throwdown, the ride was relatively uneventful.  We pulled into our cabin around 10:30, unloaded the car and settled in for the night, excited about the morning and the week to come.

To be continued...