Day in the Poconos

Second day of my January outing alone.  Kalahari resort was awesome, its water park not.  My watch tracker counted 13000 steps, a world record for me personally, even with the watch sitting in my jeans pocket while at the water park.  Much of this came from round trips to the parking lot.  First I had to get my bearings in the immense resort.  Then retrieve my tote for the water park, which needed another round trip to the car, as they would not complete my registration without my driver's license and credit card which I had placed in the glove compartment for safe keeping.  Then I realized that I had my good glasses, when I wanted my previous prescription in case of loss or damage on the attractions.  So another round trip.  At least by now I knew the corridor system to minimize time outdoors in the chill.  Eventually admitted, changed, found a home for my tote bag with its contents, but did not do a great job of linking it to nearby landmarks, which left me for a while searching endlessly for the chair near somebody else's rented cabana where I had plopped all my stuff.  Mostly a disappointing afternoon, not at all worth what they charged.  For the Medicare clientele I found a Lazy River, two hot tubs, one with a pleasant outdoor extension, and a brief immersion in their wave pool which fell short of the Atlantic it tried to replicate or other water parks that replicated the ocean more closely.  I left about an hour earlier than planned.  Made it to the hotel.  

The best supper option seemed to be the casino buffet.  As travel expanded in the last half of the twentieth century, the Catskills basically died as a resort destination but the Poconos did a better job at capturing their niche.  The Orthodox Jews were well represented at both the Kalahari Resort and at the Camelback Resort I had gone to on a previous year's outing.  It's a bit closer to Lakewood and the Metro NY population centers than Grossingers was.  There is a single highway that crosses NJs east west dimension that makes car or charter bus travel easy.  And the people seemed pretty prosperous, likely coming here as a short break while still affording themselves something more elaborate while camp takes care of their reasonable number of kids in the summer. Some skiing is nearby, good for day trips from NY, Philly, and probably Baltimore.  And there are casinos, including one not far from my hotel, largely devoid of those young Orthodox Jewish families.

There's probably a dedicated casino culture, now that they have established themselves regionally.  I have only been to the two near me once each, one attracted by the cheap buffet, the other more out of curiosity.  This buffet, on Senior Discount Night, was definitely a best buy for supper.  And if hungry enough, it would be even without the discount.  It is also part of a very large hotel complex.  The parking lot had a fair number of cars, but unlike the Kalahari Resort, not so many as to create a long walk from car to entertainment.  Took off my Phillies cap as their rules require, at least to go past the checkpoint, but put it back on when it became obvious that baseball caps were common and accepted attire.  Offered my ID but the attendant just waved me through.  Followed signs to the buffet, passing massive amounts of mostly empty electronic slots with garish displays.  They had a Chinese game section, but it looked mostly like the other slots.  If there were dice and roulette gambling, they were lost in the glitter.  Seems something of a public waste to have this as the form in which creativity is expressed, to say nothing of America's technical dominance of electronics, mathematics, engineering, business planning, the very things that make America the place people want to be.  And not that many people at the machines.

By the end of supper, a no waste supper that left me with little desire for dessert, I waddled off.  Between the walking, water immersion, immediately completed overeating, I did not feel my best.  I selected a seat in front of a slot machine with a fully unoccupied row.  Comfortable high-backed vinyl swivel seat, and let my Senior Discount body readjust for a few minutes before heading to the short but cold walk back to my car, protected by having the good sense to wear my parka. 

Since my hotel is on a divided highway, on the wrong side of the divider which only allows access to the main road in one direction, the Waze App took me in a circuitous route through neighborhoods largely obscured by the dark.  On the return, fewer turns were needed, really only three once past the casino complex itself.  A rather large deer crossed in front of my car while I stopped in anticipation of the only difficult turn on the way back.  Otherwise, main roads and follow signs.

While not the best of days, as the following day's achiness and slight despondence are probably a direct consequence, it was different from what I would have been doing at home instead.

Some Alone Time

Several years back, I started treating myself to a few days of mini-adventure.  While I offer my wife a chance to join me, she has other things she wants to do.  Moreover, my two or three day outings sometimes challenge my determination.  I've visited Pennsylvania State University and surroundings during their deep freeze, not to mention some hazardous return driving.  I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not much campus, as they closed much of it, including the museums, in response to cold weather.  The town of State College offered some pleasant poking around, entering stores to warm up, buy a thing or two, while my glasses fogged from the abrupt temperature change.  And some nice brewpubs which I'd expect at a university center.

Another year I went to the Poconos, snow tubing at Camelback, refreshing myself at Aquatopia Indoor Water Park, driving around a bit, enjoying a somewhat isolated hotel.  Seasonal temperature rise that trip.

Maybe time for another, one of perhaps the same distance.  Something a little too far for a day trip.  I thought about eastern Long Island.  Have been to Hyde Park.  And there's Atlantic City, which is really more of a day trip unless I want to take advantage of pampering in a major Casino Hotel where rates plummet in January.  And there's Kalahari Water Park in the Poconos, though I don't know what else might be nearby.  Baltimore is more of a day trip.  Washington is a place I'd much prefer to visit with my wife in the spring, and perhaps lacks some of the novelty and even pampering that I seek for these couple of days.  Or maybe even Penn State again, this time with the campus more functional.

As a place to go, Long Island has some attractions.  Even out of season, though, staying there far exceeds any of the others I considered.   Snow tubing someplace other than Camelback would be another option.  While fun to slide down the snow, there was a lot of waiting in various lines to do it,  

I think I have to first decide whether I want to tour new places, or just have a few quiet days mixed with amusements and creature comfort.  Not an easy choice.

Travel Expectations

My hotel did not seem to offer coffee.  No mini-brewer in the room with pre-filled pods to make your own.   None in the lobby.  There was a Dunkin Donuts outside the front door, perhaps also owned by the Choice Hotels franchisee, which probably explains this, but I've not been to a hotel that does not offer coffee in the morning to its registered guests in recent memory.  And I needed some ultimately supplied by the Sunoco station across the street.. 

Finding suitable places for lunch and dinner took more effort than expected.  All small places, lunch wonderful, Irish pub for supper not.   And two good breakfasts at independent places, one best classified as a pancake house though neither my wife nor I had pancakes, the other a bakery. 

Time away also requires something to do that you cannot do at home.  We don't have a swimming pool at home.  Theirs was too cold.  We do have wineries but each strives for uniqueness.  The three we visited did not disappoint.  Scenery can be difficult to assess.  Interstates pretty much all look alike, at least region to region.  This time we travelled over the Pocono Mountains which we could tell were substantial elevations and valleys.  Wine country took us through rural areas but also some very prosperous appearing houses suggesting sources of new money.  And the main town still had a vibrant downtown with stores, restaurants, boutiques, parking scarcity, and for some curious reason a whole block devoted to small law firms with the municipal building at its core.  A branch of the state college system stood at the adjacent town, which may explain why everyone in the town seemed of my children's generation.  This enhanced the trip.

Motorists do not like hassles.  The Pennsylvania Turnpike divested themselves of toll collectors.  Instead of taking a ticket and forking up some bills at the exit, now you just drive through the lanes while they photograph your license plate and send a bill.  Much better.  On the other hand my GPS calculated that the best route from winery to hotel would include a small section of New Jersey interstate.  The rule of New Jersey, which is really a peninsula that requires motorists to traverse a bridge or tunnel except at its northern border, has been that you can visit New Jersey for free but it you want to leave, which is the majority sentiment most of the time, you gotta pay.  Our one interstate exit snookered us for a $3 toll.  Gasoline was plentiful but more expensive than at home.  Highway construction did not seem intrusive.  There were fewer NASCAR wannabes than I expected sharing the interstate.  My GPS could use an update, but the Waze app on my cell phone more than compensated for the lapses in GPS.  No big travel problems.

So for the most part, my couple of days away afforded the change of scenery that I desired though with a little fatigue.  It had a mixture of high points that were not very high, annoyances that were not all that annoying, and something of an eagerness to resume where I left off at home.

Could Use Some Me Time

Around this time a year ago, not occupied with Osher Institute or other distractions at home, I afforded myself a few days away to visit Penn State, where I'd not been before.  I had to postpone the trip by a week due to snow when I first planned to go, and the following week I braved a deep freeze and enough snow to hamper driving but not accumulate appreciably.  I had hotel reservations but otherwise no immediate plans other than puttering around the university which I ultimately did not do by virtue of school operations suspended for extreme cold.  I visited a winery, got my face numb walking around town, had my left turn signal and windshield washers fail, but go to two fine brew pubs and some driving around.

Time for a second act, this one having to work around the Osher Institute schedule.  Thought about going to Berkeley Springs where they have mineral springs but not much else.  Never been on the Harley or Herr's factory tours.  Been to a sufficient number of wineries near York and Frederick.  Could go the other direction to the Poconos.  Never been skiing or snowboarding, though snow tubing might be safer.  They have indoor water parks there, a little expensive.  Closer than driving to State College.  Not a great winery region.  Drive is about the right distance, close enough to stop wherever I want along the way if a sign captures my attention.  Probably should stop off at the state welcome center nearby and check the brochures, but a few days in the Poconos seems the best mini-escape for now.