One week, lots of miles, and we are home. Before a trip there is always anticipation, excitement, as well as, a little bit of stress. The stress of packing, and tidying, and making sure you have everything.
Maybe a teeny bit of stress in trying to strategically pack two adults, four kids, one large dog, enough food to feed everyone for the week, plus all clothing and everything else needed for the trip into the mini van. (Thank goodness for the roof top carrier.) But we always manage somehow and somehow always get to our intended destination no matter how much sibling bickering and baby pit stops need to be taken…we always get there. And once we are there, it’s always worth it.
Potter County, Pennsylvania is seriously one of the most wonderful and beautiful places I have ever been to. It is abundant and flourishing with natural wildlife and has been very minimally exposed by civilization. There is no cell phone service anywhere even remotely close by and the nearest (very small) grocery store is 25 miles (45 minutes) away from where the cabin is. You can get some canned goods and, um, not really very much that we would eat. Other than that there’s a whole lot of wilderness…and black bears, who in my opinion are very exciting to cross paths with.
We spent our week catching, observing and playing in nature at it’s best. A lot of our time was spent in the creek out in front of the cabin. Here we caught crayfish, minnows, and salamanders.
We enjoyed some watermelon, fireworks, campfires, some butterfly catching, and many many walks through the woods. Every year when we come up to this cabin, with Jason’s mom and step dad, we see at least one black bear. One evening when we were headed back to the cabin on a walk, there was a black bear walking very close to the path we were on, about 20 feet away from us. We paused, I said hi, and it continued on it’s way, and so did we. I don’t advise going up to a black bear, but really none that I have encountered seem any more or less harmless then a deer.
Where this cabin is the roads are all dirt…no lanes, no lines, just a dirt path. I think often of living in a place like this surrounded by such beauty and peace. Then I think about how secluded it would be. There would be no grandparents nearby to watch the kids, no friends to stop by, and I guess we would have to grow all of our own food.
For now I am glad to have a place like this to escape to, even if it is only for a week during the year. A place filled with the fragrance of wildflowers wherever you turn, a place that promises the wildlife a safe haven to grow their population, a place where the water is so pure and clear and the air is crisp and clean. These types of places are rare and far between these days. I hope this one stays safe forever.
Pop Pop had to mow the yard, so Kayla decided to “save” as many wildflowers as she could. I think she did a pretty good job!
And someone came back to say good bye, although we didn’t spot this print on our muddy rear window until we were half way home.
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