SheldonTimes

We arranged a five-day rental at our favorite little cabin at Tohickon Valley Park in Bucks County. It happened that this Thanksgiving was the year that our children were scheduled to be elsewhere with their partners. We left Wednesday morning for the park and arrived at the height of a snowstorm. This was an exciting beginning, as the remote cabin is reached by a very narrow drive along a steep slope, and the drive is closed in bad weather. I managed (barely) to creep down the valley without going over the edge and get us safely to the cabin. We unloaded heavy supplies such as Fran’s iron cooking pots and iron griddle that she planned to use for cooking over an open fire in the fireplace. We also unloaded our food and two large containers of drinking water (the cabin has no water, but does have a nice privy across the driveway) and much warm clothing. We expected to be snowed in until the end of our rental. But just at that moment a little maintenance truck arrived, and the driver excitedly told us that we couldn't be stuck down there while the road was closed, and that we had to drive the car up to safety. Well, I drove back up (or, attempted to) and slipped off the road into a ditch by a small bridge. That car wasn't about to go anyplace. A kindly ranger came by and arranged for a tow truck to come, and somehow we got the car safely up the hill and to the parking lot at the top. Much excitement in the process…it was very tricky and not at all a sure bet. I would have loved to have just left the car at the cabin the whole time as we had planned, but what’s a vacation without a little added excitement.

That didn't stop us from having a nice dinner and fire in the fireplace that evening, snuggling on some cushions in front of the fire. This is an ideal place for that sort of thing. The next day was Thanksgiving, and after a brief morning hike Fran prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving repast. She’s a vegetarian, and I am not hooked on turkey, so we enjoyed her wonderful nut loaf and sweet potatoes and potatoes and lots of other good things too numerous to mention. Then we had another fire. The park provides good firewood in ample amounts. We had a wonderful time by the fire every night. I finished my book for the Men’s Book Club, while Fran knit my socks.

Fran cooked various things in her iron pot and also cooked fish on a wet plank in the open fire. On Friday we were joined for the day by friends Carol and Don, who hiked with us to the high cliffs of Ralph Stover State Park. We also enjoyed more good food, and popcorn and chestnuts roasted over the open fire. On Saturday more of the same, with a hike to Point Pleasant and along the Delaware River tow path. Sunday was some final hiking and packing up in the late afternoon, so that we could be home in time for us to unpack and for me to unpack my mind so that I would be ready for class at 9:30 the next morning. All in all, a full, relaxing and healthy/physical/invigorating romantic vacation.