Glad to be back in mall-America.
Dec. 28th, 2008 10:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
digitalemurHey guys?
I just remembered that about 10 days ago I posted about how to survive the noisy, cold-at-night madhouse that is Camp Oelker.
A few of you said "Uh, I would just get a hotel."
I got back last night and thought, "Hey, I wonder if that would have worked?" (Did I mention that I don't have the money to do that for a week? Cuz I really DO NOT. I found the suggestion amusing at the time, for that reason.)
Just for the record, the nearest lodgings are something called the "Frola Motel" about 20 minutes away in Lisbon, and all I can find out about it is that apparently it is clean? Oh and the next closest thing is something called "Palmentier's Motel" about 30 minutes away outside of Minerva, again reportedly clean and with no website for finding out more. Yes, Camp Oelker is _that_ far away from things. Really.
Am I failing to explain just how very, VERY out in the boonies Camp Oelker is, or is it just hard to internalize the concept? I think it might be the latter-- I was thinking about this yesterday as I drove back. Most of us never really leave the parts of the country that have hotels and shopping centers. And even if we do, it's usually for vacation spots that still have cute little restaurants and bed and breakfast places. Guys? We should travel outside that zone more, really we should, and make excursions to the wilder parts of the nation. Just not in winter, okay? (And yes, for the record, I'm mocking you all a little bit for your yuppieness. If you don't like it you do not have to read. I do love you all, but I need to mock you this little bit, okay? This is how a week back in Appalachia changes how I look at things.)
*shrug* I don't have the money for a whole week of staying in lodgings off the farm, anyway. I did have the excuse to ditch for a night in a motel in a larger town, which was a nice break. I was just talking to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
karakara98 yesterday about how tiny even that "larger town" is! Oh, middle America, you're somehow more wild than other countries, because we expect you to have motels in all your towns.
Oh, but one more thing: there _is_ a comfortable, nicely appointed lodging option about a 10 minute drive away from Camp Oelker. Sadly, it's also over my budget, and owned by the chair of the county GOP, so I hope you'll forgive me for NOT giving them my money. It is either funny or sad that would be my best option for staying off the farm. Maybe both funny _and_ sad.
The next time someone describes my part of western Mass as rural, I'm going to laugh at them, openly and with vigor. Isn't America a funny place?
I just remembered that about 10 days ago I posted about how to survive the noisy, cold-at-night madhouse that is Camp Oelker.
A few of you said "Uh, I would just get a hotel."
I got back last night and thought, "Hey, I wonder if that would have worked?" (Did I mention that I don't have the money to do that for a week? Cuz I really DO NOT. I found the suggestion amusing at the time, for that reason.)
Just for the record, the nearest lodgings are something called the "Frola Motel" about 20 minutes away in Lisbon, and all I can find out about it is that apparently it is clean? Oh and the next closest thing is something called "Palmentier's Motel" about 30 minutes away outside of Minerva, again reportedly clean and with no website for finding out more. Yes, Camp Oelker is _that_ far away from things. Really.
Am I failing to explain just how very, VERY out in the boonies Camp Oelker is, or is it just hard to internalize the concept? I think it might be the latter-- I was thinking about this yesterday as I drove back. Most of us never really leave the parts of the country that have hotels and shopping centers. And even if we do, it's usually for vacation spots that still have cute little restaurants and bed and breakfast places. Guys? We should travel outside that zone more, really we should, and make excursions to the wilder parts of the nation. Just not in winter, okay? (And yes, for the record, I'm mocking you all a little bit for your yuppieness. If you don't like it you do not have to read. I do love you all, but I need to mock you this little bit, okay? This is how a week back in Appalachia changes how I look at things.)
*shrug* I don't have the money for a whole week of staying in lodgings off the farm, anyway. I did have the excuse to ditch for a night in a motel in a larger town, which was a nice break. I was just talking to
karakara98 yesterday about how tiny even that "larger town" is! Oh, middle America, you're somehow more wild than other countries, because we expect you to have motels in all your towns. Oh, but one more thing: there _is_ a comfortable, nicely appointed lodging option about a 10 minute drive away from Camp Oelker. Sadly, it's also over my budget, and owned by the chair of the county GOP, so I hope you'll forgive me for NOT giving them my money. It is either funny or sad that would be my best option for staying off the farm. Maybe both funny _and_ sad.
The next time someone describes my part of western Mass as rural, I'm going to laugh at them, openly and with vigor. Isn't America a funny place?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-12-28 05:48 pm (UTC)Several years ago, we decided to drive up/around the Adirondack State Park as a 'day trip'. Idiot me hadn't counted on the reduced speeds on the roads up in that area. The entire area was beautiful, but spending 15+ hours in the car in one day was just dain-bramaged. It was lovely to be able to drive for miles without a single business (never mind the concept of a 'choice' of places to stop).
For a weekend a few years ago, we spent some time at my step-sister's house about eight miles west of Ticonderoga. That's also out in the boonies.
Of course out west (or up in central Maine), you can find 'nothing' by the county load.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-28 11:44 pm (UTC)Of course, right now you couldn't pay me enough to make my do that, because I just had my dose. Who knows, maybe some time.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-29 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-30 05:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-28 06:34 pm (UTC)From my mom's experience growing up in small towns and construction camps across the Rockies, I get the feeling that a lot of the places that are so isolated aren't quick to welcome outsiders (even outsiders who move in for several years), so it may be hard for visitors to really get a sense of rural living. (Hopefully I'm wrong with that generalization; I don't mean to malign the hospitality of an entire swath of the nation!)
That's where you come in: you can invite people to Camp Oelker and popularize the couch-surfing movement among rural families, allowing the rest of us to visit the wilder parts of the nation authentically! :)
no subject
Date: 2008-12-28 09:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-28 11:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-28 11:47 pm (UTC)I just get kinda cranky about how much forethought it requires to do some things out there. My brain is also not working so well today-- I keep thinking the cold or sinus infection or whatever it is is going away, and then it knocks me on my ass again.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-28 11:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-11 06:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-28 10:04 pm (UTC)Mostly I'm laughing at the name Spread Eagle for a hotel.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-28 11:34 pm (UTC)Seriously, that does make me feel better.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-29 12:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-29 01:35 am (UTC)It's weird to be back in Mall America after spending a week in a place where Panera Bread is too expensive for most people. Ironically, the presence of Wal-Mart stores in two places in the county actually contributes to there no longer even being grocery stores in a lot of the smaller villages near Camp Oelker.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-29 02:31 pm (UTC)That's not ironic at all. That's a business plan. One of the reasons I won't shop at Wal-Mart, since I have the option not to.
no subject
Date: 2008-12-29 02:40 pm (UTC)