This summer we decided to take a typical Leary summer vacation (camping) and add an element of adventure: we brought no electronics with us. Let me amend that statement: we brought along Ryan's cell phone in case he was recalled from leave and my cell phone in case there was a family emergency. It didn't really matter because in West Virginia we had no cell service at all, not even one bar, not even the "emergency" setting. No iPads, no MacBooks, no iShuffles, no iPad minis, no TVs, no DVDs. It was a screen-free vacation, one week of being unplugged.
The fun began when as soon as we pulled out of the driveway, no electronics in hand or in pocket. I printed out directions for us from good old Google Maps, and highlighted certain points. It really brought me back to the early 2000's when Ryan and I were first married and (gasp) didn't have cell phones at all, let alone touch screens with data and maps and everything else you "need" in a phone. Directions in hand, we made our way to the Parkway to head out of town. No sooner did we get on Interstate 66 when Jud asked if we could watch a movie while we were driving. Apparently he didn't realize that iFree included the car ride. His words: "But, mom, seriously, how am I am going to make it FOUR HOURS in the car without entertainment?" Oh, son, let me tell you about the countless drives to and from our cabin when all Andy and I had for entertainment was look out the window at the trees and fight over the better blanket. Or I could tell about the time my parents drove us from Minnesota to Colorado without a single screen in sight. It was a journey complete with sing-alongs, Eye Spy games, pocket checkers, and plenty of boredom and car sickness. Ryan could tell about the drive from Pennsylvania to California, including some 16 hour days in the car. He said he became an expert at sleeping. He could sleep all day in the car, and then all night at the hotel or campsite. So, no, my dear son, you do not need technology to entertain you through a car ride.
As a side note, is this a lost art for my kids' generation? Our kids are growing up with cars where there are built-in TVs, streaming movies, iPads in their laps, headphones in their ears... Do they ever learn (like we did) to occupy themselves with something really boring to pass the time? The art of sitting in the car, staring out the window, alone with your thoughts, talking to each other, listening to music together, playing silly car games, alternating between pestering your siblings to tears and driving your parents to distraction? Even worse, are we missing out on family connections because everyone is too busy starting at a screen to interact with each other? My family takes part in the glory of screens just as much as the next family. Every road trip and every plane ride since my kids were little has involved a computer to watch movies and an iPad to play games. It's definitely easier, but is it better? I'm starting to wonder what we are doing to our kids by offering all these alternatives to the "boredom" of childhood. From this boredom grows enormous creativity. Conversations, reading, art, inventing games, noticing nature, building and crafting... None of this happens when we are plugged in all the time. I think with too much technology we may be crippling our kids in some ways. Thus, the iFree trip was born. It was partly to prove to myself that we could do it, and partly to show my kids what it was like to vacation when I was a kid. Also, if I'm being honest, it was also because I am SICK TO DEATH of calling the kids to meals and hearing them say, "Just a minute; I need to finish this level!" No screens = no levels to finish = kids at the table sooner, and maybe, just maybe, a child so bored he is willing to help prepare the meal.
Instead of the car ride being quiet and peaceful (with screens and headphones), it was a bit loud and there was certainly more complaining than on the typical journey. We listened to music together. We played the geography game. That's where someone says a place (must be on a map, but not manmade), and the person after them says a place that begins with the letter that the first person's place ended with. Example: Jud said Iceland. Ryan replied with Denmark. Silas replied with Kazakhstan. I said Norway. Jud said Youngstown. Ryan then would say something that starts with an "N". The game continues on until people are eliminated by not being able to think of a place, and eventually there is a winner. In our family Ryan wins 100% of the time. He has an incredible memory and likes to study maps. There's really no beating him at this game. But it's fun to play, and I noticed through the week that the game went on longer and longer as we all acquired new places (after listening to Ryan) to use for our turns. Silas, in his desperation to win, started making up places, like Young River. With no phone or computer to look it up and verify that there is actually a river called Young River, we couldn't prove he made it up, although Ryan remains adamant that it was a freebie, not a legitimate answer.
One other distinct difference in our travels with no screens was that we planned to stop a lot more. Driving straight for four hours when you can watch two movies straight is a piece of cake. Try doing it without the movies, and it's not so easy! We made it an hour before we our first stop. We went into this little restaurant called The Apple House that we stumbled upon when getting a Christmas tree last year. They specialize in tasty food :-), particularly homemade apple cinnamon cake donuts. We bought one dozen, a cup of coffee, used the bathroom and loaded back into the car. Eventually the games stopped, we read out loud a little bit, and then the car just got quiet. It was really pleasant for the twenty or so minutes that it lasted before the complaints of boredom began. We stopped at a rest station for lunch and another break from the car. The views as we crossed northern Virginia and got into West Virginia was glorious. Out the window was a scene of rolling hills filled with fields and farms, spotted with little towns, and gentle mountains in the near distance. Our first car trip with no MacBook or iPads was a success. We made it, and it was even rather enjoyable.
Our first of two camping stops was Seneca State Forest in West Virginia. Never heard of it? Neither have 99.99% of the country, including us until I started randomly zooming in on maps on the Virginia and West Virginia border looking for places to camp. We didn't tent this summer, instead we stayed in a camping cabin. The Seneca camping cabin was actually really nice. Simple, but nice. It had one bedroom, a second bed area that could be curtained off, a little family room with a fireplace and a dining table, and a tiny kitchen area (mostly just to store food). There was no electricity, but there was propane running to the house, so there was a little refrigerator, and a few propane lamps (that did a sad job of keeping the house lit, but it was better than using our lantern and flashlights all evening). No running water either, but a pump with well water was not far from the cabin, and the outhouse was relatively close as well. The boys did a good job of keeping the big water jug in the kitchen full so we could drink water without having to go to the pump every single time. Jud boycotted the outhouse and instead would pee standing right next to it... That kid! For showers we drove a few miles to the camp office and paid one dollar for a 6 minute shower.
And so the simple life began, at least simple for us. I used the camping stove with a tiny propane tank to make Ryan's morning coffee in the stovetop espresso maker. Making my tea was as easy as boiling water. Breakfast and lunch was our usual fare, just fewer options, like no microwaved soft pretzels with melted cheese for Jud. Dinners were cooked over the campfire (hot dogs), on the charcoal grill (cheeseburgers and BBQ chicken), or on the camp stove (bacon and pancakes for breakfast night, tater tots, reheated corn, and so on). We had s'mores at least five nights that week. I have to say, I loved cooking the simple way. No elaborate recipes, no twice baked anything, no fry first then crock pot later. It was just easy meals, minimal preparation, and yes, the boys did help with prep too!
Our mornings in West Virginia were spent hiking some nice trails. The undergrowth was often thick laurels. Sometimes it felt like we were walking through a tunnel of laurel. Three out of the four of us insisted on having a walking stick, so much of the first hike was spent finding the perfect one. Jud had a system of evaluating his potential walking sticks. It had to be somewhat pliable and not too heavy, but strong enough to hold his weight. It had to be straight as an arrow, no bends or curves. It had to be soft to the touch, or able to remove the bark easily. At one point he thought he found the perfect one, and was proclaiming it to be as strong as he needed it to be, so he swung it at a tree. His words were, "This stick is perfect! It's lightweight but still really strong!" It snapped in half upon meeting the tree. We all burst into gales of laughter, even Jud. The search continued. For a while the boys went ahead, carrying on their own conversations. Eventually they drifted back to Ryan and I and introduced us to the running dialogue called "Who would win?" The idea was to name two people, and if they were to fight, who would be the victor? Some of the match-ups were really funny and led to great conversations. Who would win: Darth Vader or Galdalf? Some of the match-ups were us with various people we know. Who would win: Mrs. O'Leary or Mrs. Gebo? Needless to say, it was highly entertaining and ridiculously lighthearted conversation.
Our first full day in West Virginia we hiked int he morning, and drove about five miles to a wide slow river where we could swim. I brought our life jackets, not knowing how deep the river would be. We parked the car, walked to the river, and walked downstream hoping to find a good swimming hole. The joke was on me when we arrived and discovered the deepest spot was about 18 inches. We splashed around, made a little spa with the river rocks, and skipped some stones. The next day we returned and instead walked upstream. We discovered a perfect swimming hole! At some point, the park service must have shifted rocks around to make this amazing little swimming area. They dug up some of the large rocks in the river bottom and stacked them to make a little wall. It was complete with two tiny waterfalls. We climbed the little rock wall and jumped into the deep water over and over again, playing in the waterfall too. The water moved pretty fast in the waterfall area, and I was nervous about the boys losing control and taking a tumble downriver into some rocks. Everyone had so much fun! Sadly, I brought the camera only the first day in the river, not the second, so there are no pictures of the swimming hole. It will have to live on in our memories.
Below: The boys at our Seneca Lake cabin. No fire pit, so we used
the grill to have a little fire and roast marshmallows for s'mores.
The spider spinning a web near our cabin.
Breakfast accompanied by a game of battleship.
First hike: Thorny Creek Park I
Snack stop.
The final uphill trek of Thorny Creek Part 1.
We noticed salamanders all along the trails
at Seneca; they were everywhere!
Our first afternoon swim in the river.
Silas was the fountain at our spa.
Rainy evening indoor campfire.
Day two: the second half of the Thorny Creek trail.
Thorny Creek Part II, inside the laurel forest.
Pit stop at a shelter near the top.
Cabin/lookout at the top of the fire road.
Lake Seneca upon our return to the campground.
The solitude of Seneca was simply delightful. I so throughly enjoyed being alone in nature and being with my family. Our family interactions were fun. Sure, there were fights and arguments, some depressed wake-ups without morning cartoons, but there was much more laughter and lighthearted joy than anything else.
Mid-way through our week of vacation we shifted gears and traveled from the solitude of Seneca State Forest to the tourist town of Luray, Virginia. We migrated from a peaceful lakeside cabin to Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Resort and Campground. It was a complete shock to my system. I was very out of sorts our first afternoon there. We sat poolside, watching throngs of people swimming, playing, wandering, talking, fighting, and it was so different. I was overwhelmed and stunned for a few hours. The cabin itself was fine; a full sized bed and a bunk bed, one tiny table, and a little shelf for various items. We had a nice fire pit and picnic table outside, and we were close to the bathrooms, but not too close. I think my biggest problem was that everyone was packed in so tight, and many people had very different ideas of camping than we did. Some people appeared to bring their entire house along camping with them, including setting up a tarp lean-to for a changing room. Some folks resided in their $100,000 RV's complete with Starbucks style espresso machines and HD TVs on the exterior. Kids gathered in groups, particularly the 5-9 age range, and one group (with their bicycles) formed what appeared to be the biker gang of Yogi Bear's Park. The campground offered golf carts to get from one end to the other. Silas pointed out that it would be fun to drive around in a golf cart, and people probably splurged for the novelty of it. For me, it seemed completely ridiculous for someone to drive a golf cart two blocks to get to the pool. It made me think of that movie Wall-E where everyone gets around on their own little hovering scooters, drinks in hand, and screens blocking their faces. It wasn't that bad, but along those lines.
I am realizing as I write this that I didn't enjoy the time in Luray nearly as much as I did the time in Seneca. Being together as a family was still great, but the entire time we were there, I was craving to go back to Seneca. We did some fun things in Luray, however, that weren't offered at Seneca. We toured the Luray Caverns, which were easily the most amazing cave systems I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so no pictures of the wonders of Luray Caverns. We went horseback riding, tubing down the Shenandoah River, ate dinner out two nights (no restaurants anywhere near Seneca, but Luray had plenty to choose from), and found a neat little ice cream shop to frequent. We went swimming at Lake Arrowhead, a little manmade lake close to Luray. It was hosting a triathlon that weekend, and the lifeguard told us there were more than 1500 people signed up.
In looking through my pictures, I really didn't take many in Luray! This is one from horseback riding (obviously). We meandered along fields and into forests, and even trotted on our horses a few times. I wanted to get up to a canter, but the guide was less enthusiastic. Maybe next time.
The boys in Lake Arrowhead.
