Photography
Pleasantly Deceiving » Fri, Aug 4th 2006 11:12 am
Well I’m back from vacation, and while some parts were as difficult to deal with as I’d expected, others were thankfully not.
I returned from the resort portion of the trip (the other being Niagara Falls) last night, and the first thing I did was shower. I dealt surprisingly well will the two-and-a-half hour trip home without having showered beforehand to remove the layers of sunscreen, sweat, oil, and insect remains from the surface of my skin (and beyond, I’m sure). My clean-freakery may have almost been too much to handle for everyone else on the trip, and while I made every effort to be as unobtrusive as possible, my four showers a day raised some eyebrows. In my defense, they were never more than two minutes long and I used only enough hot water to prevent goose bumps.
Call it wishful thinking, but my expectations for the resort were, to my initial dismay, proven very inaccurate. I was under the impression that a “resort” was a lavish, extravagant place swarming with the rich and snobby. My kind of vacation spot. Looking it up now, it’s defined simply as “a place visited for relaxation and recreation.” That could be anything. Hell by those terms, my bathroom is a resort. Anyway, my misunderstanding of the word’s meaning was stomach-sinkingly clear when we pulled up to a bunch of buildings that looked like the one in this picture; old, weather-beaten buildings missing shingles and paint. It didn’t help that my second impression was created upon my visit through what turned out to be the worst-kept rooms in the entire facility: the basement and its men’s change room. The basement smelled a little like mold, and the bathroom? A lot like piss and chlorine.
Thankfully, my third impression was enough to make me forget the first two. The cabins, which looked as weather-beaten as the main resort buildings, were awesome. The first thing I noticed was the temperature. After having toured the resort in “feels-like” 45-degree, water-soaked air, the 20-degree air-conditioned, hotel-room smelling cabins felt like a chilly zero. I was in heaven. Three air-conditioning units (one in every room) were buzzing for our entire stay. Things were looking up.
The walls were clean and framed with wood, and the carpet was clean and matched the furniture. And imagine my delight when I learned that, in all my haste, I’d walked past our cabin’s Jacuzzi. Yes, things had turned around and I’d learned that judging the book by its cover can result in wonderful surprise (and relief)!
The rest of the trip went well. I avoided sunburn and managed to have fun at the same time. I swam in the indoor pool, taught Alyson some valuable water skills (like how not to just sink to the bottom), and tried kayaking. We fished, walked, and played ping-pong and shuffleboard. Meals were scheduled, mostly delicious, and free! All-in-all, I had a good time. Even the pee smell was gone by my second trip to the men’s change room. I’m glad for the experience, and it definitely makes me appreciate my usual lifestyle just that much more.
Later, I’ll describe the highs and lows of my visit to Niagara Falls.
