Poconos

Two suitcases, a laundry bag and two yoga mats. This is what happens when you tell someone you'll teach them yoga and promise others you'll bring rock band. The Poconos were amazing. The mountains are beautiful, and the people were so friendly! I said that you knew you'd been in New York too long when nice people caught you off guard and made you suspicious. We arrived Friday night, and I immediately unpacked the Wii and its accessories and then jumped in the hot tub. We were the second car to arrive, and the other cars followed close behind. Faye drove us in her dad's pickup truck so we had plenty of room for all of my stuff plus two guitars and four other people's luggage. Thank goodness for a truck! We made a pit stop in New Jersey at a Sonic so I could expose my Northern friends. I think it was everyone's first time. I had TWO chili cheese wraps with tator tots and the best tasting Dr Pepper I've had this side of the Mason Dixon. My only regret is that I was too full to get a cream slush or a reese's blast. I think my waistline thanks me for that though. Saturday morning we took three cars to Wal-Mart. We could have all fit in two, but Chris and Josh both wanted to drive so we took three. Boys.

Wal-Mart is where I encountered the friendly people who made me suspicious. No one rolled their eyes at me. People were cheery, and someone even asked me for help. Somehow I actually knew where something she was looking for was, and she came back by to thank me and tell me that I was right. I'm telling you, it was weird. We split into groups to buy certain areas of food, like dinner stuff, lunch stuff, snacks, etc. We each had our own individual budget, and were really proud of ourselves when we came in $20 under budget. Not bad for shopping for almost 20 people. That day for lunch we wanted Chick-fil-A, but we were really disappointed when we found out the closest one was a campus location at the University of Scranton. We went anyway because the next closest one was 40 minutes away. It was open and hit the spot. They even had Dr Pepper in the fountain. I was again a very happy girl. Saturday night was my night to cook. I made banana pudding for dessert and my garlic chicken pasta with zucchini. We decorated our valentines mailboxes and those of us who were ready delivered our valentines.

Sunday four people went skiing while the rest of us hung out at the house playing rock band and other various games. LeeAnne made a fantastic breakfast casserole and scrambled eggs. In the afternoon, some of us went out to the frozen lake and threw around the football. Then Dan and Jeremy started building an igloo. At first Karen and I just cheered from the sidelines, but we decided to help. I got about one brick in when I realized waterproof gloves were not a good idea when you were trying to handle snow. I had to go in and switch out my gloves and then not help. But Ren did a great job helping, and she and the boys built an awesome igloo. I was proud. They called me Pharaoh since I sat on the sidelines giving orders. It's what I do best. Really. Sunday night we had dinner and then worship. Three people had guitars, and they did a great job leading us. After some more games, I spent some more time in the hot tub and then played Mario Kart. Monday morning we had pancakes and started packing up to leave. I came out at one point, and the boys were jumping around doing air guitar. It was hilarious. It's moments like that that make group trips so fun. You just really get people into their element.

Faye drove us to Cracker Barrel, but she wasn't feeling so well so after that Jonathan drove us the rest of the way to the city. We dropped him off, and I got to drive us to my apartment. So now I can officially say I've driven from downtown all the way to Harlem. Of course it was just up the West Side Highway, but still, I think it was quite a feat. All in all, it was a good trip that I needed. I'm so thankful for Maggie and all the planning and organizing she did. It was great knowing beforehand what car I was in, where I was sleeping and who my roommate was instead of having chaos upon arrival. I really hope we can get a summer trip together!