The Castaway Hotel: Book 9

Now that the graduations and the commitment ceremony were behind us, it was time to move on. This year’s vacation plans weren’t as elaborate as some of our past exploits and I had just rented some cabins on a lake in rural Pennsylvania. We were going to spend a month there, with various family members joining us from time to time. We actually drove four vehicles to get there, because we had so many people and so much to take with us. Having so many vehicles also helped to insure there was enough transportation available that various groups could go different places, without all of us being forced to be in the same place at the same time. It would also leave at least one vehicle available in case of emergency, when the others were in use.

We drove there and got set up on Saturday, June 2 and then the next day Andrew and Jesse rode with me to the airport to pick up Barry. Andrew and Jesse had begged and pleaded with me to allow Barry to join us again, so after I agreed, Barry went to work on his parents. Farrell and Katelyn eventually agreed to let him come for the entire time, even though they wouldn’t be joining us until later. Alannah would only be coming when her parents did, since she was as busy as she had been during the summer we went on the cruise.

Barry was flying in to the Pittsburgh airport, which was closer to where we were going to be staying and a shorter flight for him than going to Philadelphia. It still took us a couple of hours to get there, primarily due to the fact that we had to take a collection of country roads before we hit the interstate.

We arrived at the airport well before Barry’s plane landed, so we sat and waited for him to arrive. Once Barry spotted us, he raced enthusiastically in our direction. We then located his belongings and carried them outside, so we could load them in the Yukon and set out for Raystown Lake. The lake is located south of State College and east of Altoona, and is nestled in a picturesque country setting, bounded by the Allegheny Mountains. It is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers, but several sections are also opened to the public.

I had rented four cabins in total, with each cabin having two bedrooms and a loft. The two bedrooms had a double bed in them and the loft was equipped with either a double bed or a set of bunk beds. Since each cabin could accommodate up to six people, there should be plenty of room for all of us.

Cole had taken a week’s vacation during the first week we were planning to be there and Marie, Adrian and Kylie arrived to join us on Sunday afternoon. They would be staying until the following Saturday, but they had also picked up Jordan along the way. Jordan and Nicky had convinced their parents to allow them to stay the entire time as well, to make up for all the time they hadn’t been allowed to join us. We spent Sunday getting settled in and unpacked, but I also set up the two infant travel tents I had purchased for this occasion. I knew we could keep them for future use as well, when the grandchildren visited, and they could be zipped up while we were here, to protect the babies from insects. Joshie would use one and the other would first be used by Kylie and then later by Lucas.

We also rented some canoes and lifejackets, so the boys went out and paddled around the lake for a while. Seeing I knew the boys were experienced with handling the canoes, after our vacation in Minnesota – and incidentally when we first met the Flannerys – I allowed them to take Jordan and Nicky out with them too. Jake and I stayed in and chatted with Marie and Adrian, so we could catch up a little on what had been going on in their lives. Adrian didn’t seem bothered about his son being with his uncles, which made me feel good. I also knew Adrian was planning to go out in the canoes later, when he joined Jake and a few of the boys when they went fishing.

When the boys came back in, they were hot and sweaty, so they decided they’d swim for a while to cool off. It sounded like a good idea, so we all changed into our swimsuits and went down to join them. We had a great time and the boys were fantastic with Jordan, Nicky and Jesse. Jesse was getting stronger as a swimmer, but all three were quite a bit smaller than the others, so I was a little worried about them at first. Even Andrew has sprouted up and filled out over the past few months, so I wasn’t as worried about him now, although he is still on the smaller side.

We fixed lunch at the house, after Marie, Jake and I went out to buy a bunch of supplies. This meal merely consisted of sandwiches and some macaroni and cheese, but the boys seemed to enjoy this simple fare and it filled them up.

After lunch, the boys wanted to hold canoe races, so I told them they could, as long as they were careful and didn’t get too carried away. They promised they wouldn’t, so Marie agreed to serve as starter, while Adrian, Jake and I would team up to be the judges. They chose up teams, with three to a canoe, and even Vinnie and my grandsons were going to be included in the action.

These races were very competitive, yet fun to watch. At one point, Adrian, Jake and I were challenged to compete against them, since the boys wanted to see if they could beat us too. We agreed and hopped in a canoe. It was a very close race, but two of the other canoes nosed us out. One of the boys had started us out and Marie had determined who won.

Quite often the winners would get what we quickly referred to as a ‘victory splash’ from the other competitors. This would happen when the losers used their paddles to splash water on the victors. However, after one particularly heated race, the winners ended up getting a ‘victory dunk,’ when the losers accidentally managed to overturn the winners’ canoe while they were celebrating. Thankfully, they had all stayed in their swimsuits, so no one lost anything or was too upset about what happened. The only thing anyone lost was a little dignity and a smidgen of pride.

After we pulled the canoes onto the shore, next to the cabins, some of the boys went back to swim, but the older group joined Jake and me when we went back to the cabins. While there, we talked for part of the time and then began to figure out what we wanted to do about dinner. After a lengthy discussion, we finally agreed we’d only fix lunch at the cabins, but we’d go out for dinner. It would just be too difficult to try feeding everyone out of one of the cabins, so we loaded them up in the vehicles and took them out to one of the local establishments.

Needless to say, the place wasn’t quite ready for such a large invasion, but they did a remarkably good job handling our needs. Once we finished eating, we went back to the cabins and Jake and Adrian took a group of boys out to fish. Once they left, the rest of us elected to kick back, toss a football around or kick a soccer ball back and forth.

We were still outside when it began to get dark. Jake’s group came in making a big show that they’d caught a few fish, which they cleaned and put in the fridge, so we could use them as part of the next day’s lunch. When they came out to join us, the boys teased for me to tell a ghost story, which I was reluctant to do. It’s not that there would be a problem doing this, but it had been so long since I’d told one that I wasn’t sure if I could come up with something so quickly. Regardless, the boys kept whining, so I dug deeply into my bag of tricks.

“Back in the 1950’s, a group of kids came out here to party,” I began. “Most of them had graduated from high school just a couple of weeks before, and since only a few of them had jobs, many were getting bored just hanging around their homes. That’s why they talked one of their older friends into buying some beer and liquor, so they could come out here to the lake and party. Back then, there weren’t very many cabins around and most people only came out here on the weekends, so these young people were pretty much alone.

“Well, they started drinking and having fun, but four of the boys got really drunk. Eventually, they passed out, so their friends thought they’d play a joke on them. They put the four drunks in a rowboat, but kept the oars on shore, and then pushed the boat so it drifted out on the lake. Well, a couple of hours later, one of the boys partially regained his senses and got up to pee. Since he didn’t realize where he was, he stood up so he could walk to a spot where he could do this. As soon as he stood up, the boat began to rock and he lost his balance. Since his friends had not paid attention to what they were doing when they put the boys into the boat, they had put three of the guys with their backs against the same side of the craft. Therefore, when the boy fell, the boat capsized and dumped all of them in the lake.

“Since the boys were all really drunk, they couldn’t do much to save themselves and quickly drowned. Ever since then, there’ve been stories about people seeing their ghosts wandering along the shore, looking for the friends that caused their deaths.” I left it hanging there.

“Did that happen near here?” Barry asked, taking the bait.

“I’m not sure exactly where it happened,” I answered. “It’s a pretty big lake, but this is one of the most popular and beautiful spots around.” Barry merely sat staring at me, while trying to figure out if this had happened near by.

Adrian and Marie were fighting to keep from laughing, as they watched Barry, Jesse, Jordan and Nicky looking about, to see if they could spot any ghosts. Of course, the older boys picked up on this too and said they’d seen footprints down near the water’s edge earlier, but they were sure none of us had left them. Then another of my boys said he thought he’d felt someone tap him on the shoulder when he was coming in from fishing, so this really set the younger ones off. Aren’t big brothers and uncles great?

Well, once our discussion ended, we went up to our cabins and turned in for the night. I was concerned there might be some problems later, since the boys who were taking my story the most seriously were sleeping in the lofts. Sure enough, Jordan and Nicky ended up in bed with Jake and me about twenty minutes later and I heard Ricky ended up moving into the loft to sleep with Barry, Jesse and Andrew. Why they chose Ricky for this task is beside me, because I would have suspected, if anything, Ricky was more likely to do things to frighten, rather than comfort them. I guess it must have worked out, because I didn’t hear anything from them until morning.

Once everyone had eaten his breakfast, I offered to take anyone who wanted to join me on a hike along the Hillside Nature Trail. This trail starts at the Seven Points’ visitor center, winds past the amphitheater and continues in a loop through the woods, until it returns to the visitor center. This route is approximately a mile long and wanders through a naturalized songbird habitat, but it also gives an unequalled view of Seven Points Bay.

Marie and Adrian were a little hesitant about going, until I showed them the two infant carriers I had purchased, to use with Joshie and Kylie. Adrian said he’d be willing to carry Kylie in it, so Marie agreed to go. Neither Dion nor Trey felt confident about carrying Joshie, because they feared they might trip, fall and injure him, so they asked if I would carry Joshie instead. I convinced them they were quite capable of doing this themselves, but offered to have Jake or I walk beside them, so we could assist them if something of that nature did happen. Once everyone agreed, we set off.

It wasn’t a long or difficult walk, but it was beautiful. The sounds of the various birds chirping and sharing their different songs with us were lovely and the hike was very peaceful and relaxing. I know Marie and Adrian were glad they had joined us and Dion had no problems carrying his son. It also appeared as if Joshie and Kylie got a kick out of the way the sunlight danced off the foliage, as well as listening the sweet sounds the birds shared with us, as judged by the smiles on their faces.

When we got back to the cabins, the boys decided to swim until lunchtime. I thought it was a great idea, so most of us joined them. We did this until it was time to eat and then we fixed hot dogs to go with the potato salad we had whipped up. Again, it was filling and the boys seemed satisfied with the meal.

After we finished eating, I suggested we go to Penn’s Cave. I was doing this mostly for the benefit of Marie, Adrian and my grandchildren, since I wasn’t sure if the boys would want to go underground again, after spending so much time in the Jenolan Caves in Australia. However, everyone did wish to go, which kind of surprised me.

Penn’s Cave is billed as ‘America’s only all water cavern and wildlife park.’ To see it, we rode in a flat-bottomed motorboat for the one-hour tour, which took us along an underground stream. We followed the waterway along rock passageways, which opened onto Lake Nitanee, and then we took a quick spin around the lake. I was glad I had suggested that everyone bring a sweater or sweatshirt along, but I also had the parents bundle the babies up before entering. The constant 52-degrees temp can seem quite cold, when compared to the temperatures outdoors.

Of course, there were plenty of stalagmites and stalactites to view, along with flowstone cascades and draperies. The limestone formations also took some unusual, and somewhat familiar shapes, such as when we viewed ‘The Statue of Liberty’ and ‘The Garden of the Gods’ formations. Even though many of us had been in other caves, we still found this unique and interesting. In fact, one of the most amazing features of this tour was that the trout swam very close to the boat and even jumped out of the water to get fed.

After we finished viewing the caverns, we took the 90-minute wildlife tour next. This was done during a bus ride through the grazing pastures, as well as along the mountain trails and forests. The lands have all been preserved as natural habitats for the birds and other animals and utilize existing logging and tractor trails, so they didn’t upset the local ecology.

The final stop on the tour was the ‘Wildlife Adventure Museum,’ which features animals from South Africa. The creatures we saw in the museum were totally different than the ones we viewed at the Wildlife Park in Australia, so I don’t believe anyone got too bored.

From there, we made our way back to the cabins, so we could clean up and get ready for dinner. Tonight we were going on the ‘Proud Mary Showboat Dinner Cruise.’ The cruise was held on an old-fashioned, side-wheel paddleboat, which was the predominate craft used as Showboats on the Mississippi and other major rivers. Since this was Monday night, it featured a ‘Smorgasbord Dinner Buffet,’ so in a way I felt sorry for them. They had no way of knowing how much food these boys could pack away or they might not have let us come aboard.

It was really a lovely boat ride and the scenery was quite beautiful. The food was decent too, the boys got full and there was music and live entertainment, which made this activity even more enjoyable. I was sure we would do this again, since the cruise featured different specials on other nights.

After finishing up there, we headed back to the cabins. Jake and Adrian took a group out fishing again and came back an hour or so later, showing off their catch. They then cleaned the fish and added it to what they caught the night before. We hadn’t used it for lunch, since we didn’t feel there was enough to go around, so we’ll use it tomorrow.

Tuesday, we took it easy and stayed close to the cabins. The boys took the canoes out again, swam and played soccer for a while, and the rest of us joined them from time to time. It was a peaceful day, which was highlighted by our fish fry at lunch.

On Wednesday, we took another fairly easy hike, seeing we wanted to take it a little easy, seeing we had the two babies to carry. This time we headed for the ‘Dogtown Trail’ in Greenwood Furnace State Park. The trail goes along the site of an old iron-making community, which thrived from 1834 to 1904, and passes closely by the former village of Dogtown. Dogtown got its name from the dogs that barked continually at the passing ore trains.

Once again, it was an easy, yet lovely and relaxing walk enjoying nature, and it’s always good to get out and get in a little exercise. When we finished, we went back to the cabins. We were originally just going to take it easy for the day, but the boys decided a touch football game was in order. They were also determined that all the males were going to participate, so they dragged Adrian, Jake and I out to join them. Marie came out and took care of the babies, as she watched and laughed at our less than graceful performance on the field.

After we finished our game, we went down to the lake to swim for a while, and then I took everyone out to dinner. Nothing fancy, just a quick trip to one of the local establishments, but it did suffice. Jake, Adrian and the boys decided to skip the fishing that night, so we ended up playing poker and Uno instead. It was good fun and I noticed some of the boys’ poker skills were improving. This meant Jake and I would have to watch ourselves when going against them in the future.

Thursday, I decided to take them to Del Grosso’s Amusement Park. This is a local, family owned establishment that has been in operation since 1907. It has changed and expanded over the years, and now competes with the larger, franchise operations. It’s a very nice park and the rides are comparable to what we did in Australia. They also had a couple of water rides, a lovely go-cart racetrack and a world-class miniature golf course. I was quite impressed.

We let the boys go off on their own, since they promised to keep an eye on the younger boys, while Marie, Adrian and I took the babies over to ride on the train and carousel. Just as we were getting off the carousel for the second time, Jordan, Nicky and Jesse showed up. Dion and Trey were with them and they said they were coming over to join us for a while. That surprised me, since I didn’t think these boys would want to ride on the so-called, ‘baby rides,’ but they said they wanted to take Joshie and Kylie on them. We agreed it would be fine and set out for the Kid’s Kingdom, where the kiddie rides were.

Adrian and I slipped off the infant carriers, along with their precious cargo, and let the boys take the pair on some of these easier rides. Once they’d done that for a while, Dion and Trey took Joshie and went with Marie to ride the train and carousel again, while the other boys dragged Adrian Jake and myself off to go on some of the other rides with them.

We ate lunch there a little later, since they advertised they had ‘America’s Best Amusement Park Food.’ Actually, all of it was very good, but the potato salad was outstanding, and we enjoyed everything we had there.

After lunch, we took a spin on the racetrack and played some miniature golf, before we went back to have another go on the rides. I think everyone was tired out by the time we got back to the cabins, so we enjoyed a very quiet evening.

Unfortunately, it rained on Friday and ruined most of our plans. Therefore, we stayed in the cabins and played poker, gin rummy, hearts and Uno, since I’d brought several decks of each along with me. We fixed lunch there and only went out for dinner, so it was quite a laid-back day.

Saturday morning, we went back to walk the Hillside Nature Trail again, but not everyone went this time. It was just something I wanted to do with Adrian and Marie, before they left that afternoon. A lot of our visitors were only staying one week, so they were leaving Saturday afternoon, and then they’d have Sunday to do their laundry and catch their breath, before returning to work on Monday.

After wishing them a safe journey and kissing my little princess Kylie good-bye, they kissed Nicky and told him to behave, since he was staying with us. Then they left and I let the boys have the rest of the day to themselves.

After lunch, Cole left too, because he had to work on Monday as well. He drove one of the vehicles back, since we could do without it for a while. I hated to see him go, but he was a working man now, so he had to live up to his responsibilities and obligations. It’s hell growing up.

Anyway, on Sunday Robert showed up. He was going to be staying for two weeks, because he said he was looking for a relaxing peaceful setting where he could get some time to write. He was hoping to break into that field, so I guess maybe I should also have him speak with Trey. Anyway, I figured Robert could use his laptop to write while he was at the lake, because I’d left a lot of downtime in my plans for him. Robert would be sharing the loft with Pat, and sleeping in one of the bunk beds, and I gave him the rest of the day to settle in and begin his writing.