2. Cherry Springs State Park

Me and the boys at mile 0 of our trip!

School’s Out!

Well, school was almost out. It was the last day, and even though it would have been prudent to wait until the next day to leave on our epic trip, we were going to Cherry Spring State Park.  There was a new moon and the weather was perfect.  We had  to leave when school ended to get the best view of the Milky Way.  Luckily, the last day was a half day and I was able to finish all my grading, clean my classroom and checkout for the summer in time for the last bell.  I booked it to Subway for road sandwiches and the gas station to fil’r’up. I made it home just in time to get my boys off the bus.  We said goodbye to Dad and then we were off!

Our first leg was just over seven hours, from Westford, MA to Coudersport, PA.  The scenery became increasingly more beautiful as we got closer to our destination.  When I think of Pennsylvania, I think of mountains and hills mostly, and our trip reinforced this notion.  The one thing I can’t get over is that in certain parts of eastern PA,  you see these enormous steep hills and at the base of each are these super flat farmlands.  Was it because of how the glaciers receded during the last ice age?  I don’t know, but seeing all the different land formations starts to bring up questions and put things in context for sure.

We were cutting it close time-wise as we neared Cherry Springs.  It didn’t help that I  made a mistake in my planning (I got directions to Couldersport and not directly to Cherry Springs!), but the big thing was that we were trying to find a place to get wood.  Most campgrounds ask that you use local wood to prevent the spread of pests.  We stopped at a couple places…no wood! We were getting closer and closer to sunset, so we decided to give up and scrounge for firewood at the campsite.  We made it just in time.  We pulled into the ranger station and picked up the receipt for our reservation just as the sun was setting.

Cherry Springs State Park

Camp site at Cherry Spring State Park.

Having never been to Cherry Spring and having only seen pictures online, I had an image of what the site would look like in my head, but it was so different from what I expected!  Unlike most of the campgrounds I had been to in the past where the campsite was a small cleared area in the woods, this site was more like a largely cleared area with a few trees (which makes sense considering we were there to look at the sky;-)).

We pulled up to our site and quickly started to look for deadwood in the forest adjacent to the campsites.  We really lucked out.  Somehow, even though rain had come through in the last twenty-four hours, we were able to find enough tinder and small branches to start a fire and cook our dinner.  We even had a neighbor who nicely offered some of their extra wood.  For the most part, camping folk are some of the sweetest, down-to-earth, community focused people you will meet.  Looking back on the trip, hotel folk tended to keep to themselves whereas those at campgrounds tended to start-up conversations and if you needed anything, they were happy to help.

Dessert! S’mores…yum!

For our first dinner of the trip we had hot dogs with s’mores for dessert.  It was the boys first meal a la open fire.  There is something so cool about that!  Even though the sun was going down as we were setting up camp and prepping dinner, we had to wait a good hour after we finished before we could start to see any stars.  I have to say that when the first few started to pop, I was starting to wonder if this was going to be a bust.  It looked just like the sky at home so far.

We decided to get cleaned up.  We went to the rustic toilet, then back to our tent to brush our teeth with the water we brought.  By the time we were done, we could see that the trip was worth it.  It was pitch black (by design…as a visitor you should have a red lens on your lights when moving from place to place – white light is highly discouraged).  Walking towards the observatory fields, you could clearly see the Milky Way in all its splendor getting more and more distinct by the minute.  Not wanting to blow money on something I wasn’t sure was going to pan out, I didn’t bring a telescope.  At that moment, I wish I had.  We did have the boys binoculars which provided amazing insight.  Taking even the binoculars to the sky, I was AMAZED at how many stars you could see!  With the naked eye, one could look at the Milky Way, towards a foggy section lets say, then look at it with the binoculars only to find that it isn’t foggy- it’s that there is a cluster of stars right there!

Photo taken at Cherry Spring State Park by @VINAYSINGH_TS shared through @pushpeenk on Instagram.

Image captured at Cherry Spring State Park by Kevin Wigell – Contact us/Photo submission, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5989486

Growing up, I always loved to gaze at the stars.  But seeing stars like this?  Seeing stars in a cloud-like formation, not like pin pricks in a sky, helps you realize that there is a whole lot more going on out there, more than on this little earth.  While I don’t think that my boys came to this realization or will in the very near future, the seed has been planted.  I know that they appreciated the beauty of the sky and the vast number of stars.  I also know that they understand why they can’t see these stars at home and why the majority of the people in the United States and other developed countries can’t.  I know that they will never forget this stop on our trip.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t all due to the Milky Way.

We didn’t stay up too late that night.  At about 11PM the boys were pretty tuckered out, and they had had their fill. We headed back to the tent and crept into our sleeping bags, hoping to get a good night sleep in advance of our next leg to Hershey Park and Assateague Island.  It was starting to get chilly and it being our first night in the tent, we didn’t all fall asleep right away despite how tired we were.  It seemed as if just as we were starting to drift off, the outside sounds went from two to eight on a scale of ten.  Another of our campsite neighbors was having a very loud conversation with, I believe his brother-in-law and wife.  This eventually settled, but then their poor son…their poor poor son, who must have had croup, could not stop coughing.  Then they got mad at him because he woke the baby. Sam and Ben will always remember “that guy who was swearing.” Then the car alarms.  I think we had quiet between about 2AM and 5AM- I’m not sure.  All in all,  it was an awful night sleep.

Vista just outside Cherry Spring State Park.

On the Road Again

At first light, I was up packing. I figured the sooner we were on the road the better.  The boys could sleep in the car and hopefully we would get more time at Assateague.  We struck the tent and stowed our belongings.  Everyone went to the bathroom, grabbed an apple and a Nutrigrain bar, then we were off again.  Not the best night sleep, but at least we were on to our next adventure.  I was sure the boys would love Hershey Park Chocolate World!

If you have ever driven through the mountainous regions Pennsylvania (or even West Virginia), you can relate to what I am about to share.  Driving out of Cherry Spring State Park we came across several amazing vistas.  I stopped to take a few pictures where the shoulder would allow, then we continued on.  The roads that meandered through the mountainous landscape- up, to the right, down and to the left- it was as close to riding a rollercoaster without the whiplash.  Then, from the back of the car, my older son Sam meagerly says,  “Mom, I don’t feel so good.”  To which I respond,  “What do you mean? Do you have to throw-up?”  He replies, “Throw-up.”  “Right now?” I ask. Then I look back to see vomit pouring out of his mouth and onto his lap.  I frantically look for a bag- the car trash bag.  I pass it back to him, begging Sam to throw-up in it.  Meanwhile – did I mention my youngest is scared of vomit?  Like, incredibly scared. So scared he won’t be on the same floor of a house that a person is vomiting on.  So while Sam is throwing up, Ben is screaming and has backed himself into the corner of his seat.  This is all while we are on the rollercoaster road that doesn’t have any shoulders as far as I can see.

Even though I have given Sam the bag, he is in this stunned state and continues to throw-up on his sweatshirt and lap. I needed to stop the car, but where?  I didn’t feel safe stopping at a bend in the road.  With no shoulder, I didn’t want to chance stopping and having a tractor trailer come up on us with minimal heads-up time. It seemed like forever, but after about a minute, we get to an area where I can pull into the overgrowth on the side of the road.   At this point, I could be up for best mother of the year (sarcasm).  Sam has vomit everywhere, I’m in knee high weeds trying to clean it up and Ben has now crawled into the way back of the van to get as far away from the vomit as possible  (screaming and crying).  I lost my “sh*t”.  I start yelling at Ben to get in his seat, that the vomit wasn’t going to get on him.  I am chastising Sam for not using the bag.  I am swearing at the state of PA for not having shoulders.  And, I am questioning if this trip was a bad idea.

After getting Sam a whole new outfit, (because he was vomit drenched right down to his undies), then setting him up with a new vomit bag and coaxing Ben back to his seat, I sat down and asked for quiet so I could regain my composure. Why was everyone acting so weird?!?  And where is this vomit coming from?!?!?  I asked Sam how he felt.  Not good, but he said he could keep going.  We made a deal he would use the bag and let me know if he could so we could stop.  From where we were, turning around and going back home was going to take almost as much time as if we drove closer to Hershey and back towards Boston (back roads vs highway).  Bigger towns with places to stay were closer towards Hershey.  I made the decision to keep pushing forward.

At the next gas station, Sam was able to use the bathroom.  Now things were moving to the other side of the GI tract. Ben had chilled out a little bit, but was still fearful vomit might come back, so he refused to sit in the same seat row as his brother.   I asked Sam if he felt like he could keep going.  He said yes, and we did.

Knowing what I know now, it was the right call.  It took a couple of hours, but Sam was back to himself by the end of the day.   Had he gotten worse or even if he had stayed the same, we would have stayed at a place in or near Hershey and then headed home the next day.  Looking back, we are pretty sure that it was the “rustic” bathroom at Cherry Springs.  Sam had gone to the bathroom, but had forgotten to use hand sanitizer before eating his breakfast.

One of my big takeaways from this leg of the trip was that it is important to be fluid.  I had all these plans and directions and timelines…shit happens.  The world doesn’t end when it does.  In fact, it definitely will keep moving.  It is okay to miss certain events, checkpoints or timelines.  I think it is important to be open to multiple outcomes.

I also took away that if you get a chance to see the Milky Way, you should go for it.  Cherry Spring is one of the darkest locations on the east coast,  but on Cape Cod in Eastham (just months after the trip) we were able to see it as well (not as bright but pretty darn close!) even though it wasn’t a designated “dark sky” park. Out west there are more locations than east.  If you are interested check out this link to see if one is near you.  Or, if Cherry Spring State Park has peaked your interest, try here  for more information.

Next Blog: Hershey Chocolate World and wild horses that swim