Time to Getaway… again

A couple years back I wrote a pretty scathing review of Getaway. They reached out and did their best to try to make things right. I was unsure if I would actually ever take them up on trying them again.

However I got an email about 25% off, the kiddo was with his father for the week, there’s now an outpost an hour from my home, I could do a 1 night stay during the week, and I was going to be able to get my required time in at work for the week, and be able to leave early and come in late to take advantage of the entire 3p-11a time frame… Finally when I went into the site and poked around about making a reservation I saw that the $50 discount they gave me that was supposed to never expire would be expiring at the end of the current calendar year. So I decided to give it One.More.Try.

I packed up the car in the morning and went into work a little early and clocked in 6 hours before clocking out and hitting the road. The ride was pretty easy and I’ve been in the area before (but not since I was much younger). I found it easily enough and I had cell service still which was nice–Not that was would use my phone much, but since the kiddo was away I’d like to be reached if I needed to be.

When you first enter their outpost in Moodus, CT you’ll see the general store on the right and then it’s a very long circular road around to the cabins until you get back to the exit. The cabin/tiny house I was assigned was not quite halfway around the loop. The road was gravel and a bit bumpy for my little car. I thought that in winter weather it would be extremely hard to drive on for a small car like mine. though a truck/SUV would probably be fine.

When I got to my cabin in my “Driveway” there was a large rock which meant I couldn’t drive all the way down to the cabin. But I didn’t have much with me, some food, my overnight bag, and then stuff to do (Some craft / fixing projects and some books.) so it wouldn’t be so bad to carry it down. The code worked and I got in easily. It felt a bit warm but I found the air temp control quick enough. I unpacked and then took a bit of a look around. There weren’t many provisions in the cabin. The smores kit, coffee/tea/hot chocolate, and then these bug spray wipes. Last time I came (to a different outpost) I don’t remember the bug spray wipes (those things are great!) and I remember there being more provisions in room– Pasta, soup, etc. I found a list that said how much each in room item cost on card stock located with the drinks.

I decided to take a walk down to the General Store. There wasn’t much I NEEDED but I wondered if I had taken enough food with me. I hadn’t thought about taking a hike so I only had my flip flops. It was a bit of a tough walk in flip flops due to the gravel. I saw the marked on site Nature Trail. I headed down just a little bit. I’m somewhat wild creature adverse. And again, flip flops. The path was well worn and I saw a lil pond and some wooden boards that formed a bridge to cross a river.

From where my cabin was it was probably a 10-15 minute walk to the store. I got to the store and there was a little handwritten sign that said something about the kiosk (which I assume is the point of sale) was being updated and thus I couldn’t get in. On my way back I texted my Getaway contact asking them to text me when it reopened. They said they would.

I got back to my cabin after 4 and decided to take out the deck of cards and play some Solitaire. I one the first round real fast. Then I decided to count the cards cause something wasn’t making sense. I found 2 extra Aces (that were in my throw away deck so they didn’t affect my winning.) However I wanted to play with the right number of cards. I played 5 or 6 more rounds and I only won 1 more.

It was time to call the kiddo and so I did and he as usual was too busy doing something else to really talk to me. It was time for me to chill out and RELAX anyway.

I opted to head to the market in town to pick up a couple things just in case I didn’t have enough food with me. I always worry about things like this. Perhaps from my time in the orphanage and on the street? I don’t know, but if there’s a reason that’s probably the subconscious reason. Anyway, moving on from the inner dialogue of my mixed up infancy….

I got to the market, it was small and reminded me of something out of Gilmore Girls. The young man behind the meat counter helped me get 3 thick cut slices of bacon because, I don’t know. I was craving pork belly I suppose and this was the closest I would get. I then also decided to get a small loaded baked potato potato salad. That ended up costing close to 6 bucks so that was silly. I also got a chocolate bar because I saw in the smores kit only 2 pieces of chocolate though 6 marshmallows. There were also only enough graham crackers to make 2 smores. Did I buy more graham crackers? Of course not, everyone knows that’s not why you eat smores!

I headed back to the cabin. Road wise it was about a 3 minute drive but going around the loop of cabins adds about 5 minutes when you’re close-ish to the halfway point of the ring.

Once I got back it was time to build a fire. I’ve built exactly 1 other fire in my life. That way the last time I was at Getaway. I took out everything I would need all my food, my plates, bowls, utensils, scissors, lighter, etc.

Inside I boiled some water and made some ramen. Cut up some jalapeno from my garden back home and some green onions. I dropped in an egg that made the journey with me and luckily didn’t break going from my house to the car to the fridge at work to the car and finally to the fridge at the cabin. I brought my ramen out. The bowl was smaller than I thought so there was some spillage. Luckily I put a plate under it to carry so hopefully it all spilled on the plate and I wouldn’t attract some wild animals. Now… fire. Luckily I have more Neanderthal DNA than 99% of people on 23&Me (Yeah, I think it’s weird too) so I actually did well with making the fire. On the grill I put down some tin foil and threw on my 3 slices of bacon. While I waited for that to took I ate my ramen. It was def a slow going task to not make a mess and leave traces of food or the bears. But it was delicious.

Once I was done with my leisurely ramen while reading Be More Tree I checked on my bacon. It was ready so I took it off the grill plated it and ate it with my 6 dollar quarter cup of potato salad.

I was able to move the logs with the longer poker thing (it’s just called a poker right?) from under the grill area into the main fire pit area. I of course made my smores. I cleaned up and then sat outside to read until dark.

Once I came back inside I read a bit and cleaned up some. I had finished Be More Tree and began reading a book that two of the co-founders of Getaway wrote. I found it to be more interesting than I had expected and for that reason I ended up staying up far later than I would have liked. I also took the time for self care with nose strips, foot and hand spa gloves, facial masks, etc.

I did get myself into the shower. I kept worrying I was going to run out of hot water. There is a small water tank that runs to the cabin but I wasn’t sure just how small this said small water tank was. So I tried to be quick and frugal while still making sure to wash the stink of fire off of me. During this I came to the realization that one of my issues with camping might just be the stink. It’s fine typically while I’m there with the fire but the afterwards? No For instance, laying down with smokey hair? NO THANKS.

I did finally go to bed and had a bit of trouble falling asleep. It was the first time I’ve slept away from home alone in quite some time and I was in the middle of the woods Sure I was in a secure tiny house and there were other tiny houses nearby, but I’ve spent my life living in survival mode, breaking that doesn’t come easy. And just who were the other people in the other homes?

When I woke in the morning I did some yoga and meditated before I finished up my 2nd book of the overnight trip.

I packed up and cleaned up and was on the road at check out time. All in all I’d say things were much improved. It could just be a location thing, it could have been a fluke, or it was growing pains of the company, but at this point, I do think I would come back again.

P.S. I never got a text about the general store as as I pulled out I noticed that same handwritten sign.

Now I am by no means telling you to try Getaway. I’ve had literally a 50/50 experience there. But if you do decide to try it use my link for a discount! https://fbuy.io/getaway/fskgp264