Over the weekend we had a lovely time in the sleepy little hamlet of Jim Thorpe. We arrived in town on Saturday afternoon and checked into the Lantern Lodge – which was a reasonably priced motor lodge motel just past Jim Thorpe on 209. We then headed into town to get a glimpse of the Fall Foliage Festival. Though town was overflowing with traffic and visitors, the Festival itself was none too impressive. It consisted of a bunch of craft vendors, carnival foods and a grandstand featuring mostly country and polka performances. We breezed through there in a heartbeat and then headed on to tour the town. The quaint section of Jim Thorpe consists of three streets – Broadway, Race and High Streets, so it didn’t take us long to get the lay of the land. We spent many hours just walking up and down the streets on Saturday, looking at the houses, commenting on the restaurants, shops and architecture. We took a break to eat a fast and greasy meal at the Sunrise Diner and then continued to walk around until the sun went down. We found a small park with toddler sized playground equipment and we returned to it for a bit of every day on our trip so Noah could work off some energy after being carried and strolled around for most of the day. We headed back to the motel, let Noah bounce himself from bed to bed for awhile before putting him to sleep in the Pack n’ Play. The Lantern Lodge was attached to Macaluso’s Italian restaurant and Lounge. After testing out the baby monitor for reach we headed the three doors down to have a few gin and tonics at the bar before an early bedtime. An older couple at the bar were friends of the chef and raved about the food at Macaluso’s, so we were glad we had made reservations for Sunday night. The couple also gave us patchy directions to two diners in Lehighton where we could get a decent breakfast in the morning.
Thank God we got to bed a little early because Noah woke up shortly after 3:30 am, remembered he was in an unfamiliar place and decided he would prefer to play until 6 am before returning to sleep. We all got back up at 8 am, still a bit tired and very, very hungry. So off on a magical quest for breakfast we went and in no time we realized there was no way in hell we were going to find the diners to which the couple had directed us to the night before. Please note that the only downside of any vacation that Mark and I go on is the period when we are starving and wandering aimlessly looking for food with no end in sight. We both get real testy until food is found – and this excursion proved no different. This is just one of the reasons we do so much research on a vacation destination before we go – to prevent this sort of debacle. In the midst of us snapping at each other I made Mark stop the car so that I could ask some people hosting a yard sale where we could go for breakfast. Would you believe they sent us to the Lehighton American Legion? And even more bizarre is the fact that we WENT. There we were surrounded by war memorials and chain smoking oldsters gumming scrapple. Surreal and totally entertaining. The food was pretty poor but for only $5 a person and the added bonus of experiencing the sights and sounds of Lehighton, it paid off big. After breakfast we went back to Jim Thorpe and boarded a train for an hour long scenic ride into Lehigh Gorge. We had to let Noah walk up and down the aisles a bit because he was getting punchy about halfway through, but he seemed to enjoy the ride for the most part. Then we headed to the Old Jail Museum to learn about The Molly Maguires. Three quarters through the tour Noah was tired of being held and when I put him down on the floor he kept trying to scoot into the jail cells. I decided to take him outside and let him move around a bit while Mark toured the dungeon without us. We went back to the hotel for a nap, returned back to town for some more walking around and then went to Macaluso’s for dinner. The food was pretty good and the staff was really nice and after dinner we put the boy to bed, got a beer at the bar and then went to sleep.
On Monday we had a lovely breakfast at the Switchback Family Restaurant which we had spied driving around the day before and then went to tour the Asa Packer Mansion. This where I fell in love with Kathy Long. Kathy was our tour guide in the Packer Mansion. It’s her job to relay the historical narrative of the Packer family in an entertaining way while pointing out their heirlooms. And at this she was wonderful – but that is not why I love her. The tour of the Packer mansion takes just short of an hour and even the best one year old in the world would not be content being held still in a series of rooms, not being able to move around or touch anything, while someone drones on about the furniture and the stained glass windows. By the time we got to the Butlers pantry Noah wanted to get down and he started wiggling and chattering. I was about to leave Mark to complete the tour without us when Kathy intervened. This wonderful woman not only commented on how well behaved he had been thus far, when he started getting frustrated she TOOK him. Kathy Long completed the next half hour of the tour with Noah in her arms. And boy did he eat it up. That boy is a sucker for attention and in the tour guide’s arms he got it. She pointed out things just for him while he pulled on her necklace, played peekaboo with her scarf and even tried to put his hand in her mouth. He was all smiles for the remainder of the tour. Kathy not only entertained our son so that we could finish the tour, she didn’t miss a beat telling tales of Mary Packer’s trips around the world and the fight for her family fortune. I love you Kathy Long and I fully intend on writing a letter to the folks at the Packer Mansion expressing my appreciation. After the mansion and more time on Noah’s playground we went to see a model train display and then had lunch at Café Origins. The vegetarian food was good, but pricey and the place was just a tad too zen and quiet for a boy who had been sleep deprived and restrained for three days. We ate quickly, scooted out even faster, got icecream at Rainbow’s End and hit the road for home.
All in all it was a lovely trip. When traveling with a baby you have to be willing to go their speed and work within their parameters. As a result we were in a tiny town for three days and still didn’t see a couple of the very few sights the town had to offer. But we got out of the house, enjoyed each others company and took in the sights and sounds of beautiful fall days in the mountains. So it was a very lovely anniversary indeed.
After we got home I called my mom and was recounting our weekend. She was shocked with as “cautious” a mother as I am that I was fine with leaving Noah in our room and going to the hotel bar for a drink – she thought I’d be worried about him being baby napped. I was really puzzled by this actually because though I would worry about Noah waking up alone in a strange place and getting scared (which is why I would never have gone if the monitor didn’t work), the notion that someone would break into our locked room and steal him would have never occurred to me. Plus the fact that the distance between our room and our stools at the bar was a shorter distance than Noah’s crib to our living room so it felt perfectly safe and not inappropriate to me. And thank God for it because had we not been able to go to the bar for an hour we would have had to go to bed with Noah at 9pm or risk waking him up. What do you think? Am I wrong?
10 comments:
What a lovely trip! When I was reading the baby monitor/bar part I thought to myself. Kat, see that, you have to remember that you can do things like that. NME is SO SMART! Seriously.
Yay, so glad you're back. And the baby monitor thing, I thought "Oh my gosh what a good idea?" And I had the exact same thought you did. It's not like the bar was any farther from your room than the living room is from your crib. Not that I know how big your house is, but I figured.
Ha! I always think of Todd when I see signs for Jim Thorpe.
Not being a mother, I guess it's easy for me to say the baby monitor idea is brilliant. And since it's so easy for me to say it, I'll say it again: the baby monitor idea is brilliant. Gotta store that one away for later.
Glad you guys had a great time!
Please realize that I didn't think you were wrong for leaving Noah with the monitor. It just surprised me since you are so cautious with him. Plus, I was picturing a large hotel where you were on the 10th floor, and the bar was down in the lobby. Sounds like you were close enough that if you heard anything, you could have been there in a second.
When I was reading your blog today, I was surprised about the monitor thing too. But then when you explained how close you actually were it made sense. We have a ranch floor plan, so Dermot is never more than 2 rooms away. We don't even really need our monitor except for when we're sleeping. So I feel strange being very far away from him. But I know that people are quite often on a different floor or outside while their kids are napping or sleeping. It just seems so foreign to me.
By the way, I'm in love with Kathy Long too. What an awesome experience. I love it when we take Dermot somewhere that isn't exactly kid friendly and the people there choose to be enchanted with him instead of annoyed with him. Kids are treasures not pains in the ass. They only get to pains if they are really poorly behaved and older. And even then they get a couple of chances before I decide that they are truly obnoxious.
I know a lot of people who do things like take their dog for a walk while their baby is sleeping in the house, taking their monitor with them and locking the baby in the house, so all I thought was, "Wow, what an awesome idea!" As long as you made sure you were within range, then I don't see any issue with it!
last spring, when it was not quite warm out but not cold, and when bella was still quite a sleeper, I often thought about using the baby monitor to leave her locked in the car while I, 20 feet away, watched trent's baseball games. I never did it because I was afraid of how people would react. I wish I had now.
ps, my word verification for that post?
KILLYE
That Kathy Long sounds like an absolute angel!
It sounds like you had a nice time. I'm always hesitant about traveling with Soph--even now. As a result, we never go anywhere. It kind of sucks.
Re the baby monitor. Mine was a total POS so I never used it, but you were totally clever to use yours. Of COURSE you checked the range first. Of COURSE you made sure he was safe and happy first. That's what makes you a great mom, and what makes him such a sweet boy.
Your last post about Mark was so very touching, and so very well written.
Okay - so then the baby monitor is my tip then. We tested it out beforehand by turning it on and having Mark go into the bar and see if he could hear Noah and I talking. But seriously we were only a minute away so it wasn't really an issue. So when booking a hotel room on a vacation in the baby having future - book a small one with a bar and/or restaurant attached, and ask for a room close to the bar and you might luck out.
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