Introduction

Following is my trip report from our first visit to Timberlock.

Saturday, August 23

We were all ready to stretch our legs when we arrived, as we had been on the road for over five hours. Ellie displayed a new affinity for using a map. She pored over the pages of the NY State Road Atlas for the last hour of the trip, keeping her completely diverted. We encouraged this skill because she has a spectacularly poor sense of direction, so map-reading is likely to come in handy for her.

Dave Hammer was waiting at the entrance to greet us and help us get oriented. He immediately set the tone for the week by asking my name and welcoming us before answering my question about where we should park. Nobody is in a rush at Timberlock, and friendly discourse is high in the value system here.

Clara spied the rope swing right away and postponed her previously-urgent bathroom trip. Dave helped us unload our luggage and pointed the way to our cabin (Treehouse). We wandered around center camp for a bit, seeing the dining porch, our locker, and the view of the swimming and boating areas from the communal campfire area.

The walk to our cabin took about three minutes. The cabins are not far apart, but are carved into the woods in a way that affords complete privacy from the neighboring cabins. Treehouse had an inviting screen porch looking across the trail onto the lake; a nice-size sitting room; and three bedrooms, one with bunk beds. (I wondered how we were going to handle bunk assignments with the girls, considering we would be staying an odd number of nights. It was not an issue at all: Ellie slept in one of the bunk beds every night, and Clara slept in another room with Elayne. Everyone was happy with that arrangement.)

The first dinner bell rang at 6:15, and families began to gather. One of the few explicit rules at Timberlock was that families sit together at mealtime, though kids may be excused from the dining porch to play when they are done. A prime rib buffet was set for us, and Mary, the head cook, stood at the end of the line watching people's plates to find out who was vegetarian. The alternative entrees that she provided throughout the week for Elayne and Mallary were sumptuous.

At dinner we met the Argoff family, longtime Timberlock veterans. They immediately knew our friends Susie and Lee (who had told us about Timberlock). We also met the Houghs, a family full of quick smiles, who had a daughter (Abigail) who was a match in age and temperament for Clara. This was a good distraction, for Clara ate nothing at all: even the homemade bread was too hearty for her. It was the next day before she discovered the cache of store-bought bread and peanut butter.

Since we were the only Timberlock newcomers at the table, I asked if there was some hazing ritual. Evan Hough laughed and said, "Only by Dick Catlin when you go through the barbecue line later in the week." (Dick is the owner père.)

The meal was lovely, but I had mixed emotions, since I realized the rest of my family was sitting at their own long tables at the back of Miss Jones's Cafe in Pine Bluff, laughing and chattering away. We were missing Dad's 80th birthday party that very evening.

Sunday, August 24

After breakfast we headed for the swimming area. We quickly realized that swimming is allowed anywhere, but there are some benefits to using the swimming area. There are tons of sand toys, as well as an excellent chance of the kids finding playmates. There is also a rope swing off the dock into about 8 feet of water. On my first attempt, I learned that you have to grab the rope high enough to put your feet on the knot at the bottom--- otherwise your feet drag in the water, greatly reducing your speed and height. Clara also tried it, and Ellie jumped in. We swam out to the giant trampoline (20 feet across or so) stretched across an inflated tube that kept the top about three feet about the lake level. Ellie got off before me (wearing her PFD) and began swimming back. On the dock, Mallary noticed Ellie's distress and jumped in the water faster than I have ever seen her. Ellie reported feeling a "creature" when she got back in the water, and that sensation kept her out of the water for a couple of days.

After a big turkey dinner, I got ready to join the Sunday-afternoon waterskiing group. The first participant was Sandy Hammer (mother of staffer Dave, who was driving the boat). Sandy had spent the morning windsurfing. She popped out of the water immediately and navigated an oval on the lake flawlessly. It was a hard act to follow, and I was up next.

It had been a l-o-n-g time since I had skied, but I struggled to my feet without undue embarrassment, which was a relief considering that we start out right in front of the swimming area, for the amusement of all. I crossed the wake (on purpose), but it took me a couple of tries to get back inside the wake the first time. After that, muscle memory took over and I got a bit more comfortable. Dave had pointed out a particularly flat part of the lake to me, so I sped outside the wake to take advantage of it --- and lost my left ski. I dropped the rope, and as my right ski began to sink, my forward momentum caused it to twist and irritate my recent knee injury. I climbed back into the boat for a quick trip back to the dock.

I had been worried about the strength of my knee limiting my range of activities, but physical therapy was going so well I decided not to be tentative on vacation. That decision ended up limiting my activities even more than I expected, so it was a poor gamble.

I iced my knee while Mallary, Elayne, and the girls headed up the hill for the tennis courts and the archery range. I joined them an hour later, and discovered that my boyhood competence with bow and arrow had completely vanished.

Supper was soup and sandwiches. Ellie really loved the food, but I hadn't realized how closely she was observing everyone during meals. She already knew many people's names, and said to one woman, "You weren't here yesterday." Indeed Laurie Lowenthal had just arrived, and Ellie (and the rest of us) were about to make a new friend.

Monday, August 25

Independence: this was an unexpected highlight of the vacation. The community was so small (fewer than 100 people including staff) and family-oriented that we let the girls go off on their own for significant amounts of time. Clara made several trips up to the loft of the horse barn to see the new kittens, and Ellie relished her free time in center camp. She kept asking us for "15 minutes of alone time," which we kept granting her --- but she kept using her time to be with her new friends. But Ellie and Clara would often leave us for an hour or so, and we knew that they would join us when the dinner bell rang.

After lunch, we drove to the Lake Store, about four miles away. It was a nice store for basic supplies as well as tourist items, but we passed over the ice-cream counter to go into the town of Indian Lake in search of the good ice cream we had heard discussed back at camp.

We drove up and down Route 28 looking for the store, but had a hard time finding it. By one barren patch of land, I spotted a plywood cutout of a bear holding an ice-cream cone, and I yelled at Mallary to turn around. She made merciless fun of me, saying she had seen nothing. However when she turned around, there was indeed an ice-cream bear, but no ice cream store.

Since the town of Indian Lake is only a few blocks long, we drove through it once again, very slowly. Finally we spotted the small sign and turned into the parking lot. Mallary remarked, "They need a bear."

Monday brought the appearance of Nelson Lewis, a retired engineer who was a staff boy at Timberlock in the 1940s. He now runs the woodshop, which was a very popular attraction throughout the week. Elayne and Clara had the idea to make a walking stick to help my knee. Clara was a bit below the age limit, and was initially not allowed in the shop. When Nelson saw how intent and careful she was, he relented and let her into the shop. They found a stick, shaved off the bark, sanded it, shellacked it, and wood-burned my name and Clara's initials into it. It was a big help to me, as much psychologically as mechanically.

At one meal, Laurie told us a story about attending a reunion at her summer camp, which was not far away in the Adirondacks. She described one woman as a real "Establishment lawyer," who showed up with her family, including two small kids. Laurie was puzzled over the hot-looking 20-ish boy with the pierced tongue who accompanied them --- until she realized he was the nanny. Laurie is a comedy writer in New York, and kept us entertained all week. This was the first summer since her father died, a man with whom she had spent tons of true quality time in the Adirondacks. She also spent time in Nelson's shop making fabulous picture frames out of Adirondack objets trouvés, in which she will put photographs of her father.

Tuesday, August 26

We picked up our picnic lunches and went down to the Big Chief launch. There were several kayaks tied to the top of the launch, and two canoes tied to the back. We got dropped off with our new friends Fred and Eileen Charles across the river from Emancipation Island. Fred and Eileen's wonderful twins (Ian and Clara) were in Timbertots that day, so we let them go ahead to get some alone time.

We paddled a short way to a rocky place that would serve as a lunch spot, and enjoyed the sandwiches and snacks provided by the Timberlock kitchen. Clara and I shared a kayak, while Mallary helmed a canoe with Elayne and Ellie. We were gadgeted up --- Mallary had the new Geko GPS, and each boat had a walkie-talkie. That was a tactical blunder, because Ellie had all the time in the world to talk on hers, but we had to paddle and often couldn't answer. In theory. In practice, Clara had lots of free time, and I had a 60-pound anchor in the bow of the kayak. At one point, Ellie had the GPS and reported to me, "According to my research... we are going NORTH!" This happened to be fairly accurate. (I think that the beginning phrase is from "The Magic Schoolbus.") We finished the one-hour version of the paddling trip in about two hours, and were glad we followed Bruce's advice.

Bruce and his father Dick also pilot a seaplane, which interested Elayne from the start. Bruce was more than willing to provide rides, and Elayne treated us to rides around the region. This afternoon Elayne, Laurie, and Clara took a ride, while Ellie and I took a short hike.

We ate dinner that night with Fred and Eileen. Their daughter is the only other child named Clara that we have met since our Clara was born. She and her brother Ian (both 3 3/4) quickly became favorites of our kids (and many other people). We resorted to a Little Clara/Big Clara convention for clarity. Little Clara is ebullient and loquacious, while sweet Ian is more reserved. After dinner, the kids went off to play, until Ian ran back in to find me: "Clara's dad! Clara's dad! Big Clara hurt his foot!" She was fine, and I think she really enjoyed being Big Clara. Eileen, Mallary, and Elayne were having a discussion on developmental aspects of girls (they generally talk sooner, mature quicker, etc.). Fred looked at me and summarized, "Developmentally, males are basically morons."

Big Clara has been subsisting on Cheerios for breakfast, and PB&J for lunch and dinner. Ellie just learned that PB&J stands for something--- it had never occurred to her before. She happily pointed out that Clara was having "PB&J, no K." She answered our quizzical looks by explaining, "No krust!"

Mallary and Clara took a post-prandial paddle, while Ellie prepared a show in a dark bedroom of our cabin with glowsticks (Mallary had ordered in bulk from Oriental Trading). After Mallary and Clara returned, Ellie invited Clara to join the show, and they produced an amazing variety of figures from three glowsticks.

Wednesday, August 27

Meanwhile, Ellie and I went to the "secret dock" that is used earlier in the summer for teenagers' summer camp. I took an air mattress, but Ellie was still nervous about going in the water, due to her prior experience with the creature. She told me it was probably her imagination, so she wanted to try again. I told her she could get on the raft and I would push her out where it wasn't so rocky. She agreed to this, and soon enough hopped off the raft, and we enjoyed a nice private swim. On the way back, we passed Dick Catlin working a piece of heavy machinery, improving the drainage of the trail. Ellie had somehow missed meeting Dick, so she yelled up to him, "WHAT'S YOUR NAME?!?" I encouraged her to get out of his way, and she did, telling me, "His name is Gick."

Lunch was a cookout on the beach. Gick, er I mean Dick, was handling the grill. I remembered Evan's comment from the first night about Dick's hazing, so I vowed to be prepared. Dick served me and said, "If this isn't done enough for you ....," whereupon I jumped in and said, "Tough!" He looked puzzled and said, "I was gonna say I could cook it longer." Wow--- is he tricky! He got me to feel foolish even though I thought I was prepared.

Since we were at the beach, we waited 45 seconds after eating and then went for a swim. After a while, I grabbed a kayak for a quick paddle across the lake. I was beginning to appreciate the impromptu pleasures of Timberlock.

Ellie had a pony ride in the afternoon--- she rode Bo, the same horse that Clara had ridden. We had assumed the pony ride would be in the ring, but Lindsey and Kellyn led Ellie and Max out onto the trail for a 15-minute ride. It was a big hit!

After a delicious salmon dinner, we enjoyed an ice cream sundae bar. Ellie burned her finger in the hot fudge. We went back to the cabin to get sweaters and glow sticks, before gathering around the communal campfire for singing with the Timbertones. Clara and Ellie passed out the glow sticks to all the kids. Three staffers and one guest played guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and harmonica and led us in a singalong. One of the songs was actually a game played over the strumming of guitars, led by Dave Hammer. "Ellie's going camping. What's she gonna bring?" If you answer appropriately, you can go camping. The trick is to figure out what constitutes "appropriately." When I go camping, I'm going to bring a toaster. Ellie got very tired, and was very distressed by the fate of Puff the Magic Dragon, as well as Clementine. She couldn't hold back the tears.

We left the campfire around 10:00 (it was still going strong), and saw the most incredible night sky. It took about five seconds to locate Mars just above the horizon, and the Milky Way spilled across the sky. We stood in wonder for a few minutes before returning to the cabin.

Thursday, August 28

We once again ordered picnic lunches, and picked them up for a hike up Pinnacle Mt. --- the easiest hike in the area. Laurie joined us, and we ran into other new friends from camp: Diane and her daughters Heather and Natalie. We ate lunch at the top, which was shielded from the wind, affording a gorgeous view of Indian Lake and the neighboring peaks.

That afternoon, Ellie and I got a turn in the seaplane with Elayne and Bruce. It was nice going later in the week, because Bruce pointed out Emancipation Island, Pinnacle, and other points of interest from the week.

The Houghs (and their permafriends the Hoaks) hosted a cocktail party on their deck (amazing view) before dinner. Lisa Hough runs Cape Wineland Tours, and we were treated to several delicious wines, including a varietal unique to South Africa called Pinotage. Many of our new friends stopped by, and we played a party game where we had to answer snoopy personal questions, and I didn't even mind too much. Perhaps it was the Pinotage?

After dinner that night, Ellie convinced her new friend Noah (a fifth grade math and science teacher at a charter school in Newark) to tell a scary story. He acquitted himself admirably: both girls were shivering after the story. After dinner, Willem Lange, a carpenter and Vermont Public Radio commentator, expounded obliquely on what it means to be a Yankee. Ellie fell asleep and got carried back to the cabin.

Friday, August 29

We saw Nelson tending to the ancient John Deere engine that he restored that powers an ice-cream churn, so we strategically lurked nearby, visiting with Eileen and Little Clara. Soon he finished up a batch of Mary's cinammon ice cream for dinner that night, and we got to help "clean" the container.

Around lunchtime, rain began to pour down. We got some cards and played Go Fish, Blackjack, and Slapjack on the dining porch. During a break in the rain, Clara and Natalie went up to the horse barn to see the kittens again. After doing some packing, Mallary and I tried to go to the adult lodge to play a game, but when Ellie realized where we were, she abandoned any thoughts of private time for herself or us, and committed Boggle Interruptus.

Friday night dinner -- the last of our week -- was accompanied by wine. Looking around our long table, we realized that everyone but me was Jewish, so we wished everyone Shabbat Shalom. After dinner, the staff handed out various awards (made from paper plates) --- primarily, but not exclusively, for the children. Dave Hammer brought Ellie and Clara their awards ("Favorite New Timberlockers") a bit later, as they had gotten lost in the shuffle. As part of the festivities, all of the projects from Nelson's woodshop were displayed, including Clara and Elayne's walking stick, Laurie's picture frames, and a truly breathtaking birdhouse that was a family project by Max's family.

Saturday, August 30

We lingered over breakfast a bit longer than usual, savoring the view from the dining porch and exchanging addresses. We settled the last of our bill with Bruce, concluding the remarkably low-key financial transaction. We checked on our reservation for next year, and reminded Bruce we would like to know if a cabin with a queen-sized bed opens up.

Mallary and I remarked on the high degree of competence and accomplishment among those we met at Timberlock. From the remarkable Catlins, who handle a backhoe with as much ease as a mandolin, to the intriguing range of guests: the museum founder, the former diplomat, the movie producer, and many more. It was halfway through the week before we learned that Dave Hammer's "day job" is as an ADA in New York. Work sometimes came up in discussion, but more often did not; still we had many interesting discussions with people we wouldn't otherwise have met, but for the desire to relax in a somewhat unconventional vacation setting.

I hope to see many of these people again on our next trip to Timberlock, and I look forward to meeting new guests as well. Let's just hope they survive Gick's hazing.