The gym to which I belong is a good example of someplace where a little progress would be a good thing. For many years, there’s needed to be improvements to the showers, a privacy curtain for the men’s locker room, water extractors for the swimsuits, something other than a light switch to operate the steam room, etc. But there are other places in the world where lack of progress is a good thing, even celebrated! One such place is Mt. Gretna, PA, where I spend many a summer vacation.
I just returned from a trip there with my daughter, in order to reunite with family and celebrate my 50th birthday. Mt. Gretna is a campmeeting ground; a community of cottages among the trees, mostly of the summer variety, but some winterized to accommodate year-round adventurers. The biggest and most important room in each is the front porch, hopefully adorned with hammocks, comfortable rocking chairs of the Cracker Barrel ilk, and antique stools and end tables scattered about to welcome assorted cold beverages and dog-eared paperbacks for consumption.
The cottages are extremely close together, so that it’s possible to greet up to eight or nine sets of neighbors during one five minute jaunt down the block to the Jigger Shop, the old-fashioned ice cream parlor, or the adjacent Mt. Gretna Playhouse. Further down the block stands a playground and basketball courts. Shuffleboard is available as well, and Mt. Gretna even has a shuffleboard club, for aficionados that pay a small rental fee for tangs and biscuits (no, I haven’t segued into breakfasts; check Wikipedia).
The area lake is lots of fun, but a bit pricey … you need sixteen dollars to get in for the day, but most residents save by buying an annual book of tickets at a discount. There are fine places to eat, a computer repair service, a pizza parlor, real estate office, roller rink, mini golf, and … well … that’s about it for commerce. Need groceries? You’ll need to drive into nearby Lebanon, unless you just want to hit the Sheetz.
A Hall of Philosophy offers discussions on everything from vase blowing to Vonnegut … the Playhouse plays host to a series of retired preachers from a variety of denominations each Sunday morning for a service, or you can find more traditional fare at a standard Methodist church or the nearby Tabernacle, a favorite playground of mine in my younger years.
So where is all of this going? I’m describing to you my Shangri-la, and I hope that you have one. Mt. Gretna is a place where life slows down. It becomes simpler. Conversation seems to resonate more here. Sure, the younger set still sits down with their smartphones and play Candy Crush, but the smarter set grabs that paperback book or Wall Street Journal, props up their feet in the hammock, and gently rock the day away. My eighteen-year-old daughter spent much of her waking hours griping about how little there is to do here, but would admit to me as we’d say goodnight that she was really having a good time.
When you vacation, do you have a spot where you can truly “unplug?” You can really do it anywhere. All it requires is the desire to put down the laptop and cell phone for an hour or two each day and party like your ancestors! I just choose to do it in Mt. Gretna. Time really does stand still there. No progress, but who needs it? We save that for my gym, where time truly DOES march on. We now have a privacy curtain in the men’s locker room.
