Author: ocrwvdev

A Big Thank You to All Who Were Part of the New River Birding and Nature Festival

We love to make our guests cry.

Wow, what a week! So much fun, so much hard work, so many people to thank.

Opossum Creek Retreat is the happy home of The New River Birding and Nature Festival.

For one week a year we entertain about 100 people a day, feeding them, taking them on birding and nature field trips, showing off our guides’ amazing talents with popcorn talks, evening presentations, and according to the participants, having lots of fun.

The Festival is one of our favorite times of year.
The Festival is one of our favorite times of year.

Here at OCR, we know “we” is a big word. The gargantuan “we” that makes this event happen behind the scenes are OSSUM!

From the breakfast at Burnwood in the AM to the lunches in the field (made with love by the early-rising ladies in the deli at Foodland) to the ACE adventures super-safe bus drivers that make it possible to criss-cross the New River Gorge Region as a group. Sharon, Cindy and the staff at the CVB put up with a lot over the course of the year. Pastor Ray Crook and the ladies of the ramps who feed a few lucky trips each year at the Danese Community Center.

Sherri at the NPS patiently reminds me, then re-answers the same questions I had last year as we fill out the National Park Service permit forms.

Spouses and friends all contribute in their own way, from jumping in and volunteering to stitching names on hats or keeping the home fires burning while we immerse ourselves in the week.

The landowners like Dave Ross of Dave’s Exxon who allows us to traipse onto his family’s fields and revel in the unexplainable song of the Bobolink.

I am surely missing some, like a bird I forgot to mention in all the excitement, but they are no less appreciated.

We’ve seen the birds countless times. What is amazing is when one of our guests, world famous authors, or guides sees the birds for the first time. At that moment everyone in the group can feel the wonder, awe and emotion wash over us. “We” all feel the joy.

Tears of joy are far too rare in this world. Those feelings are why we do this event. 

Thank you to all our past and future guests. We are honored to share this festival with you.

I am not crying.

Events at Oppossum Creek Retreat & New River Gorge

New River Birding and Nature Festival

Bang! Like getting shot out of a cannon! (On my bucket list, by the way.) That’s how we start our season.

The New River Birding and Nature Festival (April 29- May 4) is our Daytona 500. Yes, I just referenced NASCAR in the same sentence as a nature festival. We like doing it this way; it’s like getting smelling salts when you are a little groggy from that long winter’s nap.

Why is this festival such a big deal here at OCR? We love getting together with people who appreciate our woodland home in the Gorge as much as we do. So much so that we provide a daily dinner and nature presentation, which is included in the festival registration. Major media contributors, distinguished authors and nature educators will share their expertise over a delicious homestyle meal.

And just after the New River Birding & Nature Festival, climbers will converge in town for The New River Rendezvous (May 16-19), one of the East Coast’s most loved rock climbing get togethers. Newbies and experts alike will be here sharpening their skills, sharing their tips and taking on the Gorge’s diverse sandstone cliff faces.

This is their 10th event (Rendezvous X), and the VIPs have been staying here with us at OCR since the beginning.

Our New Wedding Pavilion

We have lots of other Big Events planned. We have already had two couples share their vows here, and the new Wedding Pavilion in the backyard of The Meadows is going to make even more couples really happy this season.

The Boy Scouts are coming in for the first-ever Jamboree at their new home, The Bechtel Summit, in July. Scouts from all across the globe will be flooding in to adventure through the Gorge and lend a hand with community service projects.

We also have some family reunions and corporate retreats on the calendar as we roll into summer. Never a dull moment!

But even with all of this going on, we still have some great weekends available for people to tie the knot, have a reunion, or just sneak away to a cabin in the woods.

Has your year started off with a bang, too? Hope it’s been as good as ours!

Weddings at Opossum Creek – We Love This Stuff!

Set up for a celebration at The Meadows with loved ones.

Aw! The first wedding of the year just took place at Opossum Creek!

The seasons fade in and out, and lovers keep joining us to bind their lives together at Opossum Creek Retreat.

What’s the allure of OCR (other than the picturesque perfection)?

Exchanging vows here is something special. Each ceremony reflects the unique bond of the couple professing their “I do’s.” And we make creating your elaborate moment simple. We LOVE helping people get hitched!

Step 1 is choosing a venue. You need: a breathtaking ceremony location, a place to party down for the reception, and comfortable lodging for guests. Lucky for us, we have all three at Opossum Creek Retreat.

Most of our weddings prefer our DIY (do it yourself) package, which includes: up to three nights in the Meadows cabin (depending on the season), outdoor tables and chairs, a 20×40 tent, outdoor restroom facilities, and some fresh flowers to spruce up outside and around the cabin.

But we’ve got more options, and we’re more than happy to help you tie your knot, your bow, your tie, whatever makes your vows your moment to enjoy.

We are happy to do everything except fitting the dresses.

(And, hey, we’ll help find you someone for that, too. We know people.)

We Give Good Phone

We also understand “I just don’t want to talk to them now.“

Yes, we love Little Feat. Lowell George put it very well in Apolitical Blues.

Thats why we put alot into our website.

What do you think of our new site?

You may just not feel like talking and that’s okay, we understand. Lots of times I prefer digging around in cyberspace, I am just trying to dig up some info. Do some research, comparison shopping, check availability that sort of thing. We hope we make it easy for you to do just that.

The website has a new look and some new info. Please let us know what you like or don’t.

Is there something you were looking for and could not find or should be easier to find?

We are hoping we have made all that research fun, easy, and  informative.

FYI: we wrote all that vacation-planning ‘stuff’, so if you want to go to the source and get the info first hand or you just want to talk to someone, we are ready for ya.

Darn computers anyway.

For good phone, call 888-488-4836.

How to Guarantee a Blue Bird Day

Do not try this at home (unless you are a glutton for punishment).
I have tested this theory many times in the past and twice in the last 4 days. It works.

My idea of a perfect day – by Lou Reed.

I know how to make a bluebird day.

Please do not subject yourself to this experiment. Trust me!

This is the formula to guarantee a perfect weather day.

Find a project that you loathe. For me it is anything that makes me sit at my desk, especially accounting/data entry. Add in a heavy fine or penalty from some humorless bureaucracy.

Next, schedule other good stuff you like to do right up to said projects deadline.

Sprinkle on tons of procrastination, dogged, sour, heels dug in to the bitter last minute. Now I lock myself in the office before dawn and start entering months worth of old info into the computer and, voila! The weather outside is perfect.

I know some of you reaped the benefits of my sacrifice the past couple days, as I have yours many times over the years.

FYI: On how to end the perfect day. As the sun was setting, I lost all but one of the 5 months of data and will be back at it tomorrow. Plan accordingly.

I think I need my own cabin getaway. How about you?
Ever had a day like this? Tell me about it.

What’s a picture of your perfect day look like?

In a Valentine’s Day Panic? Opossum Creek to the Rescue!

Don’t worry, we do Valentine’s Day everyday, all year long.

I really I could read some of the comments in the guest books to you, but I get choked up.

Vday always seems to create a lot of pressure on all sides of the holiday. Who says you have to be at the top of your game on this certain day of the year just so they can sell some flowers and chocolates?

Forget about it! We can rock your romantic world any day of the year.

Relax in your cabin’s hot tub with your sweetheart.

The Cabins are clean and cozy and tucked in the woods. It’s a beautiful romantic drive just to get here no matter where you are coming from.

We have an unbelievably great selection of restaurants, or you can cook in the cabin or on the grill.

Watch a movie, read a book.

Soak in the hot tub.

Go for a walk, hand-in-hand or even get a massage in your cabin from our super star massage therapist.

Yes, we do any and all of this everyday, and we are really good at it too.

So relax: you can make up for Vday any time, any day here at OCR.

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