If you have a “Bucket List”, this is a great place to fill it up! I might not always remember that though.
It’s kind of like when I worked at Disney. I had all of these awesome activities right at your fingertips, but ended up taking it for granted every day.
Skydiving on your bucket list?
So when Geoff told me that one of his family members here for their family reunion ticked off 4 items from his bucket list, it got me thinking.
There really are some great and unique things to do here at the New River Gorge National River! For a lot of people, the things you can do here are “Bucket List” items. For example:
Doing a Barrel Roll in a WWII Bi-Plane!
Rock Climbing!
Get on the catwalk of a REALLY tall bridge!
White Water Rafting!
Learn to kayak!
These are just a few of the awesome adventures you’ll find in the Gorge. And remember, bucket list items don’t only have to be extreme adventure. Maybe your bucket list includes seeing an eagle in the wild, or trying a West Virginia craft beer. Maybe it’s been your lifelong dream to see The Mystery Hole.
So if you have a list, c’mon over and we’ll start helping you cross those tasks.
The last-minute barrage of questions is in full frenzy.
This is not unusual behavior; it’s just that this time, the zeal my family is demonstrating at this point in the planning has caught me off guard. I don’t know why, because they do everything like this: OVERBOARD.
What you need to understand is that each event (no matter if it is a couple getting away for the weekend or a wedding for 100), has phases.
We're more like friends once you've stayed with us!
1. Inspiration
2. Research
3. Planning
4. Scheduling
5. Planning
6. Reservations
7. Planning
8. Packing
9. Forgetting all the planning
Then calling someone who might remember what was planned.
And then finally calling anyone you may have had contact with because, “OMG I cant find the map”!
This is an excerpt from an actual conversation about our reunion:
“I found the MAP”
“Good.”
“How do we get to where this map is? What State is this in?”
“West Virginia.”
“WEST VIRGINIA? HONEY YOU NEVER SAID WE WERE GOING TO WEST VIRGINIA! Does this place have running water?”
This illustrates that no matter how hard you try, some communication just doesn’t get out to the whole group.
Communication in all its forms is the cornerstone to a good event. Our family has had hundreds of communiques over the past months and addressed each issue more than once.
However in the excitement of the waning hours before departure the brain does weird stuff! People start blurting out questions before they even ask themselves if they might already know the answer. Grown adults become completely helpless and need someone to hold their hand while they decide what to pack.
Here at Opossum Creek, we answer these questions and go through all the phases for total strangers everyday. And then they are not strangers anymore. But if it’s your family you’re dealing with, then they just become ‘stranger’.
The strange people who are my family start arriving on Saturday. I half expect to wake up and they will be sleeping in their car in my yard a day early. It has happened before.
I will keep you posted as to how the chaos progresses and when Murphy shows up.
Every spring here at Opossum Creek Retreat we host The New River Nature and Birding Festival. It has quickly become one of my favorite weeks of the year. The privilege of being a part of the festival has allowed me access to the amazingly diverse flora and fauna of the New River Gorge and surrounding areas. Each trip afield offers a new learning experience in all things nature.
With the Red Eft
There is something for everyone on the variety of field trips in and around the New River Gorge National Park. Here a Red Eft is adored by some of the folks on the Nuttalburg trail trip. This was a new trip for this year and will quickly become a favorite.
Female Canada Warbler
Getting a close up look at birds in hand is always a treat as Bill Hilton Jr., educator-naturalist extraordinaire puts on highly educational and fun banding demonstrations throughout the week. A female Canada Warbler was a first for her species here at OCR.
Common Lytrosis (lytrosis unitaria)
A great part of the the festival is its world class guides, a lot of whom are authors.I was able to identify this Moth, a Common Lytrosis (lytrosis unitaria) thanks to Seabrooke Leckie, author of the new Peterson field guide to Moths.
Just a few of the New River Birding and Nature Festival folks
The best part is introducing great folks from all over to the natural beauty of southern West Virginia, our home.
I am planning for my family to arrive in June. This is a true story and is happening as we speak. Okay, we are not technically speaking, but you know what I mean. Or did you?
That is the really challenge at the heart of a family reunion: communication. Even though everyone in my family speaks English as a first and only language, getting them all on the same page is like herding cats with a pressure washer. If you are lucky it is very exciting and rewarding for a brief moment, but the overall effort is usually futile.
Our fabulous Facebook group page
Here are a few things we are learning (this time around):
Practice makes perfect. We do not plan a family reunion on a regular basis and it shows. Those families that we see here at OCR who make an annual or biannual tradition out of it have the advantage. Expectations have been managed through repetition.
I hate to say this, but someone has to be the point person. This seems to work best if there can be several point people, actually. Food, Lodging, Group activities; all of this must be arranged. Ultimately, someone has to be large and in charge. Personally, I love chaos and mayhem, especially when they show up together! So for me not knowing who is cooking dinner and what it will be are not big questions. But others’ happiness depends on knowing every detail long before it happens, like what type napkins will be in the dinner roll baskets at each meal. So you’ve got to plan.
Knowing the differences that make people tick is helpful because it allows everyone to get the details they need. A Google doc spreadsheet is a great place for all this to evolve. Remember, not everyone will feel safe entering info in this format and you’ll need another method for them to get ideas out to the group.
Also, we are using a Facebook group page and it has been great. It makes for wonderful conversations taking place before the event even kicks off. Still, some folks will not bring certain things up until they confer with others in the group. This helps put things in place that may have otherwise been overlooked, such as who is driving Grama? Because last time she farted and ruined my new car seat…..
We all need to spend more time with those crazy people we are linked to by family ties. Reunions are the perfect way to do just that. But remember, planning is key
I will report back as we get closer to our own event and during said festivities. Until then remember: women are a bowl of spaghetti and men are waffles.
The New River Birding and Nature Festival just ended, and a good bit of the festival takes place here at OCR. Somewhere between 60-100 people a day get to enjoy our slice of almost heaven during the festival. During this event, people gather to appreciate the beauty and wonder of the New River Gorge.
We do not cook for many groups, but we will if it is the right fit. And this festival is. It’s all about happy people doing fun stuff, learning, and enjoying good food.
Birding By Butt
On Monday morning we got things going in a “back porch” kind of way with “Birding by Butt”.
We spent the day milling around the grounds, watching birds from the comfort of our lawn chairs (hence the name, “Birding by Butt”), in between feedings. This helps everyone get to know each other and settle into the routine of birding, eating, and listening to great presentations.
But you could say that Birding By Butt is a bit of a misnomer, because we do spend some time walking around the 20-some acres of Opossum Creek Retreat.
The day goes something like this:
Examining a Warbler
People start rolling in about 6 AM and we have coffee and drinks ready. We get everyone checked in and give them a name tag and this spiel: “We will be taking walks and getting birds in the scopes and eating and watching Bill Hilton of Project Ruby Throat band a bird or two if we are lucky. There are plenty of chairs for you to bird by butt from, so get comfy and relax for a few minutes before we take a group for a walk.”
Of course everyone is too excited to sit down. They want to “go go go” and they soon hear, “My name is Jim McCormac” or “My name is Mark Garland” and “I will be leading a walk up the road. Who would like to join me?”. The routine of relaxing in the chairs around yard comes slower to some, but before long everyone has settled into the idea of Birding By Butt, just letting the birds come to them.
And they do.
During the rest of the week we come back to OCR after our field trips and have a ‘popcorn talk’. After that we have dinner, then the main attraction for the evening, another speaker or presentation.
It was great to look out the window and see folks sitting in chairs or just walking around looking up into the trees, smiling.
We also hosted the Roads Scholar group on Wednesday and Friday for the “Birding by Butt” routine. Keith and I also led field trips every day of the week (the best part of the week for us).
The New River Birding and Nature Festival is a great way to kick-start us out of winter season; we’d love more events like this to pour ourselves into. There is a price to pay for this much fun and we gladly pay it year after year.
By all accounts, the 10th Annual New River Birding and Nature Festival was the best one yet.
If you have a group you would like us to take care of for a week (or even just a couple of days), give us a call and let’s talk. We might even teach you how to bird by butt.
I did not listen to my own advice and paid the price. Literally.
You’ve heard us talk about spending your spring break here in West Virginia. And we now have absolute proof that it really is the best of all worlds. See, I went somewhere else for MY spring break.
That is correct; I am admitting here and now that we went to Florida for spring break.
Hypocritical, you say?
Old Florida
Possibly. But you know, I’m here year round. And now I know for sure that you just can’t beat a West Virginia vacation.
What you’re about to read is a funny recap of our trip to Florida. Well, it was funny if you were not living it. But If you are in the mood to laugh at my expense, then read on. If you want to skip to the moral of the story head then for the bottom (like some of my stuff did) of the page, do so, but check out the pictures along the way.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
Getting There
It has been a long-time dream of mine to pilot a houseboat on the intracoastal waterway and to catch a Tarpon.
So, we booked a 4 day/3 night bareboat (no crew, just you), 41’ long and 14’ wide houseboat departing from Fort Myers, Florida and touring the Pine Island Sound. Then the plan was to blast across Alligator Alley to Key Largo for a resort course in scuba diving, then work our way back home. Great, all-American plan for spring break, right?
I have always been a flexible traveler, so when my hometown college hockey team, the Bulldogs of Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, made it to the NCAA Division 1 Men’s Hockey finals in Tampa the same day we are driving through, we had to see the game. It was a great side trip and a fun way to start off the vacation.
The Houseboat, aka 'The Pig'
The morning of Easter Sunday was spent getting trained by Captain Bob on how to drive and use the houseboat. By noon we were checked out and on our own!
Hitting the Open Water
Let me tell you, driving a houseboat for the first time ever is stressful. It is like trying to steer a pig on ice by its tail. Add in the traffic of Easter Sunday and one of the craziest waterways on the planet (so crazy that on the charts it’s called the “Miserable Mile”), and it’s gripping. I am not saying it can’t be done. Just maybe that it wasn’t our smartest idea ever.
We slid to a stop in the first possible anchorage, Popcorn Bay, between million dollar crafts, and shut the damn thing off. Once we were on the hook (anchored) everything was much better. Some fishing, stand up paddling (thanks Mel!) a beer and dinner and the next thing you knew we are the only ones left in the bay! Peace and quiet made for a lovely first night (or so we thought). “Mom I don’t feel good!” Groans from the other bedroom. Fever, sore throat, weak, pale, STREP!
Fortunately Tylenol and sun bathing seemed to help the strep, so we ignored it. We decided for some reason to leave the safety of our harbor and expose ourselves to the rest of the “Miserable Mile”(and many more miles like it). Eventually, we ended up in Pelican Bay on Captiva Island with 30 or so sailboats. Again, once “on the hook” everything got so much better. We paddled over to the state park island and walked to the beach for swimming and a nap. Then back to the “pig” for fishing and dinner on the top deck.
SUP in Popcorn Bay
Why we left that spot I will never…oh yeah, the STREP! It was getting worse and we needed to get meds in this kid fast. I attempted to dock at the closest marina, but mostly just crashed into it. Meds in hand, we limped out of the fancy marina understanding why they said they did not have room for us. Back out to the open water, where the pig could run free, was better anyway.
Did I mention my dream about catching a Tarpon? On our last day with the pig, we decided to try our luck fishing for the Silver King. I found a likely spot and got everything set. It was high tide, slack tide, we were in a deep channel between the flats and the Gulf of Mexico. We saw Tarpon rising around us, and even had some promising bites! A guided boat was being pulled past us by the Tarpon they had on the line. They were so close that we could see the huge Silver King underwater. He even jumped a few times just to torture us. We waited and waited until we were out of bait.
So, I still have that dream of catching a Tarpon.
Second Leg of Our Journey
After saying goodbye to the pig we blasted across Alligator Alley to Key Largo and stayed in a funky old-style keys cabin called The Hungry Pelican. Next up was our scuba outing. A scuba resort course is when first timers start in a swimming pool and then do open water scuba diving. We dove at The John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. The whole day was wonderful, even though the strep kept one of us on the surface snorkeling.
Scuba Fun
We decided to break up the 16+ hour drive home by staying at Vero Beach in a great little “Old Florida” Hotel called Sea Spray Inn . We spent the afternoon and evening on the beach. Do you know what the red flag means? I will tell you; it means fat, old, white guys stay on beach and out of the waves! I got the stuffing beat out of me and broke a boogie board! The rest of the family had a blast.
The next morning we started off with a long walk on Vero Beach to say goodbye for now to Florida, then hopped back in the car to head north on the interstate. It also happened to be Saturday of spring break week, so we were driving with millions of our closest friends. You could not find a gas pump, let alone a restroom, without a line. We bailed off the interstate and went to lunch in Saint Augustine just to break up the day. When we got back to I-95 it was a parking lot, so we headed for the heartland, two-lane highways through the small towns of the deep south.
The Moral of the Story
So, let me break it all down for you:
6 days of driving 6 to 8 hours each. That is a work week in my world. We could have driven to Mexico! Gas for said driving, $320 plus.
Pig on ice (Houseboat)-$1900. Also requires driving, way harder than a car or anything I have ever driven before. Including livestock.
Fuel for boat – $220
Fishing gear, bait, etc. – $200 (maybe more but I have most of it still, except the bait)
Scuba – $800 (well worth it) full day of awesome!
Hockey tickets-$800 (really, really good seats)
Other Hotels Nights-$800
Total $5,000ish!
I dare say you can do a lot more for a lot less here in the Gorge.
A comparable budget would get your family of four a week in a Cabin and an adventure each day, like rafting, zip lines, fishing, rock climbing, hiking, biking, off-loading, and more.
Not counting food, because we eat when not on vacation too.
The Lesson
So hear me out:
I thought the boat would keep us from needing to hire a guide to catch fish. WRONG! We caught a few little ones and my wife landed the fish of the trip (a beautiful little shark).
I also thought it would be cheaper than a hotel or beach house. WRONG AGAIN! We could have stayed in great little “Old Florida” hotels and easily afforded a guide for three days of fishing for LESS than the PIG alone!
I did, however, fulfill a long time dream of mine. Just remember some dreams are better if they remain in dream state.
We had a good time, but it was expensive (more than expected), stressful, and my back hurts from all the driving both on and off the water.
Yes, I feel more than a little hypocritical, or as one of my kids said when younger, “hippo-cricket”. But now I know! And you have yet another reason to make a Gorge vacation a top destination on your list.
Need a reason to spend your spring break in West Virginia? Not much we can say that adds to this email from one of our guests (except that we are glad they’re coming back). Read on…
Hi Keith-
I don’t know if you remember us or not, but we rented a cabin from you at Thanksgiving. Our daughter goes to Marshall, and she wanted to stay in WV for Thanksgiving and not come back to Florida. Well, as it turns out, she would rather stay in WV for Spring Break as well! Imagine that- we live 30 minutes from the beach, and she would rather stay in WV 😉 Truth be told, we would rather GO to WV again.
We were thinking of going to Snowshoe, but the snow has been so sketchy. It seems we Floridians aren’t that good at snowboarding on ice, which is what I am afraid we are going to run into. And we have kids ranging from 4-19. I think the cabin would be best for everyone, since the little girls can play in the snow (if there is any) right outside, and the big kids can head to Winter Place to snowboard if they want to. We are split on what we want to do- everyone wants to go to Snowshoe (but the littles are too little to ski/snowboard), AND everyone wants to go back to the relaxing cabin where Mommy was in a good mood, they can eat home cooking, and everyone was entertained.
Steve and Wendi
This is not the first time guests have felt this way about their stay. Will you be spring breaking in West Virginia?
Hey there, It’s me, Keith from Opossum Creek Retreat. The Historic Fayette Theatre has been a big part of our winter/spring for quite some time. I haven’t been IN a production for the last two years, but still have managed to lend a hand in building sets etc. for the spring show. However, Geoff is enjoying time in the limelight this year, sharing the stage with BOTH of his kids, Erin and Cameron.
Geoff and Keith in Action
The bottom line is it’s a huge commitment. We take giving back to our community (in this case our community theater) very seriously and love to be involved. This is nothing new, and I’ve written about it before.
Last year we offered our guests tickets to the show; they loved it. So once again, this spring we’re offering our guests who would like to see the show (and trust us, you do), free tickets to a performance during your stay here at Opossum Creek Retreat. Mention this offer when you make your reservation and we will include tickets for your group during your stay. The show is playing several dates the last two weeks in March. There are plenty of great places to eat right within walking distance of the theatre, so make an evening of it and enjoy dinner and show!
The Wild, Wild, Wildest West
Warning: Shows are often SOLD OUT! The Spring show, produced by Millie Petersen and her hand picked crew, almost always sells out. It has grown in popularity so much that people come from all over to see these shows.
Past productions include Cinderella, Jack and the Giant, Oz, Way out West in a Dress, Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood, The Lady Pirates of Captain Bree (after my roll in this play, I was recognized 3 states away). All shows are family friendly.
This year’s production is “Wild Wild Wildest West”, directed by Sharon Bibb, produced by Millie Peterson, and featuring a talented cast. Best of all? See our own Geoff Heeter as “Snydly Dastardly”!
Recent guest Clinton Curtis wrote this blog post about his recent stay at Opossum Creek with his family.
Clinton and Megan
My wife and I created a ritual this year – coinciding with the Chinese New Year we would escape to a secluded location in the mountains with our two daughters to reflect on our lives and plan for the year ahead. Theoretically, we could have done this at home, but to retreat from our daily routines and familiar surroundings added energy and excitement to the process.
We rented a cabin at Opossum Creek Retreat where the stars pierce the ink black sky at night and the only distractions are the wildlife and the gurgling stream.
Fun in the Tub
To some, it may seem like a lot of effort to pack and drive to an offsite location for such an event, but many fortune 500 companies send their employees great distances for such ‘offsite’ meetings because of the unencumbered creativity that ensues. For us, however, the trip from our home to the woodland sanctuary of OCR is all of seven miles!
To describe this phenomenon we’ve borrowed the term ‘staycation’ from the 1970’s book Your Money or Your Life. Our staycation has been even better than expected. We have welcomed the Year of the Dragon in fine fashion, nestled in the tree branches of the eastern woods we love so much.
Our cabin exemplified simplicity and royalty simultaneously, and dipping into the hot tub in midwinter added an element of the mystical.
Our family found a wonderful harmony at OCR and a quiet ability to fulfill our goals. As I mentioned, we have created a ritual, and we plan to return to Opossum Creek Retreat in 2013 to bring in the Year of the Snake!
Clicking on the BOOK NOW tab provides cabin availability. It DOES NOT mean you’ve booked a cabin. After you confirm availability, there are several additional steps required regarding potential dates, minimum stay times, group size, and of course payment information.
If you prefer the peace of mind of speaking with someone to book your stay, Anna is amazing!
