Cooper Family Holiday Bash 2002

January 1, 2003

We decided to try something new this year for our Cooper Holiday get together. We are coming from all over the East Coast, me from Massachusetts, Mom and Dad from Philadelphia, Braad from Virginia Beach, and Durdie and Weej from Orlando. Every year these get-togethers get more and more complicated. We usually meet up in Lexington, KY where Mom and Dad own a house. However, I hate flying and refused to get on a plane, which shot the Lexington plan.

Instead, we rented 2 cabins in the mountains at Gordon Pinchot State Park near Harrisburg, PA. At first, the concept of all of us reuniting in a cabin buried in the woods, snow falling outside, and nothing to keep us occupied except each other sounded really neat. I found out later that Harrisburg is where Three Mile Island is, so I began to wonder if we would all return with third arms or something.

We all drove into Harrisburg on New Year's Day, and it was living Hell. The worst part of my trip was going south on I-87 through New York. The fog was so thick I couldn't see more than the car right in front of me, and the car next to me, and the car behind me. Yes, in addition to deadly fog, there were 400 million cars on that road. One false move, and it was all over! See why I prefer driving to flying Dad! Whew.

I finally got to Harrisburg at about 8:30pm or so. We stayed in the Holiday Inn that night. I had forgotten how much Dad had spoiled Braad, Durdie, and I when we were growing up. We ALWAYS stayed in the Holiday Inn, always; Paris, Kentucky, Colorado, Kansas, didn't matter; wherever we were, we stayed in the Holiday Inn. Well, except for Saudi Arabia…. you know, I don't think they even had hotels over there. Anyway, as I grew up and started renting hotel rooms myself, I chose Super 8, Budget Inn, you know hotels I could almost afford. When seeing the Holiday Inn rates and remembering my Holiday Inn youth, I would think "Wow, Holiday Inn has really improved over the years." But, it was during this trip that I realized that Holiday Inn was always expensive and Dad just spoiled us. I mean a hotel with a pool, an arcade, a RESTERAUNT and ROOM SERVICE! Get out!

Anyway, Braad and I had our own smoking room right next to the Holidome (indoor pool and sauna). I was reveling at how nice the old familiar Holiday Inn was when I walked in to our room, and I nearly passed out from heat stroke. I said "DAMN, Braad, turn the AC on!". Braad said "It is on!" Seriously, the heat in the room was unbearable. Worse, there was little we could do about it. The door opened to the hallway, and the window opened to the indoor sauna pool-idome. You could hear the heat roaring in the ducts above our heads like it was the Gate to Hell. We finally turned off the "AC", which made it a little better because it was just pumping hot air into the room.

The next day we all went for a swim and headed to the cabin. The cabins were really awesome with modern kitchens and quality craftsmanship; I was really impressed. The cabins were in a pretty park near a huge lake, really a neat place. Braad and I stayed in the smoking cabin while Mom, Dad, Durdie, Weej, and their kids stayed in a cabin about 100 yards away. I thought hanging around like we were the Waltons with no TV or Internet would be neat, but the first day I was bored out of my skull. We sat there staring at the walls most of the day. I thought "what in the world are we going to do all day???"

Melissa and Samantha were not able to join us, and Durdie and Abigail really missed them. During the days we hiked around in the frozen terrain. While at the frozen lake, Braad attempted to make a point of how dangerous the frozen lake was to Abigail and Jonah. "If you go on the ice, this is what will happen" He said as he picked up a rock and threw it onto the ice. Everyone watched in anticipation as the rock flew through the air and bounced off the ice. Then he picked up a larger rock and did the same thing; it also bounced off the ice. Finally, he picked up a huge rock and said "THIS is what will happen if you go onto the ice" convinced this rock would crash through the ice illustrating his point. Crunch; the big rock just hit the ice and stuck there forcing Braad to give and for Weej and I to start laughing.

We opened presents the next day. We tried a name draw present exchange this year, which I liked because everyone got a present and it saved money and time. Braad got me a set of 3 Beavis and Butthead DVDs, which I think he was more excited to see than me because he wanted to watch them. Thankfully, the rest of the family was not as stupid as me in thinking this was going to be a happy, unplugged, Waltons weekend. Durdie brought a little TV/VCR which entertained the kids, and Mom and Dad brought one for them to watch movies in the evenings. Braad brought his do-it-all titanium Apple laptop. I was quick to give in to technology and give up on the cute Waltons weekend. I mean, given a choice of playing with dirt and rocks compared to watching Beavis and Butthead DVD, it didn't take me long to choose Beavis and Butthead.

We didn't cave in 100% to technology though. We did not have nor play one video game all weekend, so we made our own games. Braad developed a fun, fast playing hockey card game, which was a hit with us; we played every night. I won the first game and proceeded to lose the next 7 games we played throughout the weekend! The most entertaining game for Durdie, Weej, Braad, and I was a game called Sequence, which really made the time pass. The four of us had a blast and stayed up late playing Sequence, Democrazy, and other games until as late as 1:00am. Weej cracked me up dancing and singing to all these 80's funky dance songs that were on the radio. I was surprised because it just didn't appear to be his type of music; big West Virginia boy and all. He wasn't just dancing to the beat here; he knew all the words and specific dance moves to each song! It was hilarious!

Mom cracked me up when she opened a gift that I believe Durdie gave her. She pulls out this round, grey, fabric thing and had no idea what it was. So, Mom starts patting her face with it as if it is some kind of makeup applicator. Finally, as she is fiddling with it, the thing explodes to about 10 times its size making Mom jump back. The mysterious thing turned out to be a big floppy hat that she can fold up and put in her pocket. Hilarious Mom!

Melissa was worried about Jonah liking the little remote control car, but it turned out to be quite a hit. He liked it so much in fact, the car was worn out by the time the weekend was over.

The weekend was a lot of fun, and I would love to do the whole cabin thing again.

The drive back on Sunday sucked at first because there was ice on everything. The odd thing, the further I traveled North, the better the roads became. Also, there wasn't a lot of traffic, so it was a pretty relaxing drive home. Surprisingly, Braad reported to me later that hid drive South was much worse than mine as he battled treacherous icy roads. But, everyone made it home safe, so we can do it again next year.