Monday, April 21, 2008

Mountain-top retreat



After living in a very small house with 6 other people (10 of us total)for almost a month, we felt that our mental health (or at least my mental health as the introvert of the bunch) depended upon the most isolated vacation we could find. Thankfully, we found a mountain retreat house that is owned by our company about 3 hours away. It felt like we had stepped out of tropical Asia and into an English garden. It was blissfully cold enough for long sleeves during the day and huddling in front of the fireplace at night. After wearing long sleeves in 100 degree weather, wearing them in 45 degree weather was a welcome change of pace.

The specialties of the area were was Strawberries and tea. Huge sweeping mountain-side tea plantations overlooked smaller "self-plucking" as they were called, Strawberry farms. With another couple of trips to butterfly farms, it made for a perfect family get-away. Our daily schedule consisted of laying around in the sunshine, eating strawberry scones with milk tea and then repeating until the sun set. Then we lit a fire and roasted marshmallows. We needed another year and a half, but sadly had to settle for a week. I'm certain it won't be the last time we are there.