| Not Your Grandmothers Poconos |
| Written by Karen Holly Berliner | |||
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  Dare I tolerate the heart shaped Jacuzzis and lounge lizard karaoke nights in the name of saving some cash? No need to. As it turns out, the Pocono Mountains sit statuesque and welcoming starting from the New York State/ Pennsylvania border, more sprawling then I recall and just 90 miles (one tank or less of gas round trip) to and from NYC. With 2,400 square miles encompassing Pennsylvania’s Carbon, Monroe, Pike and Wayne counties, this region offers a postcard perfect backdrop of rolling mountain terrain, natural waterfalls, earthy woodlands and winding rivers for miles on end. In its natural splendor this region allows for any vacation template, from adventure jaunts to romantic getaways. The Pocono Mountains coax winter visitors with opportunities to ski, snowboard or snowshoe their way through over 150 ski trails of wonderlands. Pocono summers also beckon the active traveler allowing for hiking and biking trails, choice golf courses, white-water rafting, boating and fishing. Add to this, the region’s cultural tours and festivals, art exhibitions, premium antiquing and shopping, and you have it all no matter what you fancy, and while the heart shaped tubs still have their market niche, there is the surprisingly soft underbelly of this destination that remains still untapped by many. During my visit, I selected three distinctly different places to stay and play while making my way through the mountains and beyond.
  Indeed. A Zen inspired chorus of grand Chakra Bowls sings a warm welcome to you as you enter this adult’s only sanctuary. From there, feel your stress shed away as you loose yourself in all things calming and serene. This extraordinary respite for mind, body and soul sits nestled in thelodgeatwoodloch.com/Directions20.html. Pennsylvania’s lake region offering a vast array of award winning destination spa amenities including superb cuisine, classes and activities for mind and body(try their Culinary Cooking Demo, scribble your way through their Intro to Drawing class or tantalize your olfactory senses with a Healing Sounds Meditation session) and unique accouterments such as their signature heated hydro massage water walls at their Aqua Gardens. While there, I treated myself to a spa treatment. Their Natural Sage Gommage body scrub, translates into an invigorating dry brush massage with a generous application of warm seaweed rebalancing serum, concentrated algae extracts and freshly powdered sage all applied in gommage fashion. Sage-infused towels left me feeling cleansed and revitalized. After floating out of there, I dined at Tree, their elegant restaurant, offering fresh and organic cuisine exquisitely prepared to order. Stay in one of this lodge’s spacious guest rooms and take the peace and tranquility with you when you make your way back home.
   Back in the roaring 20’s this charming space also in the lake region of the Poconos stood solid as a community hotel for tourists. Fast forward to the 1980’s when Innkeepers Grant and Jeanne Genzlinger took their mutual green before their time vision, and brought it to life through grand revitalizing efforts, into an award winning arts and crafts lodge. Their 21 mission-style furnished guest rooms complete with good old fashioned feather beds and properly appointed linens, beg you to settle in as their name suggests and succumb to heartwarming comforts. Meander through their herb and flower gardens, sit by a toasty fire and sip a brandy or soak in your own private whirlpool tub, perfect after a day of touring about the region. The Settlers dining space The Chestnut Tavern and Terrace offers hand crafted mouthwatering fare such as Pan Roasted Blooming Grove Trout with a Tropical Fruit Salsa to go with or a Pennsylvania Charcuterie Plate, all artfully presented. Add varietal artisan breads, award winning wines in which to pair your meal with and generously portioned deserts and you have the makings of a meal of a lifetime. Finish your stay with a leisurely browse through The Potting Shed, their gift shop where you can find like furnishings and earth friendly pamperings to take home with you.
   Owned by the Kiesendahl family since 1958, this all inclusive cruisesque family resort proudly joined the half centurion club last year. A sprawling and wooded lodge it exudes retro style warmth and hospitality within charming grounds with multi generational recreation right on the premises, from hiking and biking paths, ice skating, snow tubing and more at your beck and call. As if being a good old fashioned family retreat wasn’t enough, Woodloch showcases a surprisingly professional revue on Saturday nights on par with some of NYC’s best Broadway musicals. Their adorable little signature nuances such as the cartoon costumed employees who greet you at every meal or the smiley faced French fries for the little ones (and the not so little ones as it were) add perfectly to the ambience. There isn’t a soul on this earth who doesn’t love a goody bag to take with. A Bread Order Form sits neat and clerical on top of your dining table, right next to the classic condiments. Listed there, find the likes of breads for any palate, from their Iced Raisin Loaf to their German Rye. By the end of your stay, this order form though soaked with gravies and drink spills, becomes your golden ticket to Woodloch's tasty treats, now to be relished at home. Fill it out shamelessly, and rest assured your bread order will be waiting for you at departure time. Just follow your nose. Truth be told, with narrow mindedness and a fixed belief system comes ignorance. In this case though, ignorance was far from bliss as it turns out. I found my bliss in The Pocono’s. Who knew?
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