Where’s Your Happy Place?

By Emily King

This past weekend we decided to pull the kids out of school for a day, forgo the multiple sports obligations and spend the weekend at a place we keep coming back to, Deep Creek, MD. It’s the place we return to again and again when we want a break from the stress of daily life. It’s only a two-hour drive, there are ample rental houses, and there’s a lake, mountains, and several beautiful state parks and forests within a 25-minute drive. Sometimes you just need to be surrounded by water and trees for a few days to catch your breath.

We started visiting the area with college friends, spending weekends on boats, staying up late around the bonfire with beer and smores. As we got older that transitioned to renting huge houses that could fit all of us and our growing families, watching our kids run wild while we reminisced about our years at Pitt. It becomes harder and harder to get everyone together as our kids grow older and weekends become packed with sports, activities, and social obligations, so now our trips are usually just myself, my husband, our three kids, and of course our dog, Ruth. 

We know the best place (okay, only place) to get pizza, where to get bait, how to get into town when there’s no cell service. We love to travel to new places and try to do that as often as possible, but there’s something valuable about having a “home away from home” that you can go to with just a few days’ notice, where you know all the back roads, and do all the same things each time.

Last year, we made a last-minute decision to drive to Deep Creek on Christmas Day, right after we were done having dinner with family. We rented a small place right on the lake, with a hot tub. It was unseasonably warm, so we were able to be outside with sweatshirts even though the lake was frozen. We’re not skiers, so we didn’t have any activities in mind, but we spent a few days throwing rocks at the frozen lake and trying to break the ice, enjoying a cozy indoor fire, and soaking in the hot tub several times a day. It broke up the monotony of that weird week between Christmas and New Year’s and gave us a break from the constant visiting, hosting, and socializing. We created some great family memories, and when we returned home we felt refreshed and ready to take on the new year.

Where do you go when you need an escape from daily life?