Vacation in the Poconos (2026)

 

    Amanda and I really enjoyed our little vacation in the Poconos last week. As may become a tradition, we thought it might be nice to record our exploits for posterity. It also gives me some motivation to write, which is always welcome.

    We didn't exactly intend to go to the Poconos again, which was much in the same vein as our honeymoon two years ago. While we both knew we wanted to get away for a few days, I had a hard time deciding on the specific lodging location. Neither of us really felt like driving too much, but we still wanted to achieve the experience of feeling like we were far enough away from our traditional routine. It was a vacation after all. The goal was to find a nice location somewhere in woods, but close enough to activities for us to engage in. 

    Most importantly though, I really liked the idea of finding a house on a lake, while Amanda was intrigued by a place with a hot tub to utilize. I struggled for a time figuring out what the best place would be. I wanted one location, but it was a bit out of our price range. Then I remembered an option I had favorited previously. Once I shared this with Amanda, she said that was the one. It just happened to be in the Poconos.

    I was a bit nervous about the drive, but it was a pretty smooth one for the most part. We only made one stop around Tamaqua, in a little burg called Hometown. We left early to reach out first destination. Our little house rental was about ten minutes for Kalahari Water Park, which I had been to over a decade ago with my mom and sister. We hadn't been sure if we would check that park out, but Amanda found a good deal which included food, drink, and tokens for the arcade. 

    It wasn't very busy, as it was a Monday. The facilities were far more built up than they had been years ago (I think I had gone there right after they had opened). We enjoyed the lazy river, the wave pool, and (possibly my favorite part) the hot tub section. The nicest aspect of this was the portion of the hot tub area which led outside. It was raining lightly at this point. The rain was cool, causing many visitors to go inside to avoid it. This benefited us, as it created a quiet and somewhat private atmosphere. We both agreed this part felt the most like a true resort experience. Amanda enjoyed a few of the slides while I cheered her on. The pizza had been good but was a bit too greasy for both of us. We wrapped up by using the arcade. Mostly we just competed in skee ball, but I tried out a Need for Speed racing game, Centipede, Space Invaders, and a Walking Dead rail shooter. We pulled our prizes together to get some Skittles.

    Upon exiting the indoor park, we noticed the area had been beset by a cascade of fog. Visibility wasn't much more than twenty feet in front of us. We decided to take our time getting home. We were both pretty tired from the day of swimming and looked forward to our stay at Long Pond.

    The home was very comfortable. During our stay, we made use of air hockey (which Amanda was an utter beast in), pool (which I was surprisingly decent at), and darts (which we were both pretty good at). We both found time for quiet reading of our sci-fi novels of choice. I read Star Wars: Cloak of Deception and Amanda read The Cat Who Walks Through Walls. Our first night, we had a tough time figuring out the AC unit, so sleep was difficult. I did figure it out the second night. It turns out the buttons were not in the most obvious spot. We slept better the second night, each one accompanied by a movie to wrap up the evening. It turned out to be a Legally Blonde viewing, along with its sequel, as we didn't see anything else that really struck us. 

    We enjoyed several good restaurants with excellent, cozy décor and pretty good food. Jubilee and Fork Bistro were pretty good, but nothing really topped the first place we went for dinner. This was pretty close to our place, through we did have to contend with the windy roads and speedy locals. It was called the Farmhouse Blakeslee. We had the place almost all to ourselves. The service was very pleasant and we ended up with so much food we ended up taking most of it home. Amanda had a mac and cheese bowl and I had a chicken sandwich. It may very well have been the biggest I've ever seen and delicious too!

    The second day we did some hiking at Big Pocono State Park. The views were beautiful and there was an abundance of little trails atop the mountain. We short of zig zagged and tried out several of them to figure out where they branched off and connected, though there were probably more. I took the time to take some photos of some lovely flowers that caught my eye, with Amanda helping to point out a few. Even though it was a bit cloudy, there was a very expansive view of the details of the valley and the surrounding mountain range that was blissfully peaceful, even with the slight drizzle of rain towards the end. We lucked out with it being surprising cool during out trip, as it didn't really get above 75 degrees. 

     The last day was a great way to unwind. After getting breakfast, we decided to have a beach day at Beltzville State Park. Much like many of the other spots of this trip, we were fortunate to have it mostly to ourselves. Compared to other similar lakes we've been too, this one was very quiet and clean. We walked the little beach and spent a good amount of time swimming. It was cold at first, but it was still fun having to adjust as the sun darted in and out between the clouds. The water reflected the green of the surrounding forest mountains, but was still so clear you could see the bottom rather far away from shore. We had a little lunch and spent some time reading as we slowly baked in the sun. Neither of us wanted to leave, but we made our way home past Jim Thorpe with relative ease. It was a great way to end the trip. Though agreed it would have been nice to spend another day, it was nice to be home. Maybe we'll check these spots out again. We highly recommend this beach!