I can’t count the number of times I’ve answered the question, “City?”, posed by a customer service person on the phone when collecting my address, and then listened to them exclaim, “Graeagle!?, I know Graeagle, my parents used to take us there for vacation every year! I LOVE that place!”

Graeagle remains that misty, carefree memory called “Summer Vacation” for generations of now grown kids.

A mountain cabin vacation wins hands down as the sentimental all time favorite vacation. Graeagle simply exudes the mid century qualities that we all remember when we’re remembering the “good times”. What’s amazing is the fact that even today’s high tech kiddies find those same qualities equally as enchanting as their parents…and grandparents. It’s something that is actually passed down from generation to generation.

That’s what I mean when I say Graeagle is The Gift of a Lifetime.

Here’s a brief summer checklist of what current kid newbies will bring home by way of treasured memories to be passed on to their kids:

* Playing outside all day and not having to take a nap…ever.
* Eating nothing but hamburgers, hot dogs and ice cream unless somebody caught a few trout, in which case…
* Learning about cleaning fish from your Dad (yuck, but really interesting). Learn about cooking fish from your Mom or Grandma. Taste the most delicious fish you will ever eat. (And you thought you didn’t like fish).
* Floating without a care in an inner tube at the Millpond, conveniently located next to the source of an ice cream cone.
* Learning how to paddle board.
* For girls: Flirting with the cute high school guy who mans the Millpond “Yacht” rental station.
* For boys: Getting salient advice on mountain survival tactics from the high school guy who mans the Millpond “Yacht” rental station…and scoping out all the girls in the vicinity.
* Finding out why sometimes you have to fish with a worm while other times you can only use dry flies. Getting to see a Mayfly hatch on the Millpond and what it means to the trout.
* Seeing Bald Eagles on a regular basis.
* Finding out first hand how crazy cold, but how incredibly exhilarating it is to swim in a mountain lake.
* Jumping off a cliff into a deep blue mountain pool.
* Riding a horse up a winding mountain trail, when you get to a meadow, maybe even trot or gallop! Finding out that the prettiest horse is not always the easiest one to ride.
* Discovering your own private trail through the giant pines that leads to a creek where you catch a frog, then let him go and watch how he frog-legs away
* Seeing if you can hold still long enough to feed the Chickadees sunflower seeds from your hand. They love sunflower seeds.
* But knowing (from the guy at the Millpond) that you can’t even leave leftover sunflower seeds outside overnight because something else that loves sunflower seeds is…Bears!
* Finding some tracks of an animal in the dirt and learning how to identify that animal by just its footprints.
* Sitting in your special place in the forest and imagining what it must have been like when Native Americans were the only people there.
* Finding an arrowhead!
* Seeing bazillions of stars, the entire Universe, above you, sometimes a comet! Waiting for Orion to make his appearance with his faithful dog, Sirius at heel. Learning the story of why this very time is called “The Dog Days of Summer”.

And finally, roasting, squishing, stuffing your mouth with goodies at the evening gathering around the campground fire pit where everyone shares their stories…and some stories, really scary ones, that are just made up. Remember them all, you’ve got time…a Lifetime.