There is a degree to which a true vacation of the soul
requires a spot that reflects one’s childhood places of joy, and for this
reason the Trout Tree’s Creaky Cottage is a respite for me. Surrounded by forest and serenaded by a
fast-flowing brook which curves around three sides of the property, quirky
construction with logs and a porch, in the highlands of Mt. Kenya, it reminds
me of West Virginia. Scott found the
advertisement on the internet and called to confirm a vacancy, and otherwise in
our hectic lives we did zero preparation before noon Friday when the kids came
home from school for their midterm break and we from work and we all threw clothes into bags and food
into the cooler and everything into the car and set off about 2 pm.
Almost four hours of traffic and are-we-there-yet later,
watching craggy snow-graced peaks of Mt Kenya in occasional partings of the
high clouds, we pulled into the deserted restaurant which is the main purpose
of the property. Turns out it’s only
open for lunch. Good thing we had packed
plenty of food . . . the workers on the trout farm directed us past dozens of
circular ponds fed by a diversion scheme of flowing water. At the far corner of the property we passed
on foot through a little gate, and saw the cottage. It was constructed around a tree, which still
grows right up through the middle. There
is not a level surface in the whole place, and the low ceilings, brick floors,
fireplace and glass-paned windows could be right out of a set for
Hobbiton. Julia and Acacia climbed a
ladder to a loft with twin beds, Jack had his own double bed on the ground
floor, and Scott and I had a king-sized bed at the top of rickety stairs that
looked over the porch towards the stream.
We cooked dinner and soaked in the peace and soothing, quiet, background
flow of the stream.
Well, mostly quiet.
The roof is intermittently stormed by troupes of Sykes monkeys or
Colobus, and the tree hyraxes make shattering screams in the night or waddle
around like R.O.U.S’s in the daytime.
Two kids are in the throes of Junior Year, with multiple AP
classes and sports and activities. One
is in the midst of Senior Year with College apps. I increased my work time by about 25% when my
partner-colleague followed her husband to South Africa for a year, and then by
50% again when my other colleague was pinned down to bedrest for preterm labor
a couple of weeks ago. I had worked the
last two weekends and my last call had me up from 2-4 with a dying post-op
patient, followed by Scott’s dying patient from 4:30-5:30. We are both scraping for time to support
teams, work on call schedules, prepare lectures. In the last week I have also been emailing
back and forth with Luke trying to help him edit umpteen essays for about a
dozen med school apps. We’ve had company,
hosting residents, teaching Sunday school . . . in short, our family is
exhausted. Our kids wanted a midterm
break that was RESTFUL.
And this was just what we needed. The first morning, as we emerged from sleep,
Scott looked at his watch. 9:45. The last time I slept that late was probably
our anniversary week over a year ago. We
unplugged. Read books. Listened to music. Watched “Lost”. Cooked meals and ate by candlelight. Basked in sunshine. Prayed.
We did spend one of our two afternoons hiking a barely discernible train inside a little-accessed area on the slopes of Mt Kenya, which was a glorious six miles of forest and quiet. A few worrisome buffalo and elephant signs, but no dangerous animals (though there were dangerous PLANTS).
This would not be the spot for everyone. It’s rustic and dusty and quaint. There is not much to “do”. The cost is more reasonable than many options
for families but not as cheap as camping; on the other hand everyone got their
own bed. You still have to plan your
meals and do your dishes.
Nice website
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