In today’s society getting away from all technology is a hard thing to do, even when you travel the technology, like cell phones, is still a temptation for most teenagers. In the summer of 2010 my family and I traveled north to Fairystone State Park in Virginia where there was no cable, internet, or cell phone reception for an entire week. Being a modern day teenager I didn’t think it was humanly possible to go without any technology for that amount of time, but I was going without much complaint for my parents’ sanity.
We arrived late that Saturday night, it was raining and cold and the place we were staying was an old 1920s log cabin. The inside of the cabin even has the old rustic feel of the decade it was built. There was an old stove, a fireplace for warmth and pots and pans that looked the part for old time camping. However, because of the storm we were unable to see what was outside all around us and called it a night instead of exploring our new surroundings.
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The next morning we were woken up by sunlight streaming in through the windows and the sounds of birds chirping in the trees, ducks on the lake and other small animals wandering around the park. My parents were already outside on the back porch that over looked the lake, feeding some very persistent new friends, the ducks. The days plans were what they’d be all week, find a hiking trail and see where it took us, since Fairystone is not only beautiful it’s also known for its natural cross shaped rocks and the old town underneath the lake.
While the hiking trails there were surrounded by some of the most breathe taking nature scenes and even the shoreline views we saw by boat were amazing, I was still longing to talk to my friends and pass away the down time at the cabin not with a book but with cable. A week still seemed too long to live without at least one of those modern technologies.
By mid week my parents could see my sister and I losing interest in what was around us and suggested we go to the waterfall. My sister and I knowing we had nothing better to do agreed and started off on the path towards the waterfall. Along this trail we walked alongside the shoreline of the lake and could see some of the fish swimming as well as our good friends the ducks following behind us. Suddenly we were no longer walking along the shoreline but walking a straight away between the two lakes and were headed towards the waterfall! We could hear the splashing of the water against the rocks along our side and see the water falling into the lake below it.
My sister and I had finally reached what was worth the entire trip itself, the view was amazing and the feeling of accomplishment was undeniable. We found the path that took us down to the flat land where the top of the water fall was and could feel the cool water under our feet. Even though we didn’t jump off the waterfall we enjoyed our time there. We both learned that day and that week that though technology is great, it’s better left out of nature, you never know what you might miss because of it.
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