Saturday, August 17, 2013

Reunion: Cooperstown, New York

Cabin under the stars - Cooperstown, NY - Photo © Mac Stone
Each year, my friends from college and I make it a point to reunite and combat the distance that has us spread all over the country with new memories. My friend Post said it best after driving 9 hours from Ohio, "You never know what's going to happen, you just know it's going to be awesome." 

This year we picked upstate New York in Cooperstown where my friend Adam Sittler lives and we spent the weekend camped in a cabin up in the mountains. The only time we left was to go into town to participate in a Cooperstown tradition of a baseball/whiffle ball tournament, which lasted 8 hours. We took home the championship and then retreated back to the woods to celebrate.

That night was perfect. We explored the woods for hours, bouncing headlamps in the night finding all kinds of wildlife, until we emerged on the opposite side of the cabin. It was an incredible scene. The Milky Way stretched across the sky and polar fog veiled the mountain pond, illuminated by the amber glow of tungsten on wood. I ran back to grab a camera, composing a few images while listening to familiar stories echoing from the porch.

Who knows what we'll do next year, but this is going to be a hard one to beat. Long live great traditions.