“Doing Nothing…Mountain Style”

While vacationing last week in North Carolina (See Out and About…The Hills of North Carolina on page B3) we ventured to the town of Cherokee. Everybody had their planned activities for the day. Some of my tribal clan planned to contribute to the local Cherokee economy at Harrah’s. My youngest son Patrick is too young for Harrah’s, but he also wanted to do his part to help the local Cherokee economy. So he planned to do some shopping at the quintessential tourist shopping strip.

He turned to me and asked what I planned to do. “I’m headin’ to my favorite place in Cherokee” I said. “You must be going to that park” he replied, in that tone that only a 15 year old can use that suggest they are questioning their parent’s sanity.

“You got it,” I fired back, “I’m heading to Oconaluftee Island Park.” Not only is it my favorite place in Cherokee to visit, it is one of my favorite places in all of the mountains to visit. The town of Cherokee has some elements of a “tourist trap” and I normally try to avoid tourist traps. But I don’t mind Cherokee because I know I can relax at the park. This public park’s feature attraction is the Oconaluftee River’s rippling waters on either side of the island.

The river is just right for a relaxing tube float or dip in the cool waters on a hot summer afternoon. When our kids were little they could spend hours along the river’s shallows, playing with the thousands of river rocks. And of course a mandatory rock skipping contest was held at each outing at the park.

My kids have outgrown much of that now and the park doesn’t hold the same appeal to them. “What are you going to do at the park?” Patrick asked me. “Oh I’ll probably float on a tube and take a little dip. After that I’ll probably just sit in my chair under a shade tree and watch the river roll by.” He shook his head and I could just image that his 15 year old brain was thinking ‘he’s just going to sit in a chair and watch the river roll by’, how boring. “Doesn’t sound to exciting, does it” I asked. Again he just shook his head as if to wonder about dear ole dad’s state of mind.

I felt compelled to explain to him the wonders of doing nothing. In fact I told him, Simply Put, sometimes doing nothing…especially in the mountains… is my favorite thing to do.

P.S. – after his shopping trip, Patrick joined me at the park for a swim and rock skipping contest. He beat his dad at skipping rocks and proved he hasn’t quite out grown the park yet. Neither have I and I hope we never do.

From the Front Porch: Uncle Bob said if you are lucky enough to be in the mountains…you are lucky enough.