Rather than drive four hours to State College to visit Shelaine and Elliott, we decided to meet in the middle at Split Rock Resort in the Poconos. It was an off-season weekend - too late to ski and too early to swim - so we took advantage of the low rates and empty mountaintop.
Split Rock is a conglomeration of private weekend cottages, condominiums and two hotels. We stayed at The Lodge, the older of the two, and had a third-floor lake view room that was plenty roomy for the four of us. The Galleria is a newer and less interesting building that also houses a huge indoor waterpark, sports complex, restaurants and convention facilities. We chose the lodge for the quieter indoor pool which we used on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
We'd hoped for a hike through the woods but settled for a walk up, up, up a deserted road with empty cottages. On the way four pheasants jutted across the road adding a touch of wildlife to our jaunt. At the top we encountered an aged ski lift atop a single short slope. I don't know if people actually ski there but I'm certain the lift hasn't been used for at least a decade.
There is one huge split rock, created long ago by glaciers, as well as numerous smaller ones. The rock formations folded atop each other and looked as if they were separate rocks all precariously piled. It was chilly out so we had the entire mountaintop to ourselves on both afternoons. The bowling alley, however had a 30-minute wait. We rounded out the weekend with indoor games and breezed back into the city with not a single-car wait at the Lincoln Tunnel.
