In the Pines, In the Pines

Hey y’all! The day of my departure is rapidly approaching, and I’m getting ever more excited/nervous. There’s lots of mundane stuff to do in preparation for me leaving, but nothing worth reporting.I said goodbye to my parents last week in Atlanta, and Cari came there to pick me up on our way to the coast (more on that in a bit.) For those who are interested, here’s my schedule until the 17th, when I fly to Cameroon: I’m in Asheville, NC until the 9th, and then I’m flying to Philadelphia. I’m going to hang out in Philly for a day or so, and then take a Chinatown bus to NYC for the weekend. Then I’m going to return to Philadelphia for Peace Corps staging.

Anyway, the reason I’m writing this post is to tell you about an absolutely wonderful trip that Cari and I took. For a birthday present, Cari arranged as a surprise to take me to a place called The Hostel outside of Brunswick, GA. This “resort” is only a few miles from Jekyll Island, where J. P. Morgan and other early 20th century magnates docked their yachts and wintered, but it couldn’t be more different in temperment. The most prominent feature of the Hostel is that all the accomodations are in treehouses! Really. Here’s a picture of the treehouse that Cari and I stayed in. The accomodations were basic but quite comfortable. We had an electric fan, a bed. There are three shared outdoor showers and two composting toilets. Other amenities include a glass house for meetings and morning yoga, free shared dinner every night, a wide assortment of musical instruments for communal use, art and craft supplies, and lots of other great stuff. The hostel was started in the mid-seventies. A rotating cast of staff members handles the day-to-day operations, and the guests are expected to do at least some chores each day.

The nerve center of the Hostel is a pair of geodesic domes, surrounded by a variety of outlying structures. The dome on the left is currently under construction, and will eventually replace the dome on the right. Currently, the dome on the right holds the kitchen, office, library and living room. Behind it is the screened-in dining room where we had dinner each night. Everyone seems to gravitate toward this structure in the evening. While we were there, they were also working on construction of an outdoor kitchen built of cob (a hay and mud matrix) with a wood-fired oven. It was really cool…

Another great feature of the Hostel was it’s pristine CLOTHING OPTIONAL lake. It really was as clear as a swimming pool; you could see probably 12 feet to the bottom. I guess that the surrounding swamp filters the water to make it so nice. Ooh, I forgot to mention that this entire place is built in the Okeefenokee Swamp, and true to it’s name, it’s quite swampy. There are a lot of raised walkways to get you from structure to structure, and the one and only thing that I could complain about is the oppressive number of mosquitos. I’ve spent a good deal of time outside, and I’ve also visited my share of swamps, but never EVER have I experienced the number of mosquitos that this place had. Here’s a shot of one of the walkways winding its way through the swamp.

Our hut, I think, was one of the best ones at the Hostel, although I have no basis for comparison. One of the coolest features was the fact that it overlooked a meditation labyrinth (“The third largest in the U.S., that we know of.”) I never walked through it, as part of it was underwater, but I certainly felt calmer just looking down on it from my window :)

So, in conclusion, if you’re ever in Southeast Georgia or Northeast Florida, you should absolutely make a trip to the Hostel outside of Brunswick. At $25 a night per person, it’s a great deal, and the people and accomodations are wonderful. Thank you so much Cari. I had the most wonderful time. Here’s a link to their website: http://www.foresthostel.com/

Happy trails!