It's just a fact: New Yorkers do not get out enough. Oh yeah, they go to parties and clubs and bars and maybe they even go all the way to Manhattan (Brooklyn Queers) or all the way to Brooklyn (Chelsea Gays) if a friend has an autobiographical piece of performance art that they are socially and politically required to attend. But they seem glued to the city in a way that just can't be healthy. Or let's say it is somehow super awesome for you to never stray more than 7 miles away from your tiny apartment that you share with six strangers, it still seems, well, kind of boring.
Of course, there are reasons for this, the cost of sharing tiny apartment with six strangers, primarily, and perhaps secondarily (is that even a word) Fear of Nature and Natural Things.
So I'm going to be featuring some Queer Places You Can Visit By Public Transportation From New York And Not Be Afraid of Being Attacked by Nature or Natural Things. The first of these places is Rainbow Mountain in the Poconos of Pennsylvania.
First, a disclaimer: I have performed at Rainbow Mountain three years in a row and love it there so I suppose I am technically not an objective reviewer. But being a homocomic means I've visited a lot of homoplaces so I have quite a basis for comparison and I can be quite picky in my own way, about ambiance if not about brand of soap.
Here are the reasons I love Rainbow Mountain:
1.Hot tub. Open 24/7, 365. Outdoors. Beautiful views.
2.Friendly staff, some of whom have been there for years. And the staff actually seem to really care about each other. I don't know, I suppose technically it could be an act, but if it is, they're really good at it.
3.Rainbow Mountain is part of gay history. The resort has, depending on who you ask, been gay since at least the 80s. How many of our queer places have we lost since then? My dyke moms had one of their first dates there, and they've been together 29 years.
4.Good grub. The best in the area, rumor has it, and two meals are included in the price of the room. Which brings me to..
5.Affordable. At least relatively. When you look at their rates, especially weekday rates, and think about the fact that your food as well as all the onsite activities are covered, it could well be less than one might spend pursuing recreational queerdom in the City.
6.You can get there by public transit. Even though it's in the woods. Take the Martz Trailways bus (runs like every fifteen minutes during rush hour) to the East Stroudsburg/DWG station and you're just a short cab ride away.
7.Theme weekends. We went during the three days called Bears and Bigs Celebration and had a great time, although neither my girlfriend nor myself technically are bear-identified. They also have Men's Weekends, Women's Weekends, Cookie Dough Eating Weekends, etc (okay I made that last one up).
8.None of that “oh we're not quite gay:” BS at Rainbow Mountain. Their website is about the queerest thing I've ever seen and there are free condoms and lube on just about every horizontal surface. They know the community and support the community (they host a gay AA meeting on the weekends, provide website space for local gay health initiatives) and they're not trying to convince anyone RB is a “straight acting” resort.
Comments