VISITING AUTHOR/EDITOR ARTICLE

APRIL  2010

A Trip to the Catskills

Forwarded From Trenton Donauschwaben

          One degree Fahrenheit… one degree! There is something oddly tantalizing about seeing such a low temperature. One almost expects to see polar bears, Eskimos or sled dogs to appear at any minute. Actually, we had arrived at a place far below the Arctic Circle near a hamlet called Round Top located in the Catskill Mountains of New York, just 3 hours and change from the fair city of Trenton. Those of you who’ve never seen them, the Catskills rise to well over 3500 feet above sea level as one drives north on the New York Thruway (I-87). It’s just a spectacular area in every way.

          Our destination was the same as it has been for many years now. Owned and operated by a family of native Donauschwaben, ―Crystal Brook Resort is a clean and comfortable older mountain retreat with a decidedly German flavor. German food, live German music, Ger-man beverages…. Uhhh, you get the picture. Needless to say, it’s our kind of place. Heck, they even have one of our club’s 1980s era dance group portraits hanging on their wall!

          Speaking of dance groups, this year was extra special as the Philadelphia/Trenton dance group was on hand. This was the first appearance by a Donauschwaben dance group at Crystal Brook Resort in quite some time and we were glad to be back. The dancers whirled and twirled their way through six exciting dances on Saturday evening, including the always popular “Schau Zu Polka” that featured audience participation. The crowd really enjoyed the show and we congratulate all of our dancers for a job well done.

          We were very pleased that a number of members from our sister organization, the Philadelphia Donauschwaben, joined us for the weekend. Together our two clubs numbered over 40 folks and we all had a great time together. Despite the cold, many of us ended up at nearby Hunter Mountain on Saturday for great skiing, tubing, or just plain lounging about. Others did sightseeing and hiking in the nearby area. Everyone returned to the resort later on for some great tasting food and fine German music sung by a young man with an accordion accompanied by a saxophonist. He knew all the old favorites!

          Sunday morning found many of our group hiking to the local water falls. What normally is a cascading torrent of water was now just a giant sculpture of fabulous ice formations. The ice was just beautiful and our large group of hikers really enjoyed the scenery.

          All in all, the weekend was a great success. Thanks to the Hasenkopf family for having our dancers perform and for being such fine hosts. Thanks to Fred Gauss and our friends in Philly and to Joe Brandecker and all of our own club members for making this one of the best Catskills weekends we’ve had in a very long time. Don’t miss the fun next year!