When it Rains in Steinhatchee, Settle in and Love the Landing

Sitting still doesn’t come naturally to me.

When I plan a getaway, it tends to have a four-page itinerary of activities — per day. So when my family (myself along with my husband, our 10-year-old son and his best friend) headed to Steinhatchee, I had a long list of places I wanted to explore and activities to keep our young fellows occupied.

Exploring the Steinhatchee Landing resort itself was chief among those activities: With an on-site basketball court, boat rentals, a pool, table tennis, petting zoo, gorgeous gardens, a chapel, a riverfront dock, a playground, shuffleboard and tennis courts, sauna, bicycles, archery and even croquet, my only worry was how we’d have time to do it all.

Then the rain started.

And continued.

I’d heard people describe the Landing as the most restful place they know, where they can kick back and shed the hectic pace of life they tend to keep during their workaday lives. Restful, however, is not in my boy’s vocabulary, and his buddy is equally action-oriented. But here’s the surprise: During the 30-odd hours of pouring, drenching, non-stop, cats-and-dogs downpour that was our stay at the Landing, those boys were in hog heaven.

They adored getting to know the two-story cottage that we called our own during the stay. Every nook and cranny, every closet, was thoroughly explored. Their upstairs bedroom — thoughtfully set apart from the downstairs master suite and outfitted with a sitting area, television and window seat for peering out over the resort — was their fort, their playhouse and their secret hideaway. When they wanted a change of scenery, they explored the back porch, where they could sit outside and admire the koi ponds and landscaped pergolas, or the front porch, where the roomy swing became their favorite place to talk about the new wonders and trials that awaited them next year in middle school.

As for my husband and I, we settled into the well-appointed living room, with stacks of magazines and CDs thoughtfully provided by the resort, to relax in a way we just don’t do at home, where all of our unfinished chores stare us in the face. We cooked meals, sipped wine as we listened to the rain on the roof, and listened to music. We tested out the porch swing. And when the lightning let up just enough to venture outside, all four of us scampered out to explore the petting zoo, watch the river rush by and explore the paths and bridges that encircle the resort.

If your vacation plans should ever be turned upside down by a downpour of Biblical proportions, I hope you have the good luck to be staying at Steinhatchee Landing.