The Story of Day Two….

Not everything is for everyone. Second time in a day I’ve written that.

No tales of hedonistic fucking till the sun came up from us in this post. Bottom line up front, neither Kate nor I played last night. We’ve had great fun with lots of sex, we’ve had great fun without it. Yesterday was the latter. We’ll talk more about that in a bit.

The takeover was held in Scranton, PA. I took the main post pic before heading to the hotel. I suppose most people’s knowledge of Scranton is that it’s the home of “The Office”. It’s one city in a 30–35 mile chunk of what’s known as the Wyoming Valley. It’s similar to LA in the sence that it’s made up of a shit ton of cities and smaller municipalities. Scranton and Wilkes Barre are the biggies in the valley, and the valley’s population is a little more than 550K. Yes, you can find Dunder Mifflin merch at the ariport, and all over Scranton.

We ran some errands in the day. That was kind-of nice. We both know the area up here well enough to not need a GPS once, and we had our own car; no need to figure out a rental. We took about a 90 minute nap which was wonderful.

The first organized event that we planned on attending was the speed dating. It ran from 5 to 6 and I think it was a “sell out”, no empty seats.

The way they ran it was there were two groups of chairs, one along the wall of the ballroom, the other in front of the first group. Each group was divided into 4 chairs, 2 facing each other with a few feet in between. One couple was in each pair of chairs. You’d get 5 minutes, the hosts would yell times up, and the outer group stood up, and moved one set of chairs to the left.

It was fantastic!!! The hosts provided us with a list of suggested questions, Kate and I only used it once with a couple we just didn’t spark with. All of the rest were free flowing 5 minute jabber jaws. We met some people we’d love to spend more time with, some that weren’t for us, but were nice to meet. It’s impossible to talk to everyone at an event like this, this got us talking to 10 or so couples we wouldn’t have otherwise.

The youngest couple we talked to just made the cutoff; they turned 50 a couple weeks back. The oldest were solidly in their 70’s and had been married for I think 52 years. They had business cards with their contact info. Well done. (We had planned on doing that, I had a card designed at some internet printing joint, and I promptly spaced it. That will be taken care of)

One of the couples we talked to was brand new to the lifestyle, this was their introduction to swinger-land. They were a little bit older than Kate and I, and it turned out the wife has been sober pushing 30 years and comes from the same 12 step world as we do. We spoke with them a couple more times yesterday, and lost track of them at some point while we were dancing.

Later in the evening the ballroom played to host to a surprisingly funny comedy show.

Speaking of the booze thing. I’ve meant to do a full post about that at some point, we’ll see how deep this section gets.

I would 100% not recommend anyone newly sober (their first few years) attend a hotel takeover. The booze flows freely and often, tho perhaps a bit less here than at other takeovers we’ve been too. It’s a truism that as you age, your body can’t process alcohol like it could in your 20’s. The older the group you find yourself with, the more people have come to that realization. That said, there were no shortage of people yesterday morning and today who were in deep regret about their drinking choices the night before.

We were offered shots of a variety of things from I don’t even know how many trays being passed around. That’s not the problem that you’d maybe think it is.

After a while being sober, the tendency is to take on basically a neutral attitude twords it. It’s not for you, nor is it a crisis if it’s nearby. The realization that a bottle never attacked me or poured itself down my throat is a thing. I did all that. It’s not my favorite thing, and as a rule neither of us expose ourselves to it for it’s own sake. We’re sober in a world that drinks; drinking is part of many social event’s and swinging is no exception. We’re there for the people and the environment, not for the booze. Subtle thing perhaps, but legit.

What does get trying for both Kate and I is being the sober people in a group of tipsy or drunk people. People are a little chattier, a little friendlier, a little touchier; this in and of itself isn’t a plot twist. Add to this that swingers as a class are a little chattier, a little friendlier, and a little touchier (again, not a plot twist) and things can get a little sideways for Kate and I.

The second floor of the hotel was the party floor. The organizers did a great job before hand of matching people who wanted to be “hosts” on the party floor with rooms there. They also decorated the hallway with a ton of various LED strings, the main theme being a series of light blue arches that went across the hall, and in 6 or 7 foot intervals, ran its length.

They had a potluck arranged for Saturday night that was great. Everyone kicked in something and there was a great spread, heavy on hoagies from the grocery across the street. The potluck tables were setup near the elevators.

I’d say a quarter of the rooms were open as play rooms. Some had a kink / BDSM flair, no shortage of asses being flogged for sure. Some were rooms with 2 beds and one designated for public play. It was interesting, and as the night wore on more and more people were putting on shows.

About the sex this weekend. We’ve never maintained we’ve got this all figured out. we’re travelers and learning as we go, no different from anyone else. At the end of the day (well, weekend), as Kate and I were walking out of the hotel, we each had a smile on. We had a fun weekend, and will return. Definitely putting into place the lessons learned from this takeover.

Something we’ve learned before is in situations requiring a choice, us choosing what’s best for us and our headspace is always the right move. More to come with this, we’re going to give it some time and space and let it process a bit first.

The hosts, Silver and Spicy, crushed the weekend. They ran a very smooth and well organized event. We’ve already signed up for their next event; a Mardi Gras themed weekend in early March next year. If you’re interested in knowing more, please drop us an email, we’ll be happy to point you in the right direction.

The hotel was perfect for this sort of thing. Not state of the art new or at peak refresh, but solid, clean, and well managed. Decent sized ballroom, a great lounge, and the pool was fantastic. Neither of us heard anyone grumble about the hotel at all.

Thanks for reading!! Be kind to yourself and others!!!

Sam & Kate

PS….If you’ve made it this far, please take a moment and clap (once, or up to 50 times) for this post. It’s feedback for Kate and me, (comments and highlites are always welcome too!) and helps push the story up algorithmically. Thanks!!!