CABIN IN THE WOODS

2015. Adventurous/ Comedy Film. 3 days

Director/ Screenplay       Annamalai

Story Writer/ Blogger    Akilya

Cinematographer            Balasubramanyam

Photographers                  Bangari

                                         Mythili

Choreographer                 Bhanu P

Child Artist                    Monica

Comedy Duo                     Raghu

                                        Bhanu S

Female Lead Role            Shravanthi

Production Company         Last Minute Planners

Distributor                       Facebook/ Google Blog

Release date                5/26/15

Running time                72 hours

Location                        Letchworth State Park, NY, USA

Starring                 Shravanthi

Bangari

Annamalai

Bhanu S

Bhanu P

Raghu

Mythili

Balasubramanyam

Monica

Akilya

Last minute planners didn't really plan last minute this time. A location was decided that met distance of all our friends in NY/ NJ- who still had to drive 5 hours… Pretty lazy guys and there was one more lazier one… who drove from the neighboring country… CANADA… just 3 hours away… He is the one most frequent traveler across the border, who is here for our heroine. The NY/NJ guys, one guy from each state… new to each other but close to one other common friend. And then the majority of the gang … 5 folks from Chicago, who had the longest distance to travel and still managed to start their journey the latest on Friday night for an exciting long weekend- Memorial Day weekend. And that’s not all. I and my sister were the last ones to hop onto the journey… and the most excited ones, who were picked up on the way from Chicago to NY- Buffalo via our little town- WARSAW, IN. We packed mid night dinner- Tamarind rice and curd rice into individual zip locks too for the travel and not to waste time halting in between.

Everyone but us reached well early ‘late night’. We 7 with the longest drive of 10 hours from Chicago and 7 hours from our little town. We drove all night to reach really early the next morning 6 am. Quite before reaching… we started looking for breakfast/ lunch or whateva you’d call it… probably brunch… And oh ya, guys prepared an entire long list of groceries required… quiet impressive to our production company’s name… The guys who came late the previous night… our lazy ones went right to bed and claimed they didn't find a grocery store LOL… we were surprised to find no eggs anywhere… We finally reached the cabin in the woods. Besides a lake… A beautiful location to get away … A big house… 3 bed rooms… A big backyard, with a deck… and BBQ station… A game room in the basement … An awesome climate… WOW… What more would one ask for.

So Saturday morning we all settled in the cabin… hungry…. So we gobbled up the packed curd rice… and then banged the beds… quick to turn our sleepy eyes to shut down. Then by mid-day… got up asking what’s next… We filled our hungry tummies again with Tomato dhal over rice... And got ready to step out… we headed to the state park… to the upper falls…. And then the middle falls… Lower falls… was a bit longer walk… so we went back to the car and drove down to lower falls…. And of course what’s a trip without photos… we clicked trucks of pictures… and still hardly anyone tired… ha-ha…

Within the park, there are three large waterfalls on the Genesee River and as many as fifty waterfalls found on tributaries that flow into it; the deep gorge formed by the river, with rock walls rising up to 550 feet (170 m) in places and which narrow to 400 feet (120 m) across above the middle of the three falls, prompted the area's reputation as the "Grand Canyon of the East"

Then our heroine’s bestie sprang out asking for a hike… From here we parted in 2 groups… Anna, Bhanu 1 & 2, Raghu, Mythili, Monica and I went for a three quarters small hike…. And the remaining- Shravz, Bangi, Balu left to relax watching a hot air balloon show. We split with 2 cars… so not depending on each other… They 3 left home early… while we were enjoying our nature’s trail…. The freshness of the woods… the river flowing beside… then came a beautiful bridge… and our photographer caught a pic of a crocodile looking beaver… LOL…. That was a magnificent trail… the mountains… J then came a hill… our duo comedians were suddenly screaming from the top… WOOW…. N then enthusiastic Mythili pulled Monica and started climbing up… Mid way they started blinking up and down… Anna went to rescue… LOL… And there was all the monkeys up there…

Then we returned back from the trail… checked on if the hot air balloon show was still on and if our guys were just in case still there. Nope they weren’t, neither was there any show… So headed back to the cabin... on the way… got some firewoods for camp fire… Then got home… prepared dinner… chicken grilled… got the camp fire set up… All of us sat around and here enters our cinematographer… with his entertainment and all of enjoyed chat chatting and having dinner… Later in the night…. We put on some music and there entered our choreographer… with his awesome dance steps… Ha-ha... Monica was literally ROFLing…. He outstood even our duo comedians that night.

Sunday early to rise… we had booked for water rafting… All hyped up… and we were running late… Anna called up confirming his appointment… we rushed to the park… and got our instructions and lifejacket all buckled up- Anna, Bhanu 1, Monica, Mythili and I. Behind us the rest started a bit later and caught us in time… Bangi, our photographer… Clicked our memories… as we walked down to the river…. With our paddles… then took our positions on to the boat… There were a lot of others and colorful boats around us and instructors following and leading the troop. We enjoyed the whole 5 miles of rafting down the river… understanding the currents and flow… and pulling ourselves outta the rocks that we got caught up on several times… It was a life time experience….

“Sometimes the best moments are when you don’t click pictures.”

Tired back from rafting headed home… Got some more chicken marinated ready to be grilled by our head chef, also Bangi… Then he had to leave back to CANADA…L

Monday morning… it was the end of our vacation… cleaned up the cabin and packed our bags… got ready… and Balu and Bhanu 2 left… and all of us… played games a while…  slept most of the travel… We stopped for lunch and evening break in between…. And finally we reached home 9:30 pm… and the Chicago folks reached by mid night.

 Yet another unforgettable trip it was. J J