Cabin Trip 2008

We made our first trip to the Cabin on New Year's Day 2008. After staying up past midnight, we dragged our tired bones out of bed, and finished packing the Suburban. Because of the player piano that was in the West garage, the Suburban has been parked on the East side. Now the piano is inside, but we have kept the Suburban on the East. The middle garage is still unaccessible do to a minor collision with the Suburban. (According to Einstien's law of relativity, did the Suburban hit the garage, or did the garage hit the Suburban? Stupid garage.) Mom decided to keep the Honda parked on the West side, event though she cannot use the garage door opener. She hates fighting with the bikes hanging on the east side every time she enters or exits the car. So with the Suburban parked inside the garage, Jon and I put the ski rack and all the cross country skis on the Suburban, only to discover that we could not drive it out of the garage. The racks would not fit under the door. We had to unbolt one of the racks, lower it, then back out, and re-attach it. Pretty funny. We were on the road by 10:30, and arrived in Island Park by 3:15, only to be detained on highway 20 for an hour an fifteen minutes while a wreck further ahead was cleared. We are just grateful it wasn't us in the wreck. By the time we startefd skiing in, it was 4:50, and the sun was going down. It took an hour and twenty minutes to pull our sleds in, so we finished in the dark. Kristin was the speedster on this trip, breaking trail, but stopping periodically to wait for us.

Kanien pulled Marcella all bundled up in a sled. It was pretty cold when we skied in, but Marcella was so toasty warm, she fell asleep. This picture was actually taken on the way back out, but she looked just as cute on the way in.

Wednesday morming I awoke early and decided to ski over to Lucky Dog Creek and watch the sun rise. It was -13 degrees. There was a mist rising from the creek, and the trees were coated with frost.

I ended up breaking a trail through the recently fallen snow back past Lucky Dog Ranch to the little canyon that connects with Fish Creek Road. I returned to the cabin after a two-and a half hour ski, famished, but greeted by a delicious breakfast of omelettes cooked by Jon.

Kanien and Marcella reading a story. Marcella was the hit of the trip. She had so much fun exploring the cabin, and entertaining Grandma and Grandpa.

It was so cold outside that frost formed on Kristin's ski pole.

Later in the day, Jon, Katherine and I skied over my trail to the Ranch, and back through the forest to Fish Creek Road.

Jon showed off his stuff by raising a ski while coming down a hill.

On Thursday, we opened up the little cabin to see how well the wood burning stove worked. Marcella enjoyed a can of pringles that the previous owner had left in the cupboard. They were still sealed, so they were pretty fresh.

Katherine posed for a picture in front of one of the windows of the little cabin. We were able to warm the little cabin from 13 degreees to 45 degrees in just a few hours. The next day we warmed it up to 65 degrees to try and get the snow to fall off of the roof, but it wouldn't come off.

On Friday, Kristin and I skied down Lucky Dog Creek. It was sunny when we left, but soon clouded over. Six inches of new snow fell that night, making the ski trip out to the cars on Saturday a little more challenging.

This cabin trip was a great break from work, church responsibilities, and the never-ending to-do list of home projects. It was nice to rest, read, play games, and ski. Now we are back home, and ready to tackle some of those projects that have been waiting for so long. We can't wait to return to Island Park.