Sad

Greenleaf state park contacted Dave on Thursday, and asked where we were.

When they scheduled our stay for this year, the person at the desk did it wrong.
She booked us for the week before Thanksgiving by accident, and we have lost our cabin camping trip for this year because of it.  

I am devastated.  That trip is the one thing I look forward to most every year, and we had our favorite cabin back at last.

They apologized, and moved our deposit to next year, still our favorite cabin, so that no one else can book it, and we have a confirmation with the correct dates.

However, leaving our money with them so we could do that means that we are just going to stay home instead of trying to find a last minute alternate.

This fall has been extremely stressful, but has also allowed for some amazingly high highlights (the wedding and vacation, crane spotting, and train spotting weekends).

Losing our cabin trip was like a kick in the belly, though.  

We needed it this year more than most.....but we will make the best of our unexpected staycation.

I will stick to my menu plan, mostly....with the exception that I will now bake my pie from scratch.

We ordered a REALLY cool backgammon set that will arrive in time, and we already have a lovely set of dominoes that we always take with us to the cabin.

We are surrounded by books and music in this house, and I am considering throwing a drape over the tv, and locking the lap tops up in a closet, so we can have the "no media" experience that is part of the cabin trip.

There is one "forest preserve" in this town, and we might go for a walk there. It has some very cool spots that I like, that have to do with water.

It's not a cabin by a lake, where I can sit for hours and watch the water, but it's better than nothing.

It's supposed to be cold and rainy the whole time, though, so we'll see.

We've elected to try our best to make this a retreat for ourselves, like it was meant to be.

Today is supposed to be gorgeous, so Dave will do some much needed fall yard clean up, and I will clean the house as if we still had people coming in to house sit for us next week.

That way, while we are off for our home retreat, I won't have to do chores unless I want to. Sometimes, I can't sit still, especially at home....so this will be a challenge.

My heart is sad beyond words about losing this trip.  I was actually feeling a sense of depression for a couple of days....but today, I feel better.