Our annual Thanksgiving retreat was much needed, and went off without a hitch!
We had cabin #14 for the first time, and really liked it. The fireplace draws VERY well, and is wide open. No little insert, here, and no weird metal plate in front of the grate, like in cabin #7.
We have now had most of the stone cabins in the park, with the exception of #8-10, and we have determined that #14 is our favorite.
The front steps are a bit difficult to navigate, but we managed.
It was raining as we drove out on Wednesday, but it let up in time for our arrival and unloading.
We spent a little too much time lingering over lunch (thanks, Dave), so we didn't get to the park until after 4:30. The office was closed, and we had to get our key out of a little locker.
We ordered up 5 bundles of firewood from the cabin-area manager (this is a separate entity from the state-run office, and they were still open), and had a lovely first night fire.
The heavy rain on the roof started after we had settled in with our fire, and it was a lovely thing to just listen to the rain while the fire crackled. I made the cranberries, then, too, so the cabin smelled heavenly.
Thanksgiving dawned with deer roaming right in front of the cabin, and a light rain falling. There was a buck and three does. The buck was missing his left antler. We hoped that he had won that fight.
It rained all day, so we mostly stayed in. I got the fire going in the mid-afternoon, and kept it going well into the night.
We did get out for a short walk before that, though, when the rain had let up. It was absolutely silent outside... no wind, no people (apparently, the rain kept them all inside). We went partway up behind the cabins, where there were little rivulets of rain water laughing between the rocks.
Our feast was really good, with herb and lemon roasted Cornish hens, fireplace potatoes, my green bean casserole (no canned soup, and lots of flavor), and cranberry orange compote. Pecan praline crusted pumpkin pie for dessert (and we still have some for breakfast today)!
There was wine, and reading, and music, and we used an extra bundle of the wood. It kept the damp away, and this made the main room of the cabin nice and cozy.
On Friday, the skies were clearer, so people were out, and about, and LOUD.
There was this one teenaged boy who must have been bored out of his mind, and he managed to drive all of the deer deeper into the woods to escape him, first thing in the morning.
You know...right as they would have been coming to forage for acorns in front of our cabin.
Grumble.
After breakfast, Dave went into town for more wine, and to look for a kitchen gadget or two, which he didn't find.
While he was gone, I went on a solitary ramble.
I stayed on the road, because I still have some vertigo, and didn't want to risk going to my favorite place alone, as it is up on the ridge, and the trail (which isn't really a trail, but a wildlife track), is right next to a drop off.
Anyway, I walked well away from the cabins, and the noisy people, and there, I was met by no less than 10 deer: one here, two there, 5 over there...quietly making their way through the deeper woods. I stayed to the road, but they did not mind me, and we walked together for a good hour or so.
Until that same annoying kid came stomping along, with his dog, and his loudness. Why did he need to be talking to his dog at full volume? Oh, that's right....teenage boys only have one volume.
(I have often said that teenage boys are made of noise and stink)
Grumble again.... sigh.
Dave had come back, but was not worried about me, as we know this park very well, and we know that I need this time alone in nature. That's part of why this retreat needs to happen every year.
We got another bundle of firewood, and then we walked together, up onto the ridge. Further this time, than when the rain had let up on Thursday.... All the way up to the point where the trail becomes too dangerous.
I would have gone on, were I younger, and still had that absolute confidence in my hiking abilities that I once had.
Anyway, we lingered up there, in the quiet, with the birds and the breeze. It was heavenly.
There were no vultures roosting in the highest trees this year, so that was nice.
After that, we came back down, and walked past the cabins, and the noise (there was that boy again, firing a toy gun that made a racket, and playing catch with his much older brother), along the road- where I had gone earlier.
We saw a doe with a pair of twins, and heard a buck snorting up on the highest part of the ridge. We never saw the buck, but we got his message, and moved on.
All day Friday, we eat left overs, so Friday is really my day to completely relax.
Yes, walking 5000-plus steps, out in nature, IS relaxing to me!!
We did more reading, and had a good, long fireplace session. I was able to do some focused spiritual work to round out the day.
I saved the two, biggest pieces of wood for last, and just before bed, stood them up over the intensely hot bed of coals, leaning against each other, and the back of the dogs, like the letter A.
They burned well into the night, leaving nothing but ash, and the cabin was kept warm. I never turned on the noisy heater, which I had used the previous two nights.
It rained again on Saturday, which made packing up the car more of a challenge than unpacking was. I woke up in pain, too, which also posed a challenge for cleaning the cabin, and packing everything up.
But we made it, and checked out with 6 minutes to spare. I told the ladies in the office that we have been doing this Thanksgiving stay since 2010. They asked if we always stay in #14, and I said that I didn't know we could request a specific cabin anymore....(since we can no longer book next year at check out time, and now have to wait a month, and do it on line).
They said that there is a "notes" space on the reservation page of the web site, and assured me that we could request a specific cabin for next year, and they would do everything they could to book it for us.
Yay!
The rainy drive home was harrowing, as there were times when visibility was practically nil, but, once home, it had gone to a drizzle. Unloading the car was a much less-wet process than loading had been!
Laundry is done, cabin dishes, and other bits, have gone through the dish washer, and a list has been made of a few items we'd like to add to the cabin kit. We left our oven thermometer in the oven, by mistake, and need a new one of those, too.
This morning, Dave is going to Costco, and I am going to finish putting stuff away, and re-loading the cabin box.
Back to reality tomorrow, with my office day. Sigh.
Have a good week!
