The Cabin

[snowangel]

I am passionate about our cabin. Located near the Canadian border (and very near Superior National Forest and Voyageur's National Park), it sits at the end of a jeep trail, bordered on one side by state land (a spectacular point). We can't see our neighbor, and the island prevents us from seeing any other cabins; the only thing we see is a small resort. We have almost 1,000 feet of lakeshore. No running water, no electricity, but we do have a big LP gas tank and a Servel gas fridge (quiet!), Humphrey gas lights and a gas stove. My in-laws purchased it 30 years ago for something like $20,000. It has two bedrooms, one with double bunk beds, and a large screen porch. It is heaven.

Fortunately, the kids and Paul share this same passion, and many Friday nights find us pounding up north -- 258 miles one way. I figure 4+ hours in the car -- same prep as if we did 2 hours, and the rewards of isolation are supreme. There is a reason my kids are not terribly involved with summer sports. Our sport mid-May to mid-October is going to the cabin.

So, what do we eat? On Friday nights, I tend to power pack the kids with scrambled eggs and toast while I pack the car. The minute Paul pulls in, kids in car and off we go. This past Friday night, Paul and I had a bag of goldfish, washed down with a bottle of squirt as he drove, I read the newspaper outloud to him, and the kids slept.

At the cabin, breakfast takes center stage -- always bacon or sausage, waffles or pancakes, and eggs. Lunches are finger food -- sliced meat and cheese, good bread, leftover veggies in vinagarette, fruit, out on the dock. The first night we're there for dinner, we always have steak, and I always buy way too much because leftover steak is supreme. We're lucky that we can leave all non-perishable items at the cabin. In addition to baking ingredients, there are a ton of condiments -- all sorts of mustard, fish sauce, dry rubs, etc. I took a small watermelon this past weekend, and to cool it down, we just hung it in the lake in a plastic bag.

Best of all is the "other" food -- the food for the soul. Popping popcorn at night and playing Milles Bournes (sp?). Sitting and listening to the deafening silence. Fishing. Looking at the stars at night; Peter can now identify Cassopia's Way. I finished painting the trim on the cabin this weekend, and when I got hot, it was clothes off and a dip in the lake.

Blueberries are in -- we look for granite outcropping that have been fairly recently logged, and grab ice cream pails and head in. We had a whole pail (5 quarts) in less than an hour. We had blueberry pie for dinner on Sunday night. The blueberries seem early this year, and the raspberries late.

I will head north again this Sunday with all three kids in tow, leaving Paul to work, pay the bills and mow the lawn, and plan to stay for a couple of weeks. He will commute up on the weekends, bringing provisions. Nearest grocery (small at that) is 30 miles away. My schedule, starting next weekend, will be dictated by weather.

The absolute best part of this past weekend: kids are in bed, it's midnight. Paul and I head down to the dock with cocktails. Look up, and we are privy to the most spectacular display of the northern lights we have ever seen. It was only 50 outside, but the lake is just over 70, so we stripped down, and laid on our backs in the water watching the display. The only sounds were a couple of owls hooting. Food for the soul.

Am I the only "cabiner?"

[Marlene]

It sounds wonderful. Since we have a house with a pool, we decided not to spend the money or time on a cabin. Instead, camping has taken centre stage where we get a lot of the same effects as your cabin. There is nothing like sitting outside with the campfire going, cocktail in hand, gazing at the stars in the complete silence except for the occassion cricket.

[guajolote]

What did you eat while you were there? Any fresh fish? Who did the cooking?

I love these reports .

[snowangel]

What did you eat while you were there? Any fresh fish? Who did the cooking?

I love these reports .

I do most of the cooking. Big breakfasts -- eggs, waffles/pancakes/muffins, meat (bacon or sausage). Lunches -- noshing/sandwich type. Dinner -- depends on how much noshing we did during the day!

We did catch some fish. The boat was out of gas and I couldn't remember what type of gas it takes, so we went out to the point (state land, abuts our land) and Peter and I took cane poles with bright yellow jigs and night crawlers and came back with enough sunnies for a couple of meals. Once my kids reach the age of 5, they know how to clean fish! For most people, the "ultimate" fish to catch is walleye, but it is just too much work -- I want more bang for the buck. The perch were a little wormy, we we tossed those back. We can catch a ton of bass (small-mouth) off the rock in front of the cabin, but I don't like to eat those -- they taste dusty and muddy. Crappies can be good, but not in high summer. Those are best in spring and fall.

We also picked "pin cherries." I think they are a service berry (???), but they were right this weekend. They seem to have about a two-day season. We didn't get many, but there were enough to make syrup for waffles one morning. Topped with blueberries, of course. It has been a spectacular year for blueberries.

I've been home for a few hours now, and am ready to hit the road for the cabin again. Sigh. I just need my 10:30 pm swim before bed.

[snowangel]

We head north again tomorrow. We will be joined on Sunday by my sister and her family and my parents. I will take enough food and beverages to feed my family until Sunday noon; my brother-in-law, a terrific cook, will be in charge of meals from there on.

We will play, we will fish, we will nap, we will bob in the lake, we will pick wild raspberries (bumber crop of outstanding berries this year), we will listen to one of the greatest radio stations, and tell all sorts of stories.

The cabin is the perfect place for a family reunion. Plenty of space, and plenty of things to do, none of which revolve around computers, TV, shopping, etc.

We will return to go to the Fair on Friday (week from tomorrow), and then I will probably head off again up north with the kids for a final pre-school fling, to be joined by Paul and some friends for Labor Day weekend.

I will report after our trip. It has been hot up north, so the water should be perfect.

[guajolote]

Will you be able to get more corn? I'd hate to see you go through withdrawal.

[snowangel]

Yes, we will bring corn when we go tomorrow. My dad will bring corn on Sunday. I fear, however, that our last corn meal will be Monday, so I shall go Tuesday and Wednesday without corn. We will stop for corn -- no matter how far the detour -- on our way home on Thursday. Thursday's corn may be eaten at midnight, but that's just fine with me.

As a side note, last night, I was hungry about 11:30 pm. I just boiled up a couple of ears. Delish, if I do say so myself.

[Sweet Willie]

Am I the only "cabiner?"

No. We have a place in St. Germain Wis. A little more modern but it is SERENITY NOW!

Almost every year since I was a kid I've been to the Boundry Waters area.

I like being able to get away from everyone w/the hard work of canoeing and portaging. But really, you don't even realize how hard you are working.

Fileting one's day catch of fish and preparing a shore lunch is sublime.

I keep one set of "clean" clothes. After we have finished canoeing/portaging for the day and the camp has been all set up, I'll switch out of the grimes and jump in the lake. Cool off and get clean. I then put on my "clean" clothes, fix dinner, let the fire get to a nice low easy manageable state and then take out a prized single malt scotch and watch the stars. We usually do mid September trips and are rewarded w/almost no people and the northern lights.

[snowangel]

Well sated, we are home for a couple of days.

Sunny days, warm water, a great thunderstorm, good food (rashers of bacon, plenty of sweet corn , waffles, steak, fresh fish, tomatos, Nicollet Meat Market garlic summer sausage, cocktails).

Lots of time listening to the great and wonderful KAXE-FM, watching the kids swim, swimming ourselves, skinny dipping under the northern lights...

Heidi spent so long in the water on Monday even her tummy was "pruny (pruney??)."

My folks and my sister and her family (they live in Berkeley) joined us.

Lots of doing nothing. It suited us just fine.

We head to the great and wonderful Minnesota State Fair tomorrow; then we pack back-packs and set out first day of school clothes and I will head north again early next week with the kids, to be joined by Paul and friends on Friday, for our annual Labor Day festivities at the cabin before the school year starts.

It will not be our last weekend at the cabin this season, but once September rolls around, the focus changes to walks in the woods, grouse hunting and non-swimming activities.

[snowangel]

I head north tomorrow with 5 kids in tow (Paul and other set of parents will join us on Friday) for a final summer blast. Oh, the joys of unemployment! We will have breakfast at White Castle in Hinkley (1 hour north of our house, if one is lead-footed like moi). Two of the kids have never eaten at White Castle .

The plans: larb lessons. pizza lessons. Playing in the lake. Fishing. Napping. Reading. Playing cards. Listening to the great and wonderful KAXE-FM radio. Watching the stars. Probably seeing the first of the changing leaves.

In preparation for pizza lessons, I have purchased a pizza stone for the cabin. We may not have running water or electricity, but damn it, we will have a pizza stone!

We return on Monday since the kids start school on Tuesday (my favorite day of the year ).

I will report upon our return about fish caught, fish not caught, larp and pizza lessons, celestial matters, foraging, nap quality.

[snowangel]

We had a wonderful time. Weather was cool and drizzly some days (we had a 44 degree morning!), warm and sunny other days. Plenty of swimming.

Pizza and larp lessons well received, and the two students (Diana and Nick, ages 12 and 13 respectively) really know their way around the kitchen. They also baked cinnamon rolls on the rainy, cool day. Diana and Nick got up early one morning and I was greeted, upon awakening, of "sunfish for breakfast!"

Not much to forage for -- a few stray raspberries. The hunters are gearing up, and we often heard sounds of gun shot in the gravel pit on the other side of the lake, as the ritualistic sighting and shooting at beer cans begins. While sitting in the outhouse, I once again saw the biggest buck I have ever seen.

Once the other adults arrived, we grilled rib-eyes one night and accompanied them with sweet corn and sliced Brandywines. The other night, we let the kids do "hobo" dinners -- those foil packet things with chicken, potatoes and green beans. The little kids really get a kick out of it.

Lunches were lazy affairs -- sandwhiches eaten on the dock in swimming suits. No worry about spilling.

After dark, it was s'mores and a couple of songs with the kids, accompanied by a guitar and mandoline, then to sleep, perchance to dream.

That's when the adults moved out onto the deck, cocktails in hand. Told lies, complained about vision changes and grey hair and sagging body parts, sang old rock and roll tunes, skinny-dipped under the many, many layers of stars and northern lights we don't see here in the Cities. We have all known each other since 1977, and this was our 7th annual Labor Day weekend at the cabin.

The weekend had that "beginning of the F word" aura. Many of the little birds have headed south, we saw lots more ducks and geese than we had seen even 9 days earlier. Gone is the "light in August" -- that haze has been replaced once again by brilliant blue. The angle of the sun has changed remarkably since those late June/early July days.

As usual, Labor Day dawned spectacularly clear, brillian and warn, without even the slightest hint of a breeze. I grabbed my coffee and went for my ritualistic first cup at the end of the dock, and the day was so inviting, it was clothes off and coffee in the lake. I was joined by everyone in a matter of moments. 13-year old boys are embarrassed by their mom's best friend skinny dipping .

Another swim after breakfast.

And, as is our habit, we packed and cleaned, and the last thing we did was go for that final dip of the season in the lake. It was with a tear in my eye that I bid a most fond farewell to our little spot of heaven, our water park, our spa on Monday evening.

The kids are back in school, so there is no more "jeez, it is a beautiful day. Let's just head to the cabin for a few days and Daddy can come up on Friday." We will return the weekend of September 20 (the meals at the family weddings that prevent an earlier return had better be good), but we will not swim; the focus will change to walks in the woods, grouse hunting, playing cards, fires in the stove. Diana noted that next time we go up, we will probably braise something. We will brave the water once again -- to take out the dock (I should say that I will brave the water; Paul will wear the one pair of waders, I will be bikini-clad). Then a couple of trips up in October before the road becomes impassable.

It has been the best summer up there ever, but then again, I think I say that every year.

[Schneier]

A cabin "up North" is de rigur for Minnesotans.

Us, we go to Canoe Bay. The food is better, and we don't have to cook, clean, wash, or get dressed if we don't want to.

Bruce

[maggiethecat]

Paul will wake every morning and make coffee (via Melita), and bring it to me in bed  (along with three kids), and I will shag my sorry ass out of bed, and fry some bacon, make some  waffles, and watch the leaves fall, go and shoot a grouse, or go fishing.  Weather preventing, we will play  cards, and make popcorn.

Ok. I am using this as my special, beautiful, go-to-sleep fantasy tonght. I am glad that you know how fortunate you are.

What card games? Hearts? Euchre? Pinochle? Poker?

[snowangel]

Paul will wake every morning and make coffee (via Melita), and bring it to me in bed  (along with three kids), and I will shag my sorry ass out of bed, and fry some bacon, make some  waffles, and watch the leaves fall, go and shoot a grouse, or go fishing.  Weather preventing, we will play  cards, and make popcorn.

Ok. I am using this as my special, beautiful, go-to-sleep fantasy tonght. I am glad that you know how fortunate you are.

What card games? Hearts? Euchre? Pinochle? Poker?

Yes, I do know how fortunate I am. I am almost as passionate about our Little Piece of Heaven as my family. The last installment for 2003 will come on Monday; the kids have a couple of days off school (parent-teacher conferences), so we head up on Friday to button things up for the winter. I will feel absolutely horrible and bereft when we leave

Cards. Pitch, spit, rummy, poker, a boxed card game called Milles Bournes. I dug out my 40 year old book of card games and think it's time I teach the kids to play Casino while I braise something.

This weekend will truly herald the end of summer for us. We will probably see our first flakes of the season, and that water will be mighty cold when we get in to take the dock out.

[snowangel]

A cabin "up North" is de rigur for Minnesotans.

Us, we go to Canoe Bay.  The food is better, and we don't have to cook, clean, wash, or get dressed if we don't want to.

Bruce

While we have to cook, etc., we don't have to get dressed, either. In fact, Peter discovered that the way to get the occasionaly fishing boat away from the front of the cabin is to bare all on the rock at the end of the dock.

[jat]

We have a cabin in Paradise. We count the falling stars, go looking for crawdads behind the house in a stream, take walks, have our "secret" outdoor hot tub 75 degrees plus at night in the summer, hidden in the rocks, go fishing for trout, have deer visiting every morning, (have pictures of my cat Snagels and the deer touching noses) and will take my cast iron pan, a bag of groceries, and cook outside in a closed park site. And the sun is always shining when the fog is in downtown. Life is good. Only 30 min. from the city, but it's all Los Padres National Forest land. Then we'll drive up the street in our Bronco, and park in a stream, and my husband will scare me with his flashlight in his mouth, "I'm the Lepricon" story. There are wild pumas and gigantic bear, by the park dumpsters. And we are very grateful and say a prayer of thanks.

[megaira]

Hmm, maybe we should have taken the transfer to MN.

I could write out pages on this topic, it's one dear to my heart.

It's awesome that you can give your kids these memories to start out their lives -I'll never forget those parts of my history and they've become an integral part of who I am today and what I think of when I'm craving "home" and "peace." My memory of my grandparents cottage (actually a house they built for themselves & the family after a series of cottages) has become in part, my dreamhouse. The design, certian aspects of it, the smell... since we're still paying down some debt and not ready to buy a second property yet, I've been "cottagifying" my house here and there. Certian things just make it feel more like "up north," even if I can't quite put my finger on why that is.

My grandparent's place was on a more populated lake with a small town at the south end of the water (www.sirsamsinn.com - we were next to this resort, actually. The resort owners bought the house in '83).

Yours sounds much quieter than ours was, but for me those sounds worked their way in and set up camp. I liked seeing the lights and hearing voices carry across the lake at night, or oddly enough, the sound of a chainsaw rattling away in the distance. I miss the loons like crazy and just the whole atmosphere of being on the lake. I miss the water slapping against the boat and jostling the barrels under the dock, the smell of the lake, feel of the air (it's pretty dry here)... I get heartsick thinking about it. The clams & crawfish, water logged strips of bark that washed up and tangled into everything and the mica in the sand. In the winter the ice would freeze clear in areas and it would be transparent and black with airbubbles trapped in it -we'd lay there with our noses pressed against the ice trying to see frozen fish. In early spring (around easter) the neighbors would get together and build a giant bonfire on the lake (always scared the heck out of me, I figured the ice would melt and we'd all go right through, but the ice was well over a foot thick).

My parents bought another property back in '92 up there on a lake, but it wasn't quite the same. It was a smaller, shallower lake and springfed rather than part of a chain (you'd swim, get out and feel dirtier than when you'd jumped in) and a snowmobile trail went right through the property -they spent all their time cleaning up the litter and crap the past owners or snowmobilers & hunters had left around the place, rather than enjoying it as they should. They eventually realized they'd never be able to build a place and have it stay unvandalized, so it was sold.

I miss NE Ontario tremendously and I'm always homesick for it, but to try to buy a cabin up there and travel from CO to the Algonquin area on a regular basis is just not logical, so I just try to find the simularities out here and appreciate what we have here for its own strengths (love the mountians). There are times when it rains and I walk outside and it smells *just* like it does up there. And I do love it here for what it is, rather than what I want it to be, but sometimes you just can't help it when nostalgia hits. I get so excited to find hummingbirds in the garden or hear a blue jay, and aspens can sometimes look like birch trees if you squint.

*ramble ramble* At any rate, count me amoung those who are aspiring to reaquire that lost part of our lives. You're very blessed & I'm just a touch envious.

- finished this post and ended up spending another oh, half hour, hour or so looking up pictures of NE Ontario, haliburton, muskoka, etc. (making myself bloody miserable) My parents must have taken us around more places than I thought, I recognize a heck of a lot of the places I'm seeing. A little bit of NE Ontario flavor.

Edited to fix laughing emoticon - I have no idea how that got clicked. Oh, and the link. d'oh

Edited October 26, 2003 by megaira (log)

[=Mark]

not only that but a respite from electricity and running water. electronic musical devices are also banned. Non electric music devices like guitars and accordions are required. the only electric devices accepted are flashlights.

[snowangel]

not only that but a respite from electricity and running water.  electronic musical devices are also banned.  Non electric music devices like guitars and accordions are required.  the only electric devices accepted are flashlights.

This is wonderful!

I do acquiese on a radio (battery operated) because there is a fabulous station out of Grand Rapids, MN. I turn it off or tune it out for news and just use it for music. Gotta have music to cook by!

[snowangel]

We have been unbelievably preoccupied and busy burning the midnight (2:00 am) oil getting our home of 18 years and three kids ready to get on the market (this Friday!), buying another home, getting our 13-year old out of an absolutely miserable school experience that life hasn't been much fun lately.

So, yesterday morning, Peter and I took the calendar off the wall and started counting.

Sixteen weeks from Friday we will once again make that 258 or so mile trip to The Cabin.

He and I will "x" off the days as we have done since Diana was about 4.

Sigh. Although it is sub-zero with a howling wind, we are warmed by the thoughts of July days at the lake.

[beachcove]

Susan, I am so with you!

Our cottage in Maine is a 325-mile trip, and the place probably won't be habitable temperature-wise until April.

I've really looked forward to your reports from the cabin. One question - do you have an outhouse, or an inside toilet?

I'm trying to think of provisions I'll bring up with us this spring, and as usual all I can think of right now is bacon. Nueske's bacon.

[snowangel]

One question - do you have an outhouse, or an inside toilet?

I'm trying to think of provisions I'll bring up with us this spring, and as usual all I can think of right now is bacon. Nueske's bacon.

Outhouse. No running water at the cabin, unless you count one of us running to the lake to fill a bucket. Makes for an easy close-up in the fall and easy open-up in the spring.

Bacon is always on my mind

[Jake]

Just came across this thread while taking a break from some work.......THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Your cabin's sound wonderful, but most of all it made me count the weeks until I can return to ours. It will be mid to late April, but on a freezing cold day like today, dreaming of lazy July days on the dock really does the trick. Oh how lucky we are!

[snowangel]

Yes, it is a wonderful spot. We are lucky.

Winter. We do not do winter at the cabin now that we have kids. Our cabin is inaccessible by road in the winter, so we are reliant on the very few neighbors we have for snowmobiles or ski across the lake with all supplies. With kids, it is just too much work. And, since the everything in the cabin is as cold as it has been outside (there is no heat other than a wood stove, and when a place has been sub-zero for quite some time, it takes a long time to warm), one must arrive early in the morning. When we have done winter trips, everything -- even the core of the bed mattresses -- is as cold as it has been outside and it takes quite some time for things to warm up. Add to that drilling holes through the ice to get water.

Someday when we are old and our kids are grown and gone from home, we will do winter trips again.

But, I must add that one of the fun things about our 'pre-children' trips was tracking animals. The show makes them easy to track and to find.

We saw packs of wolves, and snow rabbits.

We make our first trip of the season to The Cabin three weeks from this Friday. As usual, we will pull the kids from school early, and with a chain saw head north that 250+ miles. Chain saw is so we can have an easy trip in our jeep trail (it is not unusual to have deadfall on the road). And, once we pull onto the jeep trail, I will look for marsh marigolds and other signs of the coming season. Word is that the ice is out, so it will be a good weekend. Assuming that the water is above 40 degrees, Paul and I will brave it, he in waders, me in a bikini and water shoes, and put the dock in.

I am planning meals for our trip. We have just moved, and it has been an unbelievable amoung of work and stress, and we are looking forward to this year's Opener more than ever before. Paul and I have been doing The Opener for about 25 years together. With any luck, the first night, the kids will fall asleep early and we can remember when it all started.

So, Saturday, May 15 will find me on the deck of the cabin drinking a cup of strong black coffee while Diana fries the bacon. It is time. It has been a long, hard winter and all five of us need our Little Piece of Heaven.

[Dignan]

Yes, it is a wonderful spot.  We are lucky.

Winter.  We do not do winter at the cabin now that we have kids.  Our cabin is inaccessible by road in the winter, so we are reliant on the very few neighbors we have for snowmobiles or ski across the lake with all supplies.  With kids, it is just too much work.  And, since the everything in the cabin is as cold as it has been outside (there is no heat other than a wood stove, and when a place has been sub-zero for quite some time, it takes a long time to warm), one must arrive early in the morning.  When we have done winter trips, everything -- even the core of the bed mattresses -- is as cold as it has been outside and it takes quite some time for things to warm up.  Add to that drilling holes through the ice to get water.

So, Saturday, May 15 will find me on the deck of the cabin drinking a cup of strong black coffee while Diana fries the bacon.  It is time.  It has been a long, hard winter and all five of us need our Little Piece of Heaven.

So, you can visit in the winter, but it sure sounds like a chore. Then again, with a compensating effort, it also sounds like it can be an experience worth the effort.

It also sounds like it will be gorgeous in a few weeks when you are having your java. Enjoy!