The Cabin

Sadly ... I am STILL on pictures from Thursday, but a post of the cabin needed to be made - then I shall move on to new days, new photos, new adventures ...

Let's back up a bit ... to, oh, I think January. I had called my mother asking again about dates for our 'Family Reunion' so that Gary could plan his year of vacation, and if the location was near his siblings, notify them of the dates so we could maybe get together with them also. Got the dates settled, and location, but she was frustrated on how to get lodging for all of us, and seemed rather upset that she wasn't sure how to figure it all out - with needs being different for each family.

I told her to calm down, get on her computer and type exactly what I typed on mine. We had decided on Island Park, Idaho as the location, so I Googled: "Places to stay in Island Park, Idaho" and started from there. We found a place that seemed PERFECT for what we needed. It had a hotel, individual cabins, bunkhouses and an RV park! What luck! My mom checked out the photos of the bunkhouse and decided that it would do for the majority of those going and was inexpensive - an important part of the equation. Marci and her partner would stay in the hotel, Gary and I opted for a cabin (it is easier for me to go off and get rest, OK and away from the family when needed, and, let's face it ... we are spoiled) and my other sister who was coming up in an RV, or wanted to camp, or something - I wasn't paying all that much attention, thought she would be somewhere else, but could also be in the same 'compound' as the rest of us ... like I said: PERFECT!

But there is always that 'you touched it last' ownership that left me with an inkling of fear that should things turn out to not be, well ... PERFECT! that I would get the blame. I generally toss these types of responsibilities like a hot potato, but mom needed help and was happy that we had it all figured out. And if mom was OK with the bunkhouse - hey - I assumed that meant everyone else would be.

I thought nothing more about it.


Fast forward to July and Gary and I settle into our cabin. It was really a condo - being attached to the one next to it (it was on the end, so thankfully only one set of neighbors) so how they got 'cabin' out of that I don't know. Looked around, decided that we were OK with it.

We headed over to where the bulk of the families were staying with my parents, most having just arrived, having stunned looks on their faces.


What?


Even my mom seemed to be surprised with the accommodations. She was saying (and I only have a scary morning photo to show you from the following morning - don't ASK me what my crazy brother is doing in the background - he actually has a fairly normal shaped - albiet chunky - body ...) 'The beds are all together'. I remember wondering what did she expect - it was called A BUNKHOUSE, not THE SUITES. But, still - it looked a bit ridiculous and VERY, VERY ... UM ... COZY?

Most seemed uncomfortable to be sleeping all together as a huge group and there were mutterings about the symphony of snores the next morning - my Dad being the loudest snorer that I know ...

I am assuming they got over the initial shock, some sleeping in the living room on couches to get away from the snorers, some just grinning and bearing it. I got very little harassment for it, but felt bad none the less.

It worked well as a good place that the Parents, and six families could congregate and eat - since there were two large tables and a fairly large kitchen, so there was that, it was just - all those beds! It looked like something in a gym somewhere after a natural disaster - only with matching bedspreads. If there had been no living room or kitchen where they could sit down and relax, I would have referred to them as 'refugees' (not to their faces, mind you ...) I can't remember what Gary was calling them - to their faces ... inmates? Something.

It wasn't great, but the price was right and they survived without any major fights, injuries or outbreaks of disease ...

The last day for my sides Family Reunion - when everyone from my family was heading out (if they had not left the night before) were cleaning up and called us to come and get some stuff from their fridge since we were staying for 4 more days. Went over, said goodbye and took the stuff back to our 'cabin'.

Soon, we get a phone call from my sister, Jill, saying that they forgot about the OJ, what number was our cabin and they would drop it off for us. I told her thanks and that it was 500. Soon the door knocks, and I open it. My sister walks in (for the first time) and the look on her face was ... priceless! She could barely get the words out:

Jill: "You stayed here?"

Lori: "Yes, why?"

Jill: "Did you SEE what we were staying in?"

Lori: "Yes, you never came over to visit us."

Jill: "WHY WOULD I THINK TO? I HAD NO IDEA YOU HAD SOMETHING SO NICE!"

Lori: "Sorry."

Jill: "I'm getting Mark and the boys ..."

Lori: "Um ... wait ..."

She leaves to get her entire family (husband and two teenage sons) out of the car ...

Back again - most of them a bit annoyed at themselves for not looking us up sooner. Mark brought in his camera (which I thought a bit odd, why take photos of someones elses cabin?). I will follow him through our cabin with my own photos:

Kitchen - was very nice to have, very roomy:

A look at the kitchen and living room:
The living room - that we quickly turned into our offices:

They had WiFi so I was in heaven (when I was not sick and in bed):

Gary had even scoped out his own place, complete with the best line of sight to the TV (but barely watched it):

The upper deck was lovely, the view of the trees, but if you looked close enough - you would see that it was the RV park ... (this is a panorama of 7 photos - and they did not line up so well, so at least 1/3 of this photo is fake ... can you spot the fake parts?):

Downstairs was a cozy family room:

I sort of winced at the screaming of my nephews when they saw we had a hot tub ...

Into Gary's room - it was a queen size bed, and we don't sleep very comfortably in queens together, so I got the other room:

Back up to the main floor to start up to the loft ... 'Lori's Loft':

My room - with double beds - which Gary does not fit in at all, thus I had two all to myself:

As the days progressed and I became more sore and, for some reason my feet began to swell, and, well - just everything hurt much worse than usual - I cursed those stairs! Sadly, there was no bathroom in 'Lori's Loft'!

Looks lovely, no?

It was nice - though expensive and we had to do weird things to check out (strip the sheets, run the dishwasher, throw the towels in the washer and start it ... I mean for the money we paid and as little of the entire cleaning that needed to be done between guests - it seemed weird, but was no biggie ... especially for me - I was doing good to stay upright - having trouble with my balance the last two days I was in Idaho - so Gary did it all).

BUT!

It will forever be the place that I had the creepiest experience ... since I can remember - so I do not exactly think back on the place with fond memories ...

We arrived at the cabin on Thursday, everyone got settled in, Gary went to bed and I stayed up and blogged. When it was time for me to go to bed, I went up to go to bed, carefully keeping a light on since at the bottom of the stairs there is a bend with two more stairs and no handrail and twice I almost tripped and fell forgetting about them - thus the lights were left on so I would not forget about the two killer stairs and fall. Gary was in a room downstairs so the light was not bothering him.

After three trips downstairs for something I forgot, I settled in for the night, and had settled into that wonderful, dreamy, almost dozing place ....



WHEN A FREAKING MOUSE RAN OVER MY FACE!



How do I know it was a mouse? The lights were on and as my body flew about three feet in air, tossing the little guy onto the floor - he sauntered over to the stairs and was clearly a mouse.

Sure, sure, but you didn't have glasses on, maybe you are just being hysterical and it was just a bug that brushed up against your face ... hmmmm? My subconscious desperately trying to talk me down ...

I was WIDE AWAKE so I got up and surfed for the rest of the night. And, annoyingly, my new little buddy decided to hang about in the living room and scamper about while I was sitting on the couch typing on my computer. Bless him, his favorite thing to do was sit out in the middle of the room looking all cute and all, then suddenly run BETWEEN MY FEET and under the couch I was sitting on!

So - which sounds like more fun?

1) Having a mouse run across your face? Once?

2) Having a mouse charge you and run between your feet multiple times?

I went with number 2 ...


When I went in the Office the next day to tell them that we had an unexpected guest(s), they told me that they would have Hal come over and take care of it. I never saw any evidence that Hal did anything, but to be fair, I didn't see my little buddy again (although for some odd reason - I had a really tough time sleeping ... got way too little).

When, the next night we lost power and I called the front desk to see if the entire compound had lost power, they told me no, they had power. I sarcastically said that maybe the mouse that ran across my face the night before chewed through the wires - the lady decided that would be a good time to yell at me that I shouldn't leave the doors to the cabins open ... AS IF she knew somehow that we just left it ajar willy nilly with a "Critters Welcome" sign posted out front ...

That and the fact that we hit a time that they were flushing their system out or some such nonsense and told us we could not use any tap water - not even to rinse our toothbrush since the chlorine they were flushing it with was really strong - so we missed out on all that ice cold Idaho water we were looking forward to ...

I would not recommend the place to anyone in the near future. Maybe when my mind starts to go and things aren't so vivid, maybe then, but - right now - you couldn't PAY ME to go back!