It was bittersweet to find out that my parents will be selling all of their property in CO, including the cabin my parents built that we grew up going to during the summer. It was offered to us for purchase but just isn't feasible to maintain it and get out there enough being on the other side of the country! My mom has a photo album of the cabin so please excuse the "photos of photos" in my effort to tell the cabin's "story."
This is the camper we'd stay in while the cabin was being built. There was a homemade port-a-potty and shower built in the woods nearby.
There were plenty of jobs given to us to help in the process:
Kim helping with tile for the fireplace:
Staining jobs for everyone!!
My dad would cut up fallen trees on our property to use for firewood at the cabin and at our house. While my favorite part was riding in the empty trailer at the beginning being pulled to where he'd cut wood, the majority of the work was hauling the wood to the trailer and stacking it in the trailer. My preference was always to be the "stacker" in the trailer, not the "hauler." I suppose it was jobs like this growing up that helped Kim and I develop the work ethic that we have today!
Kim hauling:
These are our dogs, Spot (left) and Socks (right), that I got for my 8th birthday I believe as puppies. This is how I remember them looking from my childhood years. They were always outside dogs since Kim is allergic. They'd always come with us to the cabin and either curl up in the space between our seats in the Jeep or stand on our legs and stick their heads out the window. I remember many scratch marks on my legs from when we'd hit a bump or turn they weren't expecting then they'd go sliding. Ouch! Both ended up living long lives. Spot got out on the 4th of July when I was in high school. She was afraid of fireworks, dug under the fence, then went walking along the same path we'd take them on walks and ended up getting hit by a car. Socks lived until I was in college and ended up dying of old age while walking up the mountain from the pond up to the cabin - pretty fitting for her to pass while up there.
I actually enjoyed sweeping at the cabin. I think it's the satisfaction of being able to see the results of your work. I still don't mind the chore to this day!
When we got this order of wood paneling for the walls, it had gray putty inside the knot holes which was different than the previous paneling we'd received. Since no one liked the gray putty, we scraped it out. Haha.
Here's one of the knots cleaned as well as we could:
Our insulation was crumpled up newspaper:
Lots of naps were taken on these couches at the cabin. I was even happier if one of the dogs curled up with me. I think they were just happy to be allowed on a couch!! My love of naps has never gone away!
We often had family come up to the cabin with us. Here's my cousin Lisa who lives in Arizona. She probably had to buy these "cold weather" clothes just for the summer trip!
And here's our cousin Joel from Minnesota.
Mom coming up the mountain from the pond. Duke on the left (who we got after Spot passed) and Socks on the right.
This is probably where my love of puzzles began!
Here's my cousin Ryan from Arizona. These were the days before trampolines had nets around them. I earned this trampoline by mowing the yard. We'd often go lay on it at night (wrapped in blankets) to look at the stars. We often saw shooting stars since it was so clear without any city lights!
This is probably where my love of games came from too. We played lots of games (or made up our own) since we didn't have electricity at the cabin. Looks like Dad is playing Solitaire. We also loved playing Hearts, I Doubt It, and Sevens. We often played cards at night with electricity through the generator. Whenever the lights would flicker it meant that the generator was about to run out of gas. It was either time for more gas or time for bed!
This is what we named White Mountain. Ok, so maybe it's not quite a mountain, but in our eyes it was and was calling our name to be climbed! I'm not sure where the white sand came from since it's the only place that has it, but it was a fun challenge to try and get to the top.
Here's a picture of Willow from our trip this summer digging a foot/hand hold using a stick like we would as kids.
Cabin silverware pattern =)
The knobs on the top of the fireplace were great handwarmers!! Mom would boil a pot of water on top of the fireplace for washing dishes (which Kim and I helped with).
"Ancient" things like tape players are still found at the cabin!
This is the garage at the cabin that's at the top of the hill. It's never housed a vehicle in its existence! Haha.
My mom's done a great job of making the cabin look/feel like home. She'd find or make things like these that "looked like they belonged at the cabin" she'd say =)
One of the games that Kim and I made up was "Supergirl" where we'd knock down dead aspen trees with our feet. Yep....when you don't have electricity, you do stuff like that. Haha! (Pictured below is Willow)
You may be able to spy the pond in the upper right hand of this picture which is actually down a mountainside from the cabin. If you look carefully you might spot the remnants of a pathway that Kim and I would work on leading to the pond. We'd pull out/knock down the tumbleweed and other plants, then line it with rocks on each side. It never got finished but definitely kept us occupied! It's also where we learned how to go through a barbed wire fence and hold the fence open for others to step through =)
Other memories include stopping at "Dairy King" on the 2 1/2 hr drive up to the cabin. They had trampolines that were at ground level which were fun! We also enjoyed going through the woods. There was one time we went with my mom and got pretty lost! We had the dogs with us and every patch of snow with footprints ended up looking the same!
The cabin now has electricity at the flip of a switch without the hum of the generator or the flicker of the generator when it was about to run out of gas. They also have cable TV!!! What???? I even received a text on my phone while we were there. What??? Life isn't as "rough" for kids growing up there these days ;)
Here's a tour of the outside of the cabin. And here's the inside!
