Hello Steemit friends: I hope you'll join me in a mountain cabin retreat in the Northern Cascades of Oregon.
Our son was going to a Boy Scout camp on Mt. Hood. It just so happened to be the weekend of our anniversary, so we thought it would be perfect timing to get a cabin near the lodge he would be staying at to spend some quality time together and celebrate our anniversary.
After winding up the mountain, we met the other boys and leaders in a parking lot, where everyone gathered their packs and put on warm coats, hats, and gloves to hike up to the lodge. The parking lot was surrounded by towering walls of snow. There was a carved path going up onto a trail to the lodge. They towed all of their supplies on sleds. It wasn't that long of a hike, maybe a mile. We hiked in with our son to see where he'd be staying. The trail was hard packed snow, but if you lost your footing, you would sink into several feet of unpacked snow. After following the trail and the line of boys for a while, we could see the lodge buried in snowdrifts. The smell of wood smoke trailing from the chimney hung in the air. We could hear the echoing of laughter and cheer through the woods as some of the kids were already tubing down the hills. We walked along, taking in all the natural beauty, we could see lichens hanging from the trees and drops of water slowly dripping from pine needles, and the beautiful aqua blue color where the snow dips down.
When we went inside the lodge, the scene was very much like the movie, Home Alone. There was a lot of noise as kids were bustling everywhere we looked. They were running up and down the stairs, in and out of rooms full of bunk beds, as 120 boys tried to claim their bunk and explore their new territory. Others were scurrying outside to go sledding. The lodge was very rustic and simple inside. Everything was made of wood and open in the center all the way to the three story vaulted ceiling. There was a huge wood stove for the boys to warm themselves after playing outside, and the room was lined with couches and ping pong tables.
Our son had never stayed at a camp, so when we were walking back to the vehicle it was a little difficult to leave him there, even though we knew he would have a great time. The excitement set in to see our cabin as we followed the mountain road passing some of the most pristine waters flowing over boulders as it made its way through the land. We were curiously looking around every curve for our cabin until we finally arrived about forty-five minutes later. Nestled right against a mountainside surrounded by woods, it was the peaceful haven we had been hoping for.
The cabin had a mixed rustic decor down to the smallest details. It was very cozy and made us feel right at home. In the living room, there was a cow skin rug, authentic Pendleton wool blankets, Native American art decorated the walls, old pottery in various places, and cow skin pillows placed on the couch. There was cut wood ready to use in the wood stove and an apparent mountain theme throughout the entire home.
We went to a little grocery store in the small town of Rhododendron, to buy some food and essentials that we would need. Later that night, we settled in and popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate the occasion and warmed ourselves by the fire as we reminisced into the night.
The next morning, we were pleasantly surprised by a tiny waterfall right outside the dining room window. We could hear the trickling sound of the water while we enjoyed our breakfast.
We started the day with a colorful veggie scramble, roasted potatoes, hickory smoked bacon, and fresh Oregon blueberries.
After a nice quiet morning together and a hot cup of coffee, we decided to drive up to see our little boy. When we got there, we found him laughing and playing the board game, Risk, with a group of boys. It was raining rather hard, so they decided to stay in and play board games, ping pong, and hide and seek in the three story lodge until it let up. After visiting for a while, we decided to go do some exploring and spend some time together.
We had a late dinner at the only restaurant around, in Zig Zag, Oregon. It was difficult to find the healthy food we were used to, so we settled for some diner food since it was getting so late. It was actually great food and we enjoyed our time talking and laughing about little things.
Deer antler chandeliers lined the ceiling centered by a pair of moose antlers. Along the walls you could see fly fishing gear and mountain themed decor once again, creating a warm atmosphere.
Our last morning at the cabin, we had a special anniversary breakfast to end an extraordinary getaway. We made cheesecake crepes with blueberry compote and orange juice to wash it down.
Before heading out, we sipped a cup of hot coffee and wrote in the guest journal about our wonderful experience.
We picked our little boy up and shared stories on the way home. It was such a great time, but we were all ready to be home again.
Stay tuned as we visit the town of Government Camp, a trendy little ski town.
Looks like a very nice place to stay in the woods. Looking at your pictures makes me wanna go to the mountains right away 🙃.
@psionic-tremors Thank you so much! I like your new profile picture by the way! :)
Thank you :) - the other one was to dark and i was 2 times mistaken for a man ;)
@psionic-tremors Lol, I don't see how! :)
This was a great post!!
I think I mentioned to you awhile ago I spent several months in BC and all round the Vancouver area, so I could see some of your US side mountains too, like Baker and Hood too, I think.
I see there is a city called Vancouver right beside Portland lol, I never knew that.
Why is there snow early in your photos where your boy was staying vs,. where you guys were??
Is it just because he was much higher up in elevation?
I figured you guys would stay close but maybe not.
This post was stellar, it is too bad this platform kinda sucks now, in lots of ways, with collusion, strife, bots, that was a $2000 post back in the day, and I missed those days by about 4 mths LOL
@barrydutton Thank you so much! That really means a lot.
I haven't been up to BC yet, but it's definitely on my list, it's so beautiful. That's really cool that you got to see Mt. Hood and Baker. Yes, there's also a Vancouver right across the Columbia River from Portland. Did you get to make it to Portland? I love it because the city still has a forested feel.
I was wondering if that may be confusing seeing snow in some of the photos and not in others. Unfortunately, the closest cabin we could find was about 45 minutes away. It was down the mountain at a lower elevation, which was really too bad, I was really hopeful that our cabin would be buried in snow. :)
I do agree about the way the site is going, I can see that it wasn't designed to be that way. Sometimes it can be so discouraging to spend so much time on a post for it not to be seen. It's so nice to see people like you supporting beginners. Thank you for that. I hear ya, it's too bad we didn't get in sooner lol.
I used to spend hours on here daily UV people to support them, with $ and increase their rep score, helping, donating, etc etc.
I have had too many people bully me, like with others, turn on me, forget who helped them etc so my stuff is basically usually as little work as possible now.
I am not spending 10 or 12 hours a day loyally here anymore, my last straw was August.
I cashed out half my stake here starting then, I never took a penny out before that, and Steem sat at $1 for a year while my stake sat there doing nothing and I could have had 10X or 100X gains on all my other coins while this place just gets worse and worse.
Buy EOS. Now.
I am telling you.
@barrydutton That's really a shame that people have treated you that way, especially after your generosity. You seem like such a nice person. I can totally see why you lost interest. That's too bad. Just remember, there's still good people out there. :) I think good karma will always come back to you, and those who do wrong, find theirs as well. We almost bought some bitcoin in 2006 and ended up not doing it, now we are kicking ourselves. Lol I just realized how funny that saying actually is! I'll definitely try to get some EOS. We just recently looked into it, but didn't know much about it. Thanks so much for the tip! We are new to cryptocurrencies, but have always been entrepreneurial and investors. We have a couple of properties that we have worked very hard to rebuild ourselves.
Tweeted out for you:
--
--
Disclaimer: I am just a bot trying to be helpful.
@barrydutton Wow!! Thank you so much. That's so nice of you. :)
What a great place! This is the kind of post I enjoy looking at and reading. It just seems like a mini vacation :) Congrats!
@animalartclub Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. It was such a fun trip! Thank you for the comment. :)