The "Cabin"

It all started a little over a month ago with a text asking if I was free a certain weekend. Then came the question would I like to go on a girls weekend to the "cabin".

I had no idea what I was signing up for when I said "yes". I was assured that the "cabin" was more than just logs piled on top of each other out in the middle of no where.

I was a little nervous about this weekend. I only knew the friend that invited me, I had met 3 of the other ladies one time. This weekend was a little out of my comfort zone. As Kevin was dropping me off, we had a visual on my friends house and he says, "you don't have to go, we could tell them that you are sick." I laughed.

Soon everything was loaded and we were on our way. We made one stop to pick up some more ladies and then the trip began.

First stop, Meijers in Ludington. We needed to decide what we wanted to eat for the weekend. It was kind of a crazy experience grocery shopping with 4 other ladies. We had a lot of fun though, picking out all kinds of healthy food (Kevin would have starved, fruits and veggies were on the menu).

Next stop Big Al's in Manistee. We met up with another one of the ladies there. Let me just stop here and say that if you have never had a sub at Big Al's, then you are MISSING OUT! I have never had a sub that good. I am proud to say that I ate the whole thing, could have licked the plate, but thought I might freak out the ladies that I was with.

Next we made a stop at my friends parents house to pick up essentials like popcorn. Back on the road again we finished out the trip on a dirt road. Turned onto a two-track driveway that wound itself up the hill and ended at the "cabin".

(sign for the family that owns this property)

Our time of rest and relaxation was just about to commence.

That first night we stayed up late talking about anything and everything. After a while we decided to get ready for bed and that is when we discovered it.

(Some of the cherry trees that are farmed on the property)

Turning on the sink to brush my teeth, water dribbles out. I turn it off... turn it back on... nothing... not even a dribble. Left the bathroom in seek of running water. There was none to be found.

(view of Lake Michigan from the deck)

Keep in mind that this was 1:30 in the morning. My friend grabs her phone and off she goes to call her sister to find out what the heck happened to the water. Looking back it was quite comical. There was poor phone reception so you had to be out on the deck, but we were being instructed to do things in the mechanical room in the basement. So we formed a message line. Instructions would come, get passed to someone in the cabin, then passed to the person standing at the top of the stairs, next came me at the bottom of the stairs and then finally to the 3 women who were trying to decode the instructions. Needless to say, nothing worked. The brother-in-law would arrive in the morning to try and figure out what happened.

(Manistee Lighthouse)

Morning arrives and along with it the intense urge to use the restroom. Ummm..... what to do, what to do... Thank goodness, the cabin is located on 40 acres of land that over look Lake Michigan. After a few instructions on how to use the trees, slopes and how to position the body, I earned my first "roughing it" patch. I don't "rough it" this much when I go camping!

Since there was no water to clean up our dishes, we made do with wax paper as plates, fruit and banana bread for breakfast. After receiving news that there wouldn't be water anytime soon, we packed up bathroom things and drove to the brother-in-laws lake house.

(Me being silly, thanks to Kathy there is ONE picture of me)

The Lake house is located 147 steps up from Lake Michigan. This house had just finished a remodel and was still in the "construction" mode of clean. But let me tell you, a shower has never felt so good and the sound of a flushing toilet was like music to my ears.

(The very special ladies I shared the weekend with)

We spent the day, in Manistee, getting a tour of the city. Seeing it through the eyes of someone who grew up there. I loved all the beautiful old houses. I learned that the same year Chicago had it's big fire, Manistee did as well. Lost most of the houses. The actual streets of downtown Manistee made me feel like I was jumping back in time. I could almost hear the clip-clop of horses hooves as they pull buggies down the street.

I also learned where to find all the toilets in the city. Instead of bar hopping (note to my parents: I have never done that and never will).. we were toilet hopping.

We made it back up to the cabin for another relaxing evening. We were all looking forward to some popcorn when we discovered that we left the popcorn back in Manistee... Oh Well..

(Old Man fishing off the pier, I just loved the quiet that he was)

My weekend ended with a midnight ride to the lake house to get ready for bed. I had to get up early the next morning to leave with one of the other ladies. We both had commitments on Sunday that we had to get back for. The other ladies I hear, enjoyed their last day of relaxation before driving back to life's responsibilities.

I had a great time despite the lack of running water (and popcorn). I couldn't have picked a better bunch of ladies to share the experience with (one of the ladies had been a missionary in Africa for 16 years, she knew how to "rough it"). Thank you Megan for inviting me on this momentous journey!

(The "Cabin")

Blessings!!