Phew, busy week! And not even for my usual reason (work). I've spent a chunk of the week hunting for a nice mountain cabin at which to spend the Labor day weekend. I'm not sure where the idea came from exactly, since we had never done this before. I believe the husband dropped a thought and I clung to it like it was a life jacket. After a lot of hunting, we found one in North Carolina that we liked and booked it.
Some things I noticed while I was cabin-a-hunting:
- There are so many people out there with vacation homes in the mountains. If you are one of them, good for you! I may have told the husband that some day I want my own cabin. He may have told me that the option is beyond our means.
- Some of those cabins are deliciously amazing retreats. I probably spent more time than I should drooling over some of those houses. Occasionally, I removed the price filter from the search, just to see what's the best house I can get if I didn't have a budget to stick to. I'm not sure how you could invest so much money and time into decorating a house so well, only to eventually rent it out to occasionally untidy guests, but I guess sharing the beauty of the location with others is part of the charm.
- If the cabin was my everyday home, I would quit my day job, park myself in the deck, watch the sun rise over the mountains every day with my daily cuppa, and write my own book. The husband is probably shaking his head reading this and resolving not to go this route.
- Some of the houses had ping pong and pool tables, hot tubs, and swimming pool, beautiful mountain views, and more than 5 acres of land to get yourself lost in. Now I get why anyone would do this often.
Moreover, trying to find a cabin that will have something for seven people with varying tastes is a tough deal. I could do with any place that has a good reading spot and awesome deck views. The husband wanted there to be some family games. Having something to do within the property and around was a huge plus. Also, everyone needed internet. Sure, we are all going there to relax and enjoy some family time. But who are we kidding - no internet for three days? Not in your wildest dreams.
In a few hours, I will be leaving for New Orleans with a few of my colleagues. This will be my first time in this city and I am excited! I don't think I am going to be able to go around the city much though. I have a busy schedule at my company's booth both tomorrow and on Tuesday, and customer dinners after. After all that, I return home on Wednesday's early morning flight. But, if there's one place I could visit in New Orleans, where would you recommend?
30 comments:
Your cabin retreat sounds wonderful! I go without internet for a week when I go to the beach and I find it rather refreshing.
So whatchya reading this week or what are you planning on to read in the near future? :) New Orleans: Anywhere on Bourbon Street. Was only in New Orleans once and I think that's where you "have to" go.
I'm going to try unplugging for sure, but I'm sure I'll check in once a day at least, and that's fine, I think. I won't be online all day for sure.
Oh, I didn't mention any books in this post - weird for me! I spent all of last week reading graphic novels, whenever I was reading. Right now, I'm in the middle of Stephen King's On Writing and Jojo Moyes' One Plus One. Both very good so far!
Will check out Bourbon Street - I may get some free time today.
A mountain cabin retreat sounds delicious, doesn't it? We talk about one day in Colorado...but I'm not sure that one day will ever come. Sounds like you found a great spot that will accommodate everyone's wishes. I've only been to North Carolina once and it was about 10 miles from the airport. I would love to go back and spend some time in the mountains, though!
Enjoy New Orleans! I've never been either.
Wow, a trip to New Orleans sounds wonderful. Happy holidays to you!
I love looking at vacation home options... and often remove the price filter, too, just to see the gorgeous choices! We've done this with my family and it's hard to find a place that has something for everyone. With our crowd the ocean is a must, and we couldn't consider anything without internet ;-)
I've never been to New Orleans. Hope you have a wonderful time!
A cabin retreat sounds lovely! I hope you enjoy your time of relaxation there! I've only been to New Orleans once, and the city was still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, so not a lot was open when I was there, but I did get to visit a few good restaurants. So my memories of New Orleans are of good food, good books (I was at ALA with my husband), and the National Guard patrolling with guns.
This sounds awesome! I just talking about renting a cabin sometime next summer. I think my nephew would love it.
If your meeting is in the French Quarter, I again highly recommend Beckham's and Dauphine Street Books. They are lovely; you will not regret it. Oh and if you are into hats, there is a wonderful hat shop near Jackson Square. When I am rich someday, I will buy all of those fancy hats and wear them on every occasion.
Your cabin vacation sounds wonderful! My family periodically does "camping trips" -- quote marks used here because the majority of us spend the majority of the time lying around reading, rather than doing nature activities. We usually rent a kayak or two and do some of that, but overwhelmingly it's about being fed delicious foods and sprawling all over the indoors and outdoors furniture with books in our hands.
A mountain cabin sounds like a great idea! I was actually looking into that not too long ago as something my family might like to do. I would especially love a cabin on a lake (Arrowhead or Big Bear in particular), but they're especially hard to find.
I hope you enjoy your visit to New Orleans! I have never been there.
If you are on FB, check out HomeAway: https://www.facebook.com/HomeAway They post the most amazing vacation rentals. Last week they posted a cabin in Georgia that was seriously amazing. I wanted to go there immediately. If you are not on FB they probably have a website as well.
Have fun in New Orleans!
I know exactly what you mean! I have spent my own fair share of time browsing through all the different cabins and wishing really really hard. Have fun in New Orleans!
Good luck. I know what you mean. There are so many beautiful ones to choose from.
A few months ago, my boyfriend and I were looking for cabins to rent and I had similar wishes! I hope you have a good time in New Orleans.
I tried to find a cabin for Memorial Day in what sounds like a similar area, since it was much more central for the group of people attending and I was surprised that there weren't as many as I thought there would be! I hope you have an amazing time! Michael and I rented a cabin in the off season in the mountains near Asheville a few years ago and it was amazing!!
For some reason, I didn't think there were many mountains in North Carolina, so it was a surprise to see so many cabin options in the mountains. I cannot wait to leave - we still have three weeks left for that but I'm already excited. A cabin in Colorado sounds heavenly too!
Thank you!
I am hoping that our next cabin will be somewhere by the ocean. Maybe next year. I saw quite a lot of cabins by the ocean and they had such beautiful views!
New Orleans certainly has some seriously good food! I couldn't get enough of all its seafood choices!
I cannot wait to head to the cabin! We still have three weeks but I've been planning already.
New Orleans was fun! I didn't get to see much but I saw enough of the city to want to come back.
Thank you! New Orleans was certainly a lot of fun!
I did rent the cabin through HomeAway. That site has some seriously eye candy houses. I must have spent too many hours browsing there...
The cabins by any lake or ocean were extremely costly but well worth the dime. I loved the few I checked out but they were outside my budget so I had to skip them.
I'm sure my camping trip will be very similar - hole up somewhere with the most amazing views and read. My family has quite a few folks who like doing stuff outside, so my way is not going to work.
We have only been to Biltmore estate in Asheville but I've seen the most amazing photos from the area especially during Fall!
Growing up we owned a cabin with another family just north of San Francisco, in Inverness on Tamales Bay. We went every summer and it was a wonderful way to grow up: no TV, no radio, just walks, books, board games, and lots of time sitting on the deck. We sold it a long time ago, but went up last spring break and the smell of Bay trees brought back so many wonderful memories!
Oh I remember reading about the cabin in your blog. I'm glad that you got to grow up in there - it's certainly challenging nowadays to put your phone down for too long. There is just so much to catch up on online.
Post a Comment