Since we stayed so late at the picnic yesterday, we decided to forgo trying to get on the road last night and instead packed up and headed out early this morning for our cabin far, far away... In total honesty, when I was booking the cabin, I thought it was at Quartz Creek - which is about a 2 hour drive south on the Kenai. Instead, I booked a cabin at Quartz Lake which is over 6 hours north by Delta Junction.
I was so surprised the cabin was available, that I quickly booked it before someone else got it. In retrospect, that should have been a clue that something was amiss. I was completely bummed out when I realized my mistake, but Matt was so excited about our rustic cabin - even with the looooooong drive! Hopefully it's a good mistake!
All ready to go! You might notice an extra traveller in the back - since we are going to a public use cabin, the dogs are totally welcome. We figured it's been a while since they have gotten to vacation with us, so we packed them in the car along with everything else! Eliza is hunkered down in the floorboard of the middle seat, which she seemed pretty happy about.
According to maps, Quartz Lake is a 6 hour drive from Anchorage. But there isn't a setting to toggle on for traveling with kids... Thankfully we weren't in a hurry, so every time someone yelled they needed to potty, we could pull off for a rest stop. And with a recently potty trained toddler, there were a lot of stops!
Not all of the stops were this scenic, but Matt has been along this route before and knew of this super pretty location when someone was proclaiming their need for a bathroom. Also, both boys are now pros at peeing while standing on the side of the road. Life skills, right there!
9 hours later, we finally got to the lake and packed up our backpacks for the trek to the cabin. It was only a 1/2 mile from the road, but we were trying to minimize the number of trips and these two require more gear than they can carry themselves. As a matter of fact, I am pretty sure they only have toys in those backpacks...
But they look so adorable that I can't even be mad at their slacking off in the gear carrying realm.
The girls at least carried their own food! They haven't used these packs in a long time, but they didn't seem to mind carrying them as long as they got to tag along. Plus the two of them were so excited they basically pulled me up any of the inclines on the hike. Win-win!
I was convinced at some point that we had missed the cabin because it felt like we had been walking *forever*, but that was apparently just because the boys were forcing us to walk much slower than usual. After the last little hill in the trail, our cabin in the woods appeared. It was just as rustic and fantastic as it looked in the photos online!
We had been telling Tommy the cabin had a grass roof and he was super excited to see it in person. There was a cluster of fireweed on the one side and a tiny pine tree growing in the front! It's named after a guy who came up to Alaska from California and decided to live off the land here in the 1940's. He built a trapper style cabin after his first winter in a raised platform tent(!). This isn't the original anymore, it was rebuilt sometime in the 90's. You couldn't guess that from the looks, though!
Thomas is super, duper excited about the cabin! He kept exclaiming about how it was made out of trees! We tried to explain that most houses are mostly made of trees, but he wasn't having any of that. This cabin was trees and houses are not made of trees!
The one platform bed was right against the window at a perfect level for them to see the woods and anyone who happened to wander by on the trails. You could even see the lake from this window.
The other window had a nice view of the bathroom... ahem... Outhouse. I wasn't sure how keen these two would be on going to the outhouse, but they loved it! I am pretty sure I racked up 10,000 steps just walking them back and forth to the outhouse. Thomas asked me why there was a moon on the side and I was trying to explain what mooning is and then realized I wasn't even sure if that was why there was a moon and that I was telling my 4 year old about mooning people.
Not my finest parenting moment...
The girls were just as happy with the accommodations!
Matt even hiked up a big sleeping bag for Natalie to lie on. She has started moving slower and taking longer to get up and down. Poor girl is getting old and he just wanted to make sure she was comfy on the wood floor. What a good dad!
It ended up taking forever to get the boys to go to bed because of all the excitement and the daylight in the cabin. I ended up having to sternly (and repeatedly!) tell them to close their eyes to try and get them to just rest long enough to pass out. Henry snuggled down into his sleeping bag at one point and that was the end of his fight - he was out in no time. Maybe I need to buy these boys eye covers!
The next morning, we had a lazy breakfast at the cabin and then headed out to check out the nearby trails. What a gorgeous morning and nice view, huh?
We headed away from the cabin and the trails wound along a bluff with not much clearance on either side. It was a little bit more stressful than we had planned trying to make sure the boys didn't miss a step and slide off the trail. "/
We finally ended up on the beach and that was much more pleasant! Of course, it's an Alaskan beach, so it's super rocky. The boys immediately remembered their favorite water activity and started chucking rocks in. You can see the girls also remembered their favorite activity and were off running into the water.
Natalie looks so sporty and athletic out there waiting for Matt to throw her a still. And then there is Eliza... Of Eliza, you are the most awkward & spastic dog. I still love you, you crazy thing!
More rock chucking! I may have found Henry's plumber's butt a little too cute to resist taking a photo. What's the point of having kids if I can't embarrass them with photos 15 years from now?!?
We ended up going to the nearby town for lunch and so the boys would take a nap in the car. Both goals were accomplished and then we headed back up our trail to the cabin. It was a little more peaceful without the dogs this time and I managed to get a super sweet shot of Henry & Matt walking together. :)
The boys were back to their window watching. When I let them pick out the toys they wanted to bring, Henry mostly packed his animals and was waving the moose at anyone who happened to walk by. At least he had a fitting animal - we saw them several times while we were here. Thankfully each time was from the car! They all had calves and momma moose are not to be messed with!
As you may be able to tell from the picture, the boys were starting to get a little stir crazy after we had been back at the cabin for a while. Henry was alternating between pretending the beds were horses and harassing his brother...
Cabin fever so soon?!?
So we went back to the beach and threw more rocks in the water! Henry is developing quite the throw. Thomas usually gets a little more distance, but Henry is catching up!
Then Matt managed to convince the boys to strip down to their undies and go play in the lake with him. Honestly it didn't take any convincing! Thomas said he didn't have a swimsuit when Matt first asked and Matt told him that he could just go in with just his undies. He said "Ok!" and started stripping clothes off - ha! The three of them had a grand old time splashing around, but couldn't quite convince momma to drop her camera and join them... ;)
When they finally got out, I loaned Henry my outer shirt and Matt dried Thomas off with his before putting his clothes back on. We probably made quite the sight coming back!
All packed up the next morning. I didn't think to take any photos of the whole cabin, so I didn't get any photos of the woodstove (that we absolutely didn't need!) and the random furniture someone drug up for a table and cabinet. But I did manage to get a photo of the bed. I was so proud that my hiking pack was getting some use after about a 8 year hiatus, that I got a photo of it propped against the bed. It was obviously not the softest bed and my (also 8 year old) sleeping mat is not holding air anymore. Guess who was constantly waking up to try and blow more air into their mat.
Now guess who has already ordered a new mat??
Matt is obviously a little more loaded down that I am. As a matter of fact, I think he mostly crammed the bulky, but light stuff in my pack. Thanks sweetie! :)
Most of the trail to the cabin is in the woods, but the stretch near the parking lot has great views of the lake. It was a fun trip and I was a little sad to be leaving so soon. But the kids did well enough that we will definitely be trying to check out more of the public cabins. Just maybe ones that are a little bit closer...!