Adventure #8: Winter Cabin Camping in Kearney
As winter seems to keep droning on, I found myself needing an escape from everyday life to tide me over until the weather warms and I can make it back out in my canoe. So, I decided to book a cabin with my boyfriend Jeff from February 15th-17th, for the family day long weekend. We ended up finding a great little cabin up in Kearney that we booked off of Airbnb. With no cell service and acres upon acres of land to explore, Jeff and I were really looking forward to our winter escape!
Waking up fairly early on Saturday morning, Jeff and I loaded up the vehicle, heading on our way to get our groceries first, and then making it to the cabin by noon. The cabin we chose, titled on Airbnb as the Cozy Creek-Side Cabin, came equipped with a fully-stocked kitchenette with a sink, stove, fridge, and microwave, as well as a woodstove, board games, movies, and music. Despite not having any indoor plumbing, the cabin was a lot fancier than the backcountry trips we were used to, which made for a nice change.
The host of the cabin, Andrew, was so kind and had the woodstove going by the time we got there, allowing us to focus on unpacking our gear and settling in to make some lunch. Being the obsessively organized planner that I am, I had made a thorough meal plan with Jeff weeks prior too, not only making our grocery shopping fairly quick and simple but also making sure that we had good food, not typical of most camping trips, to enjoy over the weekend. For lunch, we had bought a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken that we paired with some cucumber slices and a sliced baguette, meaning we didn't even have to cook anything!
After washing up our dishes, we went outside for a bit of our afternoon, using our snowshoes we had brought to explore the close surrounding area of the cabin. We noticed some really pretty icicles hanging from the side of the cabin! Only staying outside for an hour or so, Jeff and I then came back in to play some of the board games the cabin offered. We started off trying to play a Simpson Jeopardy game but quickly realized that the game didn't work all that well with only two people. We then resorted to playing a long game of Monopoly in which I started off in the lead, buying up most of the properties; however, by the time I landed myself in jail for about the fourth time, Jeff had begun putting up hotels on the few properties he owned, forcing me to mortgage all the properties I owned and wiping out my bank account to cover my fees to him. Needless to say, Jeff was the clear winner of that game!
Our game of Monopoly took us right till dinner time, so once we cleaned up the game, we got started prepping our meal. Since Valentine's Day had been the Friday before, Jeff and I took the opportunity to celebrate together, even if it was a day late, by cooking a fancier dinner as opposed to having gone out to eat. We cooked up some beef medallions wrapped in bacon and some fettuccine alfredo, pairing it with a caesar salad and some more baguette slices. We also treated ourselves to a small bottle of wine which we had with our dinner both nights. Since Jeff has quite the sweet tooth, we also impulsively bought a chocolate cheesecake to eat for dessert both nights. All in all, it was a delicious dinner, definitely far from the typical dehydrated backpacking meals I describe for most of my trips!
The next day, after a simple granola and fruit breakfast, we decided to put on our winter gear and head out on our snowshoes with a toboggan in tow, to find a good tobogganing hill. We ended up finding one not far from the cabin and began our trek up it to begin packing down a good path. With the snow being up to our knees, it was tough walking, to say the least, and we ended up lying in the snow at the top for a bit to catch our breath before sliding down. It began snowing quite a bit while we were there which made for some really pretty views (unfortunately the snow also made it difficult to get a lot of good pictures). After only about two very slow runs each down the hill, Jeff and I decided to give up as the snow was just too deep to pack down enough to make for a good slide.
We made our way back to the cabin to which Jeff, wanting to use a new scope he got for his gun, set up a juice container we had emptied to do some target practice. We then went inside, heating up our leftovers from dinner for lunch, before enjoying some quiet time reading for most of the afternoon. That evening, for dinner, we ate some more of our rotisserie chicken and caesar salad, paired with onion rings, and of course, cheesecake for dessert! We also watched one of the movies the cabin offered before calling it a night.
The next morning, we began packing up after breakfast, loading up the vehicle and heading on our way home after a little bit of truck trouble (diesels don't like the cold very much haha!). Despite being over in what seemed like such a short amount of time, it was a really good trip and one Jeff and I would definitely like to make again in the future! I'm still itching to get back into my canoe, but it was still a good escape! Although hopefully next time I write it will involve my canoe haha!
Until the next adventure,
- Megan
Waking up fairly early on Saturday morning, Jeff and I loaded up the vehicle, heading on our way to get our groceries first, and then making it to the cabin by noon. The cabin we chose, titled on Airbnb as the Cozy Creek-Side Cabin, came equipped with a fully-stocked kitchenette with a sink, stove, fridge, and microwave, as well as a woodstove, board games, movies, and music. Despite not having any indoor plumbing, the cabin was a lot fancier than the backcountry trips we were used to, which made for a nice change.The host of the cabin, Andrew, was so kind and had the woodstove going by the time we got there, allowing us to focus on unpacking our gear and settling in to make some lunch. Being the obsessively organized planner that I am, I had made a thorough meal plan with Jeff weeks prior too, not only making our grocery shopping fairly quick and simple but also making sure that we had good food, not typical of most camping trips, to enjoy over the weekend. For lunch, we had bought a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken that we paired with some cucumber slices and a sliced baguette, meaning we didn't even have to cook anything!
After washing up our dishes, we went outside for a bit of our afternoon, using our snowshoes we had brought to explore the close surrounding area of the cabin. We noticed some really pretty icicles hanging from the side of the cabin! Only staying outside for an hour or so, Jeff and I then came back in to play some of the board games the cabin offered. We started off trying to play a Simpson Jeopardy game but quickly realized that the game didn't work all that well with only two people. We then resorted to playing a long game of Monopoly in which I started off in the lead, buying up most of the properties; however, by the time I landed myself in jail for about the fourth time, Jeff had begun putting up hotels on the few properties he owned, forcing me to mortgage all the properties I owned and wiping out my bank account to cover my fees to him. Needless to say, Jeff was the clear winner of that game!
Our game of Monopoly took us right till dinner time, so once we cleaned up the game, we got started prepping our meal. Since Valentine's Day had been the Friday before, Jeff and I took the opportunity to celebrate together, even if it was a day late, by cooking a fancier dinner as opposed to having gone out to eat. We cooked up some beef medallions wrapped in bacon and some fettuccine alfredo, pairing it with a caesar salad and some more baguette slices. We also treated ourselves to a small bottle of wine which we had with our dinner both nights. Since Jeff has quite the sweet tooth, we also impulsively bought a chocolate cheesecake to eat for dessert both nights. All in all, it was a delicious dinner, definitely far from the typical dehydrated backpacking meals I describe for most of my trips!The next day, after a simple granola and fruit breakfast, we decided to put on our winter gear and head out on our snowshoes with a toboggan in tow, to find a good tobogganing hill. We ended up finding one not far from the cabin and began our trek up it to begin packing down a good path. With the snow being up to our knees, it was tough walking, to say the least, and we ended up lying in the snow at the top for a bit to catch our breath before sliding down. It began snowing quite a bit while we were there which made for some really pretty views (unfortunately the snow also made it difficult to get a lot of good pictures). After only about two very slow runs each down the hill, Jeff and I decided to give up as the snow was just too deep to pack down enough to make for a good slide.
We made our way back to the cabin to which Jeff, wanting to use a new scope he got for his gun, set up a juice container we had emptied to do some target practice. We then went inside, heating up our leftovers from dinner for lunch, before enjoying some quiet time reading for most of the afternoon. That evening, for dinner, we ate some more of our rotisserie chicken and caesar salad, paired with onion rings, and of course, cheesecake for dessert! We also watched one of the movies the cabin offered before calling it a night.
The next morning, we began packing up after breakfast, loading up the vehicle and heading on our way home after a little bit of truck trouble (diesels don't like the cold very much haha!). Despite being over in what seemed like such a short amount of time, it was a really good trip and one Jeff and I would definitely like to make again in the future! I'm still itching to get back into my canoe, but it was still a good escape! Although hopefully next time I write it will involve my canoe haha!
Until the next adventure,
- Megan
Thats a lovely Valentine's trip!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly was!
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