To the cabin!

It was my wife’s birthday today so I got the girls out of the house and we drove to get her coffee and a croissant, giving her an extra hour of sleep and giving me time to have the girls decorate her birthday card with pictures of animals.

She got a lot of cookery books this year: Bob’s Burgers burger book, a Great British Bake Off tie-in, and a book to make beautiful pies with. There was also a depressing memoir by Japanese Breakfast that I hope she likes, and a tasting guide for cider.

All these unwrapped, we got in the car and drove to our neighbours’ cabin…

My wife has been on at me for ages to visit the cabin, and I’d been putting it off because we didn’t have a car, and then because covid, and whatever. I regret not getting there sooner because it’s gorgeous.

You drive up past Issaquah, and then turn off the interstate onto a quiet road that takes you to the campground, and if you then make the correct turn and don’t go in a two mile loop up the mountain the wrong way, you’re on a secluded road next to the river, and shortly in a log cabin, sans electricity but with a gas powered refrigerator, with peace and quiet for the day.

The kids loved it. Then we made them go on a hike to the creek.

The creek is two miles away, which isn’t much, but the girls made such a chorus of complaint that after a mile we were ready to abandon our walk. Because they complained so vociferously I made them walk an extra ten minutes, and that extra time meant they met our neighbours grandchildren coming the other way, and then were distracted and walked the remainder of the hike without complaint.

This was really good, because otherwise they’d have missed the best bits: the surreal walk under the freeway in the middle of the woods, and the creek itself, a huge slab of limestone with a river running through it, where they could splash and slide around.

And then walk back, and feast on hot dogs and my wife’s birthday pie. The day zoomed past us, and after all that hard work we loaded them in the car and drove home. I finished reading Matilda to them, and then put them to bed. Peace and quiet for another night…