Going to the Cabin Up North


Blog / Monday, June 23rd, 2014

This past weekend, I did something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but no one ever really invited me to do. I finally got to go spend a weekend at someone’s cabin up north.

In Wisconsin, it seems like every other person either has a cabin up north or knows someone who does. They would then share that cabin with family and invite people up for long weekends to sit on a boat and just relax. I knew a few people who fell into this category. None of them ever invited me and it kind of made me sad. I always wanted to stay in a cabin. I always wanted to spend a weekend on a boat, skiing and tubing and swimming. It just never happened.

This past weekend, also the Summer Solstice, I went with Ellie up to her friend’s cabin in Minnesota. It was pretty much everything I imagined it to be, expect for a couple of things out of my control. First, we weren’t allowed to do much boating, at least not the fun kind, because the water level on the lake was too high and there was a no-wake restriction. I guess it was to prevent the shoreline erosion or the flooding of houses which were built to close to the shore. The second thing was that I didn’t have much time to myself and that kind of thing really wears me out. I don’t mind spending time with a group of people for a while, I just need time to recharge. Since we all did things together and no one left the cabin, I didn’t really get that and by Sunday morning, I was worn out.

Mid-summer night at the cabin up north
Mid-summer night at the cabin up north

But we had some beers, grilled, sat on the boat and just generally enjoyed our Summer Solstice at the cabin up north. Saturday was a perfect day for it too. Some clouds scattered throughout the sky but more often than not, it was sunny and warm. So sunny, in fact, that I got a decent burn along my tan. I didn’t used to burn but I think all the recent years of sitting inside all summer and not really getting to run around in the sun causes my bare skin to cook a little faster. The worst of it is on my shoulders, but I also wasn’t wearing my watch on Saturday (which makes my arm notorious for its permanent watch tan) so the part of my wrist which hasn’t seen the light of day in nearly 20 years, burned. It burned in such an odd way too, where it’s red in the middle, untanned around the edges, and then tan where it’s usually tan. My watch tan doesn’t burn properly.

My terrible watch tan/burn
My terrible watch tan/burn

But whatever, I’m finally happy when it comes to spending a weekend at a cabin up north. How did you spend your mid-summer night?

2 Replies to “Going to the Cabin Up North”

  1. GOB: “Well, I will tell you this, Michael. I don’t have a son–”
    Narrator: He does.
    GOB: “But if I ever do, I’m either going to take him to the cabin in the woods, or I’m going to promise to take him and then not take him. But the one thing that I will never do is not tell him that I’m taking him to a cabin in the woods, and then not take him!”
    Narrator: “GOB was growing up.”

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