Suttle Lake Surprise

When the phone rang early Saturday morning of MLK weekend Mark rolled his eyes. "Can't we ever just sit here and enjoy our coffee, without interruption?", he whined. I ignored him and answered the phone. "We have a yurt reserved for the weekend and we can't use it because we're all sick", Cindy informed me, "we thought who is spontaneous enough to leave at this late notice and actually make use of our yurt and your name came up". I was flattered that I still could be identified as a "do something at the last minute" kind of person. Mark and I thought, "of course we'll go", packed up the van, and picked up the yurt reservation e-mail from Cindy on the way out of town. Perfect we thought...a yurt in the high cascades, in the snow, on a lake. Scenes of tranquil snow shoe/cross country ski adventures completely dominated our thoughts. We stopped along the way for supplies and since we had read that wood and water were available we didn't bother to bring more than one bundle for our non-electric, wood burning stove heated yurt. Upon arrival, the children were soaked to their core, running from van to yurt. Boots were not removed and within 17 seconds the entire floor of the yurt was blanketed in a cozy layer of mud, rain, and melting snow. Boots were removed and children were forced onto beds, couches and tables while a fire was encouraged to begin it's warming march through out frigid shelter. As the fire began to take hold in reality leaving the desires of our thoughts, the floor slowly began to dry. The rain outside was fierce and the wind threatened to break limbs and topple trees onto our canvased structure. Now what? After 2 hours the children had been through every crafty craft, book, and drawing paper. Hope for a ski or snow shoe was lost as the rain roared. The dvd player, usually my nemesis, now became my savior. One movie while "camping"= neglectful parent, Two movies while "camping" =reporting to CPS imminent, Three movies while enjoying the great outdoors=you may never have contact with your children's, children's pets, because you are showing such horrible parenting skills. The stove was so efficient that we were in our underwear by 10. Many beers and hours later (along with children who would not sleep), we settled into bed, sweaty and unable to sleep because of the pounding wind and blowing rain. At two in the morning as our last piece of wood was turned to ash, the true temperature of our experience snuck into the yurt through cracks in the walls and floor. The children began stirring and pjs were then located and everyone was dressed and re-inserted into sleeping bags. Once we woke up (like we ever slept), Mark looked at me and said, "could you please turn on the heat?" and "whose idea was this anyway?" We packed everything up quickly, stuffed cold bagels down the chicks gullets, melted snow for something to drink, and tried to take a walk to the lake. The two to five feet of snow that existed just 14 hours earlier was all but gone. Dog poo from the host's pup littered every square inch of snow barren ground. At the lake, said dog, greeted my 4 year old with raised hackles, and barred teeth. We showed up at Grandma's and Papa's house 4 hours early and chuckled as we drank Napa Valley wine, curled up with a book next to the wood burning stove, while the kids slept off their winter camping experience. What's funny is that one month after, Mark and I are convinced that we should do this trip again, "it'll be much better if we have wood, water, and towels", Mark says-did he forget the noise of the weather, the aggressive crap filled pooch, or the fact that next time we'd have to pay for this wonderful experience? I think it's a good idea...