The Little House in the Big Woods

This Thanksgiving, we spent four magical days at Pioneer Guest Cabins outside Crested Butte. We packed up early Thanksgiving morning and drove southwest. It took us four hours to get there. Zero traffic, just mountain roads and wide whistling plateaus. This is what greeted us at the end of the road.

All the cabins have cute names like Homestead and Wild Rose. Ours was Oh-Be-Joyful, named after the river that runs through the property. (That's also the name of a character in Mrs. Mike, a book I loved as a teenager. If you've read it, you may understand why I fell so hard for my Canadian outdoorsman.) 

When we walked in, the fire was crackling and a vanilla candle glowed on the table. It was a tiny space, but so well designed. It had everything you really needed, a few luxuries (candles, fluffy down comforters, vintage-rustic decor), and nothing else. We loved it.

The boys were desperate for snow, but unfortunately there wasn't enough for cross-country skiing. We had fun anyway.

Back in the cabin, I whipped up Thanksgiving dinner. I'd made everything but the mashed potatoes and green beans ahead of time. I was working a serious Ma Ingalls vibe. 

However, as you'll notice in this video, I don't think Ma had a pomegranate cocktail in hand while rustling up grub.

Notice he lost another front tooth? Two within 10 days. Our little vampire.

The next morning we drove a quarter mile down the road and headed off on a hike. Our goal? Have fun, first and foremost. And also try to make it to these caves. I'm not sure how long of a hike it was (maybe 2 miles?), but we were shocked that the kids made it. 
 

We clambered up through this "cave"--really a tunnel. Phew. It's definitely scarier looking back down than it was coming up. But Daniel did have to climb with Bronte in his arms at the end. Yikes.

We did it!

On the way back, Jack ran down most of the way. Doesn't he look like his Daddy?

Sunrise

The kids were amazingly easy. Daniel and I read by the fire (or knitted, in my case). They read books, played with their stuffed animals and new Snap Circuits board (more on that in the video), colored, played Uno, climbed on Daniel, listened to The Magic Treehouse, and had fun in their little loft--"just like Mary and Laura." 

But inevitably, cabin fever set in so off we went on another hike.
 

I'm not sure why, but the boys turned it into a trail run. They were literally running the entire hike!
 

Along the way, Daniel spotted an old mine and shelter so we climbed up to it. In his gentle way, Daniel went into Socratic Scientist mode and we all had fun exploring and learning about mines. We found the old entrance, since covered over with dirt, and the boys looked for gold. 
 

In this old half-collapsed shelter we discovered the signs of a bear. In the dirt you could see the shape its body had made, and Daniel even spotted a few hairs. 

You can't have a winter weekend in the mountains without a Snow Picnic. In this case it was a Snow Dinner. This is such a fun tradition from Daniel's family and the kids love it. 
 

When we checked out on Sunday morning, we asked the owners where we could find a Christmas tree farm. They offered their own property. Of course Daniel had a saw and rope in the car so off we tramped to pick out the perfect tree.

 

What a beautiful weekend! Just what we needed and such a gift. We have so much to be grateful for this year.