Two blog posts I read this week had me reminiscing about our cabin in the woods. I’m referring to Wynne Leon and Brian Hannon who have their own blogs as well as writing for The Heart of the Matter. Here’s Brian’s post about a cabin on Writing From the Heart with Brian. Wynne’s blog is called Surprised By Joy and that is a link to her post about a recent vacation in a cabin.
Both of their cabin stories hit a soft spot in my heart. The photo above is the cabin my mom and dad built before I was born. My dad designed it and mom and dad used their own two hands to bring the idea to life. The large-paned windows came from my grandmother’s shops in Marysville, Wash. The cabin was located in Robe Valley on the Stilliguamish River.
I say “was located,” because years ago my brother and I decided to tear it down. It had been repeatedly broken into, trashed and even lit on fire. It was a hazard. All that remains is the beautiful property and the fireplace.
I have many memories from my cabin when I was very young. There used to be a sandy beach that I loved on the edge of the river. As you can see the river has changed — it’s all rocky.
We fished, rode the rapids on air mattresses with friends and jumped off the giant rock into the river. We used our cabin in the summer. There was no running water, no electricity, but it did have an outhouse. I remember fishing early in the morning and late in the afternoons. Mom would fry trout on the wood burning stove. Outside the cabin was a pump for water.
We spent my early days with grandma and other relatives. It was a gathering place. Then as we got a little older, my brother and I got to bring friends to the cabin for weekends.
There was a certain smell of evergreens at Robe along with a musty tinge inside the cabin. It had one room with steep stairs to a loft and the balcony overlooking the river.
My grandma was an artist and painted a picture of the cabin as well as one of me playing in the sand.
You can see the giant rock we’d jump off of across the river.
Here’s the sandy beach plus the large glass windows in this painting.
The story I heard from Mom was that her father bought a mile of riverfront property during the Great Depression. He envisioned it as a place where family would gather for generations. He gave parcels of land to his three children, plus to other relatives. When they first started using Robe, the family stayed in “The Lodge” which was formerly a post office for the town of Robe. Robe was once a silver mining town with a railroad. When my grandfather bought property there in the Great Depression nothing of the town was left, except the abandoned post office building.The road into Robe is straight and was the railroad line. I’d like to research history of Robe. I see a project in my future to find out more.
My extended family on my Mom’s side holds an annual family reunion at Robe each summer. I’ve gone a few times, but mostly I don’t go. I honestly don’t know the ever growing family except for my aunt and first cousins.
On my mom’s birthday two years ago, my aunt and I drove up to Robe to spread her ashes in a place my mom loved. I wrote about that HERE.
What special memory do you have from childhood of a family place you’d visit or spend vacation?
It looks like something out of a story. So cool for young kids to explore.
It is a very special place. I’m glad we still have the property. I wish I could visit more often.
Very true. A place rich with childhood memories.
Indeed it is!
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I wonder how many of us have a special spot like this from childhood EA? I think perhaps for many in our generation we can say we do, but I think things may have changed over time…New generations don’t have these places perhaps. The pictures your Grandma painted are lovely and a wonderful way to hold onto memories. My family had a cabin on the lake (Lake Tapps in Bonney Lake) that I have a few random pictures of still. Painted “forest green” and affording us an amazing full view of Mt Rainier from our own large front windows and deck. Dad built it himself. We basically lived there all summer, and for years we had the infamous outhouse as well…until I finally convinced dad to put in a “real bathroom” and as a bonus I got my own bedroom 🙂
I remember reading about your cabin and it also brought back memories of mine. I think our parents were able to build cabins on their own and buy affordable property. No longer is that the case. We are lucky to have those memories.
Thanks, Elizabeth – beautiful in every way. Especially this: “There was a certain smell of evergreens at Robe along with a musty tinge inside the cabin.” I could almost catch a whiff…💕
I think along with music, scents bring back memories in writing.
Gosh, yes. Great point! 🥰
It’s something to think about while writing.
Agree — and I know it’s something I overlook. Xo! 🥰
I hope I helped a bit! 😊
You did! Love your post and observations. 🥰❤️🥰
Thank you! 💕
🥰❤️🥰
What a shame about the cabin.
Definitely it’s sad. I miss it.
So sorry you lost your lovely cabin. But those wonderful paintings and memories will always remain …
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Exactly. My brother and I were going to rebuild but we have two entirely different visions and budgets. We decided to keep it natural. Also, my brother lives an hour away and I’m nowhere near. His kids started going up to kayak and fish with their kids. But they said it’s crowded with extended family who we don’t know and it’s no longer private.
Throughout my entire life I’ve found you can’t go home again. Doesn’t stop me from trying though..
😥
So true. Even going back to our town of Palm Springs where we lived for 30 years isn’t fun. I am learning to have no desire to try to go home again.
What an incredible place for all sorts of adventures, Elizabeth! I remember your post when you spread the ashes – love the pictures and paintings you included here. That one of you playing by the river is wonderful! Beautiful post. And thanks for the shoutout!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Your post of your cabin stay brought back so many wonderful memories to me. Thank you!
Sounds like an adventure! I remember my mom and I visiting West Hampton and my aunt’s home taking in the Atlantic, and the small village nicely kept.
The cabin has wonderful memories for me. My brother lives an hour away now but has no desire to visit. How nice to visit your aunt in West Hampton. It sound beautiful.
Oh my Elizabeth, what a cool post. Love the pictures of the river and the fireplace. It looks so idyllic. Love that your dad designed it and the two of them built it together. No electricity or running water . . . yes, it would be “roughing it” but something about being in nature. Beautiful post and thanks for the shout out!!!!!!
Thank you, Brian. I was inspired by your post, Wynne’s and Deb mentioned their cabins in Washington recently, too. I miss the cabin, but at least the property stays in nature and our family. It’s miles out of civilization but an hour from Seattle.
What a beautiful spot! My dad’s family and relatives would gather at Trout Lake in southern Washington while he was growing up. My mom’s family would vacation at a cabin on Priest Lake in northern Idaho. But my family moved around with the Army and we did not have a “spot.” But we did camp several times at Camp David in Virginia, and once had a cabin on a lake in Maine. Then there was the stay on an uninhabited island in the Belize Cayes. Worst sunburn of my life!
What a variety of places. Camp David? How many people can say that? I have heard of Priest Lake but not Trout Lake. My worst sunburn was in second grade on our first big trip. It was to Hawaii. I don’t think we had any sunscreen with us. Compared to Washington’s sun, it was brutal.
We were under the impression that baby oil would protect us.🥵🌞🍳!!
Growing up in Washington, we all used baby oil to get a tan! We also had metallic blankets like tin foil. 😂
We had a summer place in Yaphank, NY that originally had no running water and an outhouse, until my parents remodeled the place. It was right on the banks of the Carmens River. It was an idyllic spot that I hated. Nature’s beauty did not make up for time lost with my friends in the city. You can take the boy out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the boy.
That sounds like a beautiful place you’d probably appreciate now. We were going from a rural town to nature, so the change wasn’t as drastic.
My parents were divorced when I was young and we moved a lot. My special memories of a place would include two entirely different spots- the one home my mom and stepdad ever owned (and only for a few years) in West St. Paul, MN, a house I loved in a place I loved with all my teenaged heart, and Rocky Mountain National Park where my dad took my brother and me tent camping every summer during my junior and senior high school years.
Thanks for sharing your memories. The camping trips sound wonderful. We went tent camping a few years when I was young and those memories stayed with me. We did tent camping with our kids at the beach near Santa Barbara every Easter.
I don’t have a particular memory of any one family vacation place. We stayed in hotels and usually went to large cities. No camping, no rugged outdoors, but I did learn how to order room service at a young age.
Ha! That’s a good skill to have.😊
I love that your family has this in their memory bank; what a gift and what a great idea your Grandfather had way back when.
So sad that it is no longer standing, but it’s great that someone in the family owns the land.
Love the artwork from your talented Grandma.
My most cherished memories of childhood were at my Grandparents house in Miami; I loved my time being doted on, meals prepared daily and swimming my their pool to my hearts content.
Thanks! Your memories of your grandparents house sound wonderful. Very few people had an experience like that. I’m glad we still have the property, but it’s far away from us, so I don’t get to be there often.