If We Worked for the Forest Service

The Ashley National Forest offers some of its old Guard Stations for overnight stays.  They offer cabins, with bunkhouses, running hot water, and electric lights for as little as $35 night.  It's an opportunity to experience what it would be like to live as a park ranger.  (60 years ago, but that's fine.)  What a bargain, right?  

Here's what I learned:

1) My kids love to play.  The more dirt and trees, the better.  Add a bridge, their Grammy, Grampy, three cousins, some pipe cleaners, and an outhouse, and you've officially discovered heaven.  

 2) As much as I already dislike heights, I dislike them even more when I see pictures of where my husband took my children while I was elsewhere.  (Do you see those tiny colored specks?  Yes, those are people.  People who are related to me.  The horror.)

 3) Babies can sleep anywhere.  So can seven-year olds.

 4) My mother-in-law is charity personified.  She volunteered to sleep in this quite possibly rat-infested bunkhouse with all seven children.  (Our children plus Chris and Krista's.)  I took a tiny amount of pity on her and kept Maddie to sleep with us in the main cabin.  In the mornings, I almost didn't dare ask how it had gone, knowing my children as I do.  She never complained.  Let's give this woman a hand.

 5)  It turns out that this little cabin was equipped with neither running water nor electricity.  Since I had only stocked myself with enough fortitude and cheerfulness for a "cabin" adventure, I rapidly depleted my reserves when I realized it was going to be more like a "tent" adventure.  (Since hot showers are my therapy of choice, I can get a little testy when denied one.)

6) Vanity is superfluous baggage in the mountains.  Toss on an old ball cap, put on an old race shirt and your hiking boots, and you're set.