Cabin Fever

I have cabin fever; only not in the way that most people mean when they make that statement. When I say that I have cabin fever, I mean that - I LOVE our cabin! I created this blog to keep a record of the events that occur in the time that we spend there and to share pictures, stories and anything else cabin-related. I am going to begin with a bit of background on our search for a place in the mountains and what it took for us to become cabin owners.

Since approximately late 2006 or maybe early 2007, we had been looking for a cabin in the mountains. Generally, we checked a few different websites looking for cabin listings. Over the course of the intervening four years, we actually looked at quite a few cabins in several different areas. There were some that we liked, but none of them felt quite right. Sometimes I just didn't like the area because the cabins seemed too close together, sometimes the land was reclaimed from strip mining and didn't really have much vegetation on it other than pine trees and underbrush and sometimes the cabin just seemed a little too rough. Over time I began to wonder if we would ever find a place that would be right for us.

Well, that all changed on December 18, 2010. On Wednesday 12/15, Lisa and I were looking online at cabins and saw a listing that appealed to us. I emailed the listing agent, and asked him if we could take a look at the property the following weekend. I wanted to do it right away because the two following weekends were Christmas and then New Year's. The agent called back and said that someone would meet us on Saturday 12/18 and take us to see it.

We met the realtor and he drove us out to see the cabin. As we were driving, I was looking out the window at the surrounding area and was really liking what I was seeing. There were a few small towns that we drove through which had stores and restaurants. After passing through the towns, we found ourselves surrounded by farmland and mountains. Lisa and I both kept commenting how pastoral and pretty the area was while it also had everything that you would need nearby.

If we enjoyed the drive out to the cabin though, it was nothing compared to our reaction when we actually got there. I fell in love with the cabin the minute that we turned up the driveway and saw the place. It was just a quaint and cozy little A-frame perched on the side of a steep hill. The inside of the cabin was even more impressive than the outside - well-appointed and very clean. Lisa and I both adored it.

We left there very excited about the cabin and on Monday we started the process of trying to purchase it. This process proved to be a lot more interesting than I would have imagined. Within a span of 15 days, we went from excited, to hopeful, to heartbroken and back to excited again. On 1/4, we met with the realtor to draw up an offer on the cabin. The sellers accepted our offer on 1/5. I honestly couldn't believe that we had gone from hopeless to successful in such a short time. After that roller coaster ride, it was unbridled joy for sure when we found out that our offer was accepted! Here I must take the opportunity to say that us getting our cabin absolutely would not have been possible without my parents' help. I will forever owe them a debt of gratitude for what they did for us.

On Friday 2/18/11, we had settlement in Lewistown. It was a beautiful, sunny, 70 degree day that saw us take possession of our cabin on Jacks Mountain in Mifflin County. It is a day that I will never forget.