Always an adventure, this year at the Davis Family Winter Wonderland Retreat was especially eventful. The chimney was so cold that the smoke came in the room rather than up and out…so the early arrivals (us, Pins and Brooke) nearly choked to death as the cabin filled with thick, woody smoke, and then nearly froze to death with all available heat sources straining to provide some comfort. Eventually, TJ arrived and saved the day with some recently acquired Google knowledge-he quickly held a newspaper torch up the chimney, allowed it to heat a bit, and then restarted the fire. This time, the smoke billowed up instead of in, and we were able to enjoy some warmth even away from the kitchen!
This old cabin is a gem. No running water in the winter, so the ladies have learned to squat near the back door (a fine art when nature calls every half hour and bending squishes a baby!) The lack of overhead light lends a particularly rustic feel…we play games and eat burgers by lamp and ambient “Flight of the Conchords” light.

This was year # 2 for Alex, who is now the matron of the trip. She brought some amazing almond cottage cheese cookies for us all to indulge. Larsen’s brought several new varieties of Jordan’s mom’s homemade cookies-Almond Hershey Kiss Macaroon was my favorite.

Casey maybe-one-day-Copier was a new addition to this year’s fun, and she provided some hilarious Last Word moments. There was some tough competition, but Dave and I came out ahead in the end.

We retired around 2 am and awoke (sweating, for the wall heat has begun functioning) to fluffy German Pancakes baking. Jordan thinks he may employ Dave in a few years to patent “Sour Sugar” or “Brown Cream” (a pre-mixed sour cream and brown sugar topping to go with the strawberries on top of the pancakes!)

We cleaned, vacuumed and packed in record time and had a few minutes leftover for a group shot…too bad I hadn’t yet figured out how to work the self timer on our new camera!


I love the cabin adventure, from the snowshoeing in to the snowshoeing out. The only detraction from a pure powdery bliss is the treacherous drive up and down the curvy canyon to arrive and depart. I usually spend at least one windy hill walking outside of the fishtailing vehicle because I’m sure that everyone inside is going to die.

We didn’t die this year!! Next year’s trip will bring a whole new adventure-baby Larsen and baby Anderson (and maybe even a baby Rasmussen, Davis or Copier!). There was mention of some summer remodels which may make the cabin more baby-friendly. We’ll find out!