The stress of the holidays and our jobs over December and January have taken their tolls on Larry and me recently. Neither of us have been in very good headspace lately, and so we decided to take a last minute getaway over the holiday weekend. A google search, a few phone calls, and we had secured ourselves a dog-friendly little cabin in the woods in West Virginia: Cabin Sweet Cabin in Lost River.
Here's the thing about Lost River: There's almost nothing there. There's no town. There are no grocery stores. The only industry is chicken farming. There are only two places to eat in the whole area (we ate at both over the weekend) and I'm assuming that the waitresses are the daughters of the chicken farmers. Other than that, it's just you, nature, and a handful of cabins. It's kind of the perfect place to get away from it all and it's only a two-hour drive from DC. Here's another thing about Lost River: Larry used to live there. In a gas station. No lie. (He wasn't a chicken farmer, he was an engineer for a construction project.)
Anyway, Cabin Sweet Cabin turned out to be the perfect place for us to relax as a family of four. It was a simple camp - no "amenities" (except for a much-appreciated bottle of Cab Sav, a corkscrew, and two wine glasses that greeted us as we walked in the door), no hot tub, no big screen TV - just some fresh mountain air and lots and lots of trees. I had expected a good base of snow up in the mountains and was excited to wear my winter boots, but there wasn't a bit of snow and we had blue skies and unseasonably warm weather all weekend.
The only downside to the trip: Banjo barfed all over the car during the drive there and we had to toss his dog bed in the trash, which meant he spent the whole weekend searching for a suitable place to sleep. He settled for a little area rug, while giving us sad puppy eyes for having to sleep on the floor.
Keeping it simple and snuggling up in a cozy little cabin all weekend with our pups napping at our feet and a fire crackling in the background was pretty much perfection.
What we did:
+ Walked in the woods.
+ Went for a country drive.
+ Admired the stars in the dark West Virginia sky. Seriously, they glittered.
+ Had bedhead all weekend and didn't care.
+ Dined at The Guesthouse, drank cocktails under a taxidermied elk head & witnessed a marriage proposal.
+ Ate breakfast at Lost River Grill: 2 biscuits, 2 eggs & 2 pieces of sausage, followed by a 2 hour nap.
+ Explored Lost River State Park.
+ Cooked up a delicious pot of Moroccan Braised Beef.
+ Drank wine.
+ Worked on (but didn't finish) a craft project.
+ Watched Jim Gaffigan's Mr. Universe and Jeff Who Lives at Home on the iPad.
+ Lit a real fire in the woodburning fireplace.
+ Saw cows, chickens, ducks, horses, goats, sheep, and deer.
+ Roasted marshmallows over the fire & made amazing s'mores with chocolate chip biscuits & raspberry jam.
+ Took deep breaths of mountain air.
+ Fantasized about owning our own cabin some day.
P.S. See photos and video from our last trip to Lost River here. (Note what these two trips had in common: dog vomit.)
