Our Adorable Tiny Cabin

Before I can tell you anything more about this little vacation we just went on, I have to tell you about our adorable tiny cabin, because it was just that! An actual tiny cabin! You know I've always been a fan of tiny houses, and this was my chance to try one!

When we started planning this trip several months ago, I asked my Facebook friends for opinions on where to stay while we were there. The overwhelming majority said part of the Hocking Hills experience involves staying in a cabin. It's just what you do there. So we looked around at cabins, but that can get a little tricky when you only need lodging for two. Some cabins are big multi-family places, and we certainly didn't need beds for ten people! We happened upon Carefree Cabins and decided to try out their bona fide tiny cabin, because it was so stinkin' cute!

Our cabin was called the Snuggle Bear Bungalow Cabin, and it was only two years old. It still looked and felt completely brand new, and it was so clean! (Side note: I appreciated how they went the extra mile to explain their cleaning process right now, so we could have extra peace of mind about their sanitizing procedures.)

The four cabins owned by this company are all together - two one one side of the road and two on the other. They were careful to leave a good distance and many trees among them all, so everyone has complete privacy. We loved that!

All the driveways are paved, and it was so nice to drive right up - no cloud of dust behind us! Isn't this just the cutest little cabin? It has 224 square feet inside and 196 square feet of back patio/spare living space outside.

The owners had thought of everything, including a cute little sign to welcome us!

The front porch, as you can see above, provided shelter for a whole pile of firewood, and it also housed these really comfortable rockers!

We sat out there the first night to drink our coffee, and these chairs also made the perfect place to put on our hiking boots the days we went out into the parks! The window you see there behind the chairs was at the foot of our bed, so we could look out in the evening and see the sun set over the trees.

Speaking of our bed - here it is! Right inside the front door.

The cabin didn't feel tiny because it had really tall vaulted ceilings! The bed in this cabin is a queen size, and it was really comfortable. The shelf with the bear on it is actually a luggage shelf for the guests! We unpacked most of our bags and took them back to our car, but we kept a few with us and this was the perfect place to stash them. The little lanterns hanging there had battery operated candles in them, and there was even a spare blanket up on the shelf (by the pillows) if we got cold. We did not get cold. You remember the story about our air conditioning breaking at home. We were just glad to have air! You can't really see it in the above photo, but the bed frame had drawers, so it served as a dresser, too.

Here you can see the "bedroom" beside the "living room."

And here's a close up of the living room! We had full TV and internet service the whole time we were there (even during rainy weather) and there was a landline phone too, since cell service is nonexistent in these hills. The TV hung over a gas fireplace, which we didn't use, since we didn't need it. There was a wall air/heat unit that kept the whole place really comfortable. The top of the fireplace held all kinds of info from the owners - area maps, brochures, an informational binder, and even a discount card to local stores and restaurants. The gliders were really comfortable. We did our devotions there most days!

The other end of the cabin housed the kitchen and bathroom. (By the way - the huge triangle-shaped windows above the living room and kitchen were amazing. They let in so much extra light!) The kitchen in this cabin was small but really well-stocked! It came with grilling tools for the outdoor grill, a microwave, a (small) coffee pot, a two burner stove, a mini-fridge and freezer, and pretty much anything you could need for short term cooking. (Plates, cups, silverware, pots, pans, slow cooker, storage dishes, can opener, knives, scissors, seasonings, and more.) The only thing it lacked was an oven and a dishwasher, and for a stay this short, we didn't need either one. We did max out the fridge and freezer since we'd brought all our own food for cooking, but for the time we were there, it worked absolutely fine.

I will say that if we were to permanently live in a tiny house, I'm not sure I could survive with a refrigerator that small. I need to store stuff!

Everything in the kitchen was high end (most kitchen tools were Pampered Chef, actually!) and really nice. OH! And she had labeled EVERYTHING. It was amazing.

Across from the kitchen was the tiniest little eating area. Two stools and a table. We ate outside for all our meals, but it would have worked well in the winter! Actually, I used it to get ready in the morning. That mirror was perfect for doing my hair and makeup, and there was more room to put all my supplies than there would have been in the bathroom. And as you can see, they'd even left extra sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer for us.

And as you can see, the bathroom was also right there. It was small, but it was really nice. The sink was small, and the shower was REALLY small, but it had great water pressure.

There was a little closet in the bathroom, but it was locked. Ryan said the water heater had to be in there, and we don't know if it had laundry or not, but that's the door you see inside the bathroom.

The outside area was just as cool as the inside! Check out the back porch! Just outside the door was a little bistro table for two, and this is where we ate all our meals! (Just beyond that tree line was the road.)

This was the only sad part of the whole trip. They had this SUPER CUTE outdoor fireplace - and it wouldn't light! We called about it, and they came to look at it, but they said they'd have to call to have it serviced. I was really sad about it...but next time, right?

There was also a rocky area off the porch that housed the fire pit and more chairs. (We had fires two of the nights we were there, and it was SO peaceful out there.)

And then the best part:

The grill and the trash can! Just kidding. THE HOT TUB!!!!! It was the perfect little tub for two, and we loved it. We took advantage of it a couple of times every single day. (The area behind here is a tall ridge and somewhere up above the trees was the other cabin on our side of the road.)

Did we love this cabin? Absolutely. Was it big enough? Absolutely. If we were going to live in something this small permanently, I probably would have to make a few modifications to the furniture arrangement inside to maximize the space, but I found it really spacious and not confining at all.

We hope to go back to this area someday to actually hike the park we planned to hike this time, and when that happens, I think I'd like to try the next size up cabin, just to see how it feels in comparison. But this one was a gem. An absolute gem. So clean. So organized. So welcoming. So comfortable. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this one to anyone!

(PS - Did I mention the label maker?)

Our Annual Birthday Trip!

The first year we were married, we decided to start a tradition of taking a small trip every year somewhere in the vicinity of our birthdays (which are only three weeks apart).

* The first year we went to the Creation Museum.

* The second year we went to the Tulip Time Festival in Holland, Michigan (but there were no tulips that year because the Polar Vortex had delayed their blooming). It was so cold, but we had fun!

* The third year we went to Gatlinburg, hoping for warmer temps than year two. (And we succeeded!)

* The fourth year we combined work with pleasure and visited some friends in Chilton, Wisconsin (near Green Bay) while I spoke at a women's conference. Ryan had a miserable cold, and it snowed in Wisconsin.

* The fifth year we went to Saugatuck, Michigan and stayed at a BOAT and breakfast while simultaneously freezing - again. 

* The sixth year we went to Madison, Indiana, which is a little tourist town on the Ohio River.

* The seventh year was last year, and we went on a Caribbean Cruise because it was Ryan's 40th!

This year we planned our trip back in January, before everything fell apart. We decided to delay the trip to late May in hopes of great weather and go someplace we have wanted to go all eight years of our marriage: Hocking Hills State Park in Logan, Ohio. We did research, we booked our (literally) little Airbnb tiny cabin, and waited for May.

And then the pandemic came. Everything shut down, and we had no idea if we could go. Or should go. We decided not to cancel our reservations and just wait to see what happened. We watched the rules in Ohio as closely as we watched the ones in our state. 

We decided to go, and I won't lie: I am sweating even writing about it to you, because I know here in the land of the internet, people tend to speak very freely about their opinions on people's choices. I read an Instagram post while we were gone that showed one of the Bates girls in a (privately owned) plane with her husband and baby girl on the way to some sort of vacation, and the comment thread was so hateful!

So today and in the days to come, I'm planning to share our birthday trip with you, and I want to be clear from the start that we did everything we could do to be safe, smart, and cautious. We stayed alone in an Airbnb (that may go down in history as the cleanest place we have EVER stayed). We were in a remote area. We took all our own food so we wouldn't have to eat out, and part of that decision was driven by not knowing if anyplace would even be open to go eat if we wanted to. We did end up stopping in a couple of very small local establishments. In one, we ate outside way off in a corner by ourselves. In another, there was only one other person inside, and we sat as far from her as we could. We had our masks with us the entire time, and the few times we were in areas where we came "close" to others (which really wasn't even close) we put them on. We carried hand sanitizer in our pockets and used it often. Our only plan for the entire time was to hike, and we kept our distance from people on the trails. We actually didn't see a ton of people on the trails, which was amazing, considering a little detail I'll share in a moment. 

It's okay if you don't agree with our decision to go. It's okay if you would have stayed home. But I can truly say that of any trip we have ever taken, this was the most secluded and isolated experience we have ever taken, both by the very nature of where we went and by our additional design. 

And we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Here's the craziest part of the adventure. We planned this entire trip to spend three full days hiking as much of Hocking Hills State Park as we could manage. And the entire state park is closed. Still.

We didn't fully realize this fact until we were IN our cabin. I think we were thrown off by the fact that in our Indiana brains, the phrase "Hocking Hills" referred to "Hocking Hills State Park," and the website said SOME trails were closed but SOME were open. Once we arrived, we realized that in local terminology, "Hocking Hills" refers to an entire AREA that contains not only the state park with the same name, but many other parks, too. All of Hocking Hills State park was 100% closed for business. Other parks were open. And one gentleman we saw near the entrance of one of the parks told us that the traffic to those parks had risen to insane levels, because everyone was forced to cram into the little parks in the absence of the big park.

That made us a bit nervous, but like I said earlier, we really didn't see too many people on the trails! We saw TONS of cars in every parking lot, but there must have been enough space inside the parks, because it didn't feel crowded in any of them.

Side note: we did see many signs for people to sign a petition to reopen the big park. I can only imagine that it being closed here in the summer months is a big hit for the tourism economy!

So! With all that said, here is a quick look at our how our vacation began. We left home Thursday morning, in POURING rain.

We stopped  just north of Indianapolis to get our lunch - at Chick-fil-A! We had a gift card, and we planned to eat on the road (since the dining room is still closed). When we got in line, we were not even close to the parking lot. We were backed up down the road a bit. We only dared to get in that long of a line because - hello! - it's Chick-fil-A! We knew it would be quick. And it was! From down the road to food in hand in 27 minutes flat.

By the time we reached the Ohio state line...we saw blue skies!

I'm going to show you our cute cabin tomorrow, but I'll show you our first evening - which we spent entirely at the cabin. We arrived, did our self-check-in process, and unpacked our car.

Like I said, we had taken our food with us, so on Thursday evening, Ryan grilled steaks. They were SO GOOD. We ate out on our little patio at the cutest little bistro table.

We had our coffee out there, too!

We may have had a little hot tub on our porch too...

And some more coffee - on the front porch rockers!

It was a great start to a Plan B, C, D, E, F...kind of trip!

Grab Some Coffee...We Have a Tale to Tell

It's been a while since we had a proper Ryan-and-Bekah story to tell you. But we have a good one for you today! Pull up a chair.

It all started a week ago today. Memorial Day proved to be central Indiana's first true day of summer weather, and it did not hold back a thing. Full sun, full heat, full delight...for all those who have boats and lake properties. It was absolutely the most perfect lake day. We, however, were not at a lake. We were at home and ever so happy to be there! I had grand plans for cooking, and Ryan planned to do some yard work.

And our air conditioning planned to break.

It would have been nice if it had told us of its plans, but it didn't. So there we sat on our first proper day of summer, nearly matching outside temps on the inside. Of course it was Memorial Day, so we couldn't call the repair guy. He deserves a holiday too.

I got up early, early, early Tuesday morning to return to full-time office life after nine weeks of working from home. Our house was almost 80 degrees even at 5:30 in the morning, and I wasn't sure I could get anywhere near a flat iron. I threw on a sleeveless dress, powered through the flat iron, and I sure was glad I did, because a half hour after I arrived at work, one of my co-workers sent a group text reminding the staff that it was picture day for the new website pictures. Oh, my soul. Nine weeks of pandemic roots and an 80 degree house, and this is how I shall be introduced! Ha! But how glad was I that I'd powered through the flat iron and hadn't tried a ponytail day?

Ryan called the air conditioner guy that day, but he was in the middle of a big job and couldn't come over. He promised to call and let us know if he could come Wednesday instead, since we planned to leave for our little birthday getaway on Thursday. If he could come before we left, and we needed parts for the repair, he could go ahead and order them.

So that brings me to last Wednesday. I got up to another 80 degree house and absolutely could not mess with the hair. Not that day. I threw it in a ponytail, donned a skirt and dressy tank top, and sat miserably on the edge of the couch.

Heat does funny things to people. Some people sweat. Some people get a headache. I get sick to my stomach. Ryan asked if I was sick, and I knew I wasn't for real. I knew I was just heat-sick. But it really doesn't matter what the root cause is - nausea is miserable in every single form.

Ugh.

"Just go to work," Ryan said. "It'll be better there. You'll have air." I knew he was right, so I dragged myself from the couch and out to the car. I opened the back door to put my work luggage on the seat and recoiled into the wall.

WHAT....IS THAT!?!?!!??!

Ryan just looked at me, and I pointed at the car. "SMELL!!!!!"

He walked around to the other side, opened the back door and recoiled into the truck.

Did something die in there?????

He started poking around while I stepped as far back as I could. In about two seconds, he held up the culprit.

It turns out that FIVE DAYS EARLIER, when I unloaded the car after our grocery shopping, I missed a pound of ground turkey sausage. It had been sitting in the little cooler in the back of the car and had exploded after five days and the arrival of summer.

It smelled like a rat had died in there after eating a bag of rotten broccoli.

And there I was, sick to my stomach from the heat and needing to drive that very vehicle to work.

And it was raining, so I couldn't drive with the windows down.

Ryan offered to take me in the truck, but I wanted a vehicle at church with me, in case the whole rolling-stomach thing took over and I needed to go home. I told him I'd be fine. Wasn't that far of a drive. (He told me it sure was a good thing I wasn't still commuting an hour - and he was RIGHT!) He asked if I had anything I could spray in there, and the only thing I could think of was my bug spray that I make with essential oils. It smells pretty good, I think.

I grabbed the spray bottle from the cabinet and put it in the cup holder, right next to my coffee. I cracked the windows just the tiniest bit and craned my neck as near to the crack as I could reach and still drive safely. And all the way to work, I randomly spritzed bug spray all over the car. I'm really sorry no one was able to grab video footage of that adventure.

I checked with Ryan throughout the day and he still hadn't heard from the repair guy. Right before I left to come home, Ryan called me. "I have bad news. I ran to work for just a minute to drop off something, and the guy called while I was there. The call didn't come through and I just now got his voicemail. He could have come right then, but since I missed him, it will be next week."

The whole day had been too ridiculous to even cry over that news. Ryan's hospital is a BUNKER. Unless he stands against a window, he can't get a signal in that place. It's actually very strange, because texts go through to him - but not calls. He hasn't been inside that building in about two months. The ONE HOUR OF ONE DAY he stopped to visit, the guy called.

I came home and started working on our trip prep. We already felt like this was the least prepared for a trip we had ever been. Part of it was because I haven't tried to trip prep while working in about five years. Part of it was not knowing what we would be able to access while we were gone, since everything is so up and down right now. It was going to be our first trip without a color coded itinerary, and I felt like an utter failure because of it.

I knew what would make me feel better, though! Food prep! Since we couldn't count on restaurants to be open, we planned to be prepared for every single meal on our own. If we found places to eat out - great! If not, we were ready. I started with the protein balls, because I knew they needed to chill before I rolled them into balls. I started dumping ingredients into my dish and even decided to double the batch for good measure.

As I dumped the next to the last ingredient in the bowl, I realized I was making the wrong recipe!!!! The one I thought I was making wasn't in my recipe book. And while there was nothing wrong with the one I did make, it just wasn't what I planned.

I soldiered on, though, assembling and packing the rest of the food. I sent my sister this picture, and she said...

And the meat's already in the car!

Smarty pants.

The Shafferland Shuffle

Happy Sunday - and happy last day of May, my friends! While I look forward to what June brings, let's take a look at the last few days of May around here! :)

* Our church opened for corporate worship last Sunday, but Ryan and I couldn't go because of his work exposure. (That was a request of the church that we were respecting.) So we watched online again - but this time we could see people in the seats! They didn't have a very big crowd, but a few did venture forth! We enjoyed our day in the way we have come to enjoy our restful Sundays - including a neighborhood walk in the afternoon.

* Monday was Memorial Day! I made a Dashing Dish trifle and that evening we had deconstructed kabobs (aka a sheet pan dinner). Both were so good! Monday's sad news? Our air conditioner stopped working. We had to go for a walk just to cool down, because it was about 80 degrees in our house! That's about 15 degrees warmer than I prefer! :)

* I went back to work on Tuesday - and my face here reflects the return of the suuuuuuuuper early morning alarm. When I worked from home, I worked in a much more casual fashion. :) Hair, makeup, and real clothes required extra time! But it was worth it because we got a new printer/copier at work, and the company delivered cupcakes to us! Not too shabby!! Ryan called the air conditioning guy but he couldn't come on Tuesday, so we sat on the porch to keep cool. (It was quite pleasant out there.)

* OH my word. The story I have for you about our Wednesday is TOO GOOD TO SPOIL, so come back tomorrow to read it. Here I am with my tank top and pony tail at my desk at work - it was all I could muster in the heat. And here's Ryan in his new prescription sunglasses! He's so excited! AND!!! Our roses got their first blooms. They're so pretty!

* Thursday brought us some adventure! We headed out on our annual birthday trip, which we have had planned since January. I cannot wait to tell you all about it! Pretty much nothing about this trip went according to schedule, but we had the best time on the road and LOOK AT OUR CUTE AS A LITTLE BUTTON GENUINE TINY CABIN!!!! It was so absolutely perfect in every corner of its 224 square feet. And no, it did not have bunk beds. And yes, it did have indoor plumbing.

* We had hoped to hike all day on Friday, but the forecast showed rain throughout the afternoon - and we saw red on the radar, so we didn't want to risk being deep in a park when a bad storm hit. So instead, we decided to look around and find the fun we could find. As would be the case, the rain held off until almost dinner time, so we probably could have made a day of it, but we still had fun doing what we did. And what we did also included our first coffee shop (we think) since February. (At least as far as going in and sitting down is concerned.)

* Though none of the plans we had for this trip have worked out the way we intended, aside from lodging, we ended up having a great day hiking yesterday. We spent two hours in a nature preserve and then several more hours in a state park. We hiked a total of 11.5 miles, and after 27,000 steps, my FitBit had the audacity to suggest I get moving. WHAT?!?!? When we didn't have any more steps left in us, we came back to our cabin, took a nap, and then enjoyed a fire, hot dogs, and s'mores!

It's been a wonderful weekend! Can't wait to tell you about it!

The Saturday Six

One.

My sister sent me this link to a handful of Andy Griffith quizzes. Any Andy fans out there? You should try these! They were a little more difficult than we expected. :)

Two.

Source

I have mentioned a time or two on here before about The Daily Grace Company, which is a fairly recent discovery for me. (Within the last year, I would say.) I love following them on Instagram, but I have also been enjoying their publications in recent weeks. I just finished reading my first Bible study of theirs, and I wanted to tell you about ! (They have many studies, but this was the first one I had completed.)

It's called Amen: The Story of Scripture from Eden to Eternity and it's written by Kristin Schmucker, who is the founder of the Daily Grace Company. This particular study is an overview of the whole Bible and takes particular care to show the thread of God's covenant and fulfilled promises from Genesis to Revelation.

I'll tell you immediately that in all my years of teaching Bible studies, one of the most difficult obstacles I've always found has been finding books that are meaty enough for seasoned Christians while simultaneously being basic enough for new believers. Most general study groups have a mix of "faith ages" inside them, and it's so easy to lose one end or the other. I feel like Amen does a great job of appealing to both sides. I've been a Christian since I was six, and I drank up every page of this study. I found new-to-me themes and threads inside its pages, and I loved returning to the basics of the Bible for a little bit. But as I studied, I could also think of friends of mine who are new to all this, and I was certain they could just as easily follow the thread.

This study is written to cover five weeks, with five days of study per week. (I read it every single day straight through, so I finished it faster, but that's how it's designed.) The front of the book includes colorful graphics to explain some basic Bible facts, like how many books are in the Bible, the 3 original languages, the number of years it took to write, the number of earthly writers, Testaments, books, divisions, and chapters. It also provides a timeline of Scripture from Eden to the destruction of the second temple.

The first week of study is an overview of why the Bible is important, why studying it matters, what the Gospel means, and a quick glance at both the Old and New Testaments. From there, the remaining four weeks travel from Genesis to Revelation and show how God was (and is!) present in the world and with His people.

Each day offers a manageable piece of Scripture to read, a one-page explanation of that day's study, and three reflection questions that can be answered in as few or many words as you would like. The conclusion of each week offers six more questions over the week as a whole, and those questions are consistent throughout the book. Twice in this book, there's a chance to write out a summary of what you've learned so far, if you wish to do so.

The entire study is bathed in Scripture references and points entirely to the Word, and not just to the writer's opinion.

And because things like this usually matter to girls, the book itself is BEAUTIFUL. Many full color pictures that make it an absolute delight to walk through from beginning to end. If you want to do this study together with your husband or in a mixed group setting, there is also a men's version of the book, which I believe is the same in content, but a little more masculine in presentation.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone, regardless of depth of understanding of Scripture. And I'm excited to dive into the next study. (I already ordered it so I wouldn't even have a day's lapse in study.)

* I have no affiliation with the company and I purchased the book with my own money, so this just really is me telling you about something I love! I will add that they do often run sales, so even though I absolutely find this book worthy of the $20.00 price tag, if you need something more affordable, check back often and you'll probably find a sale!

Three.

Our pastor shared this rendition of Softly and Tenderly in our staff meeting this week, and I thought it was so beautiful.

Four.

I'm pretty sure a lot of you who read here also read Kelly's Korner (in fact, it's how I met some of you!) but if you don't or you missed this post, check it out! For those of you who aren't familiar with Kelly, her daughter (Harper) has hearing loss, so mask-life makes it even harder for her to understand what people say to her. Kelly posted about these smile masks that have a clear area around the mouth!

Five.

I know this unique prayer idea is geared for teaching kids (in a group) to pray, but I happen to think some of the ideas here might work equally well on adults! Creative!

Six.

If you're following the Gospel reading plan I used last year, here's the list for the month of June! It will get you almost to the end of Mark!