Never made that connection about cabin fever, Kristi! I kidnapped my wife and 1 y/o daughter years ago and we left Connecticut for a overnight in a New Hampshire cabin. Glorious snow en route. What a blast we had watching snow from our rented bungalow! Cabin fever, please sign me up!
That sounds like a dream night!! I love how you used the word "kidnap." I've done that a few times in my travel life and it ALWAYS turned out spectacularly!
I've had tick bite fever, cat scratch fever (really) but never cabin fever. I'm lucky to live in a grown-up treehouse with a wood-fired sauna and marshmallows at the ready (for the firepit, not the sauna!), year-round. However, the whimsy of living remotely can also mean being storm-stuck, such as this past week. Our entire peninsula was essentially closed when the OPP blocked Highway 6 to traffic 50km south of here. I just wish that it all translated to a snow day somehow! Working remotely with no-commute means the office remains open but the pantry is bare! Great post, Kristi.
Yes, I'm in Ontario, Kristi! We're almost exactly on the 45th parallel line--halfway to the North Pole and better yet, halfway to the equator. It was a solid year of house hunting and gathering to find this Sleeping Giant in the woods. My wife and I looked at 88 houses before deciding on Lion's Head--population 600!
I’m wondering if the term originated back when peoples homes were one room log cabins. Funny how early Americans (and Canadians?) lived in tiny cabins and now we have come full circle pining for the cabin life again. Hehe.
Yes, I get weird-architecture-from-2002 fever. I pine for the pine, the wooden structure without WiFi or a microwave.
Idea—You can also write about island fever. Did it ever happen to you on Jamaica?
The full circle aspect IS interesting, isn't it? I think our ancestors were onto something, primitive as it was.
Re: Island fever....oh boy. There are so many different forms of island fever, from wanting so desperately to be there right through to wanting to get the hell out of there. It was a complicated relationship with that country.
I love both versions; I want it all. I reminisce about the days gone by when cabins were “legit roughing it”, as well as the gorgeous, high priced ones we can stay in today; and everything in between! For over a decade, I’ve talked about my ideal Christmas getaway with the whole family being renting an A frame cabin in the middle of nowhere, stopping to load up on groceries first, cooking our favorite winter soups and homemade hot cocoa (great grandma’s recipe from a century ago), and playing board games around a big fire. Then a refreshing hike in the pine woods surrounding the place to discover nature, followed by a hot bubble bath (because we’d be frozen). I have all these images and you wrote all of them in your piece!
Now I want to book that trip that has only been in my head, before another decade goes by!
You know what Joy? I say DO IT sooner rather than later. We can never know what life has in store so to live out those dreams is important. I'm so glad I did all of these things when my son was young because he's no longer with me now. Awful fact: I was at this exact cabin when I got the called that my son had suddenly passed. I think it was the presence of nature that helped me survive that day.
I’m so sorry. I can’t even begin to imagine your pain. I’ve sobbed through some of your heart wrenching pieces and haven’t even been able to post a comment, because I didn’t have the words. I remember you posted a piece awhile back about being at a cabin, I think, just being in the mountains, away from it all. It was serene and peaceful and memorable. I think you wrote that it was just you and your dog, out there, in the expansive quiet. Your words are deeply felt and reach far and wide, long after they are written.
I will do it, before the opportunity no longer exists. I’ve thought about this a lot over the past couple of years. I can do better. You are a huge inspiration.
we grew up spending time at a families cabin in the backwoods of NH called "The Bird House." As kids we could wander free in the woods, built forts, hike for miles, collect old bottles and pretty foliage leaves to decorate our forts.... yea i love cabin life!
Well ... the cabins now aren’t like they were when cabin fever was a thing! If you ever come to central Illinois, go to the Lincoln museum in Springfield! They have a reproduction of the family cabin inside the museum and it’s sobering to see how small it is and how many people lived there ... with no showers, indoor toilet, central heat, TV/internet, privacy ... it must have been dreadful!
Haha I could do that alone with a dog. Not with other people though.
The smaller cabins on my uncles property are like that. No luxuries, no toilets, no heat. Just wood walls and floors and camping burners for cooking. It's lovely!
This kind of lifestyle feels so far away from my urban dwelling. I would happily spend a lot of time in a cabin, it feels like the best way to spend some down time.
All those pics of cabins are drool-worthy — I loves me a good cabin with a fireplace and board games and old paperback books and a smell of woodsmoke and pancakes. Sigh. Lucky me, though: my own little house feels so cozy and sweet to me at this time of year that I'm reluctant to leave it. Catch me in another month, though, and I'll be full of the impulse to be elsewhere.
Same here Jan. It's almost a yearning for me to get out of town and into a cabin. Doesn't even have to be posh, just good insulation and beautiful surroundings and I'm good!
I saw the Note yesterday, but I was too late to chip in and the decision was already made. I'm glad! This was a great post!
For me the idea of seeking cabin life is about finding something new, simple, and authentic to experience vs the madness of the modern world. Although, I do get cabin fever from having to spend just a couple of extra hours in my tent!
I nearly tagged you in the manual coffee making part of my story. I immediately thought of you and your extremely manual coffee skills in pitch dark out there!
This may be my favourite post you’ve done, and that’s saying something!
I live in western Canada’s cottage country and the definition of ‘cabin’ in this neck of the woods does not equate with your family’s compound of real lake cabins.
The cabins in our area are 5000+ square foot mansions with every luxury known to man. Some get used two weeks a year and over new year’s. But...hidden in the forest away from the glittering lake, and the buckets of money, are the real cabins. The kind you describe that nurture with nature.
Donna, ever since "meeting" you my family cabins make me think of you because they're near Nakusp. I remember you telling me you used to live in the town? I find it all so charming!
I'd love tonsee Invermere's version of the cottages you describe lol. That sounds like Bearspaw out here. Insanely wealthy rural life.
Yes, when the only place you ever live is a cabin, and you hunker down for the winter, you get snowed in. If you’re stuck in there with a family of five for 6 months straight, you’re gonna get cabin fever. I bet it sucked. No where to go for privacy, your children or spouse tormenting you for entertainment. The same boring food cooked by you. Snow drifts so high that you can’t leave.
These days we have the opposite problem. We get stuck in civilization with thousands of ingrates. And no cabin. We are trapped away from nature with no privacy, people picking on us for entertainment, and the same boring food every day.
Haha your description of it made me think of Little House on the Prairie for some reason lol. I wonder how couples who live in cabins even have so many kids without having much privacy to make babies 😁
I really love your writing style Kristi! Very amiable--like chatting with a friend. I like that you're encouraging folks to "get out there and rough it a bit". To immerse themselves in nature. You've really inspired me to share more about MY mountains, here in western Maine, where cabins abound.
Thank you so much Samantha! I'd LOVE to hear more about Maine's natural areas. Let's be honest, I'd love to visit them! Maine is high on my list but it'll be a while til I make it that far.
Never made that connection about cabin fever, Kristi! I kidnapped my wife and 1 y/o daughter years ago and we left Connecticut for a overnight in a New Hampshire cabin. Glorious snow en route. What a blast we had watching snow from our rented bungalow! Cabin fever, please sign me up!
That sounds like a dream night!! I love how you used the word "kidnap." I've done that a few times in my travel life and it ALWAYS turned out spectacularly!
This totally makes me want to rent a cabin in the mountains next month! Sipping hot tea by the fire in my flannel jammies!
Yup. I'm halfway there, mostly the flannel jammies and coffee lol. I just need the cabin and fireplace!
I've had tick bite fever, cat scratch fever (really) but never cabin fever. I'm lucky to live in a grown-up treehouse with a wood-fired sauna and marshmallows at the ready (for the firepit, not the sauna!), year-round. However, the whimsy of living remotely can also mean being storm-stuck, such as this past week. Our entire peninsula was essentially closed when the OPP blocked Highway 6 to traffic 50km south of here. I just wish that it all translated to a snow day somehow! Working remotely with no-commute means the office remains open but the pantry is bare! Great post, Kristi.
Ooooh man, your home sounds incredible! I've seen those adult tree houses on those remote home building shows and it looks super neat.
When you say OPP you mean you're in Ontario, correct?
Yes, I'm in Ontario, Kristi! We're almost exactly on the 45th parallel line--halfway to the North Pole and better yet, halfway to the equator. It was a solid year of house hunting and gathering to find this Sleeping Giant in the woods. My wife and I looked at 88 houses before deciding on Lion's Head--population 600!
I could not love this reframing of cabin fever more than I do. This version of cabin fever sounds delightful.
Doesn't it!!?? See you in the wild! 😁
We have certainly felt the double digit cold this past week here in Winnipeg.
I'm sure you have! You guys have it WAY worse than we do most times. Stay warm!
I’m wondering if the term originated back when peoples homes were one room log cabins. Funny how early Americans (and Canadians?) lived in tiny cabins and now we have come full circle pining for the cabin life again. Hehe.
Yes, I get weird-architecture-from-2002 fever. I pine for the pine, the wooden structure without WiFi or a microwave.
Idea—You can also write about island fever. Did it ever happen to you on Jamaica?
The full circle aspect IS interesting, isn't it? I think our ancestors were onto something, primitive as it was.
Re: Island fever....oh boy. There are so many different forms of island fever, from wanting so desperately to be there right through to wanting to get the hell out of there. It was a complicated relationship with that country.
Another fab essay from Wildhood? 🙏🙏
Yup. They're all coming...I just want to intersperse non-Jamaica content to prevent audience boredom lol.
No such thing on your blog.
I love both versions; I want it all. I reminisce about the days gone by when cabins were “legit roughing it”, as well as the gorgeous, high priced ones we can stay in today; and everything in between! For over a decade, I’ve talked about my ideal Christmas getaway with the whole family being renting an A frame cabin in the middle of nowhere, stopping to load up on groceries first, cooking our favorite winter soups and homemade hot cocoa (great grandma’s recipe from a century ago), and playing board games around a big fire. Then a refreshing hike in the pine woods surrounding the place to discover nature, followed by a hot bubble bath (because we’d be frozen). I have all these images and you wrote all of them in your piece!
Now I want to book that trip that has only been in my head, before another decade goes by!
You know what Joy? I say DO IT sooner rather than later. We can never know what life has in store so to live out those dreams is important. I'm so glad I did all of these things when my son was young because he's no longer with me now. Awful fact: I was at this exact cabin when I got the called that my son had suddenly passed. I think it was the presence of nature that helped me survive that day.
Now, I cherish all my cabin memories! 😊❤️
I’m so sorry. I can’t even begin to imagine your pain. I’ve sobbed through some of your heart wrenching pieces and haven’t even been able to post a comment, because I didn’t have the words. I remember you posted a piece awhile back about being at a cabin, I think, just being in the mountains, away from it all. It was serene and peaceful and memorable. I think you wrote that it was just you and your dog, out there, in the expansive quiet. Your words are deeply felt and reach far and wide, long after they are written.
I will do it, before the opportunity no longer exists. I’ve thought about this a lot over the past couple of years. I can do better. You are a huge inspiration.
Thank you Joy. If I can inspire even one person, I feel I'm doing something worthwhile!
we grew up spending time at a families cabin in the backwoods of NH called "The Bird House." As kids we could wander free in the woods, built forts, hike for miles, collect old bottles and pretty foliage leaves to decorate our forts.... yea i love cabin life!
Kristen, that sounds like heaven! I wish all kids had the opportunity to grow up that way.
Well ... the cabins now aren’t like they were when cabin fever was a thing! If you ever come to central Illinois, go to the Lincoln museum in Springfield! They have a reproduction of the family cabin inside the museum and it’s sobering to see how small it is and how many people lived there ... with no showers, indoor toilet, central heat, TV/internet, privacy ... it must have been dreadful!
Haha I could do that alone with a dog. Not with other people though.
The smaller cabins on my uncles property are like that. No luxuries, no toilets, no heat. Just wood walls and floors and camping burners for cooking. It's lovely!
This kind of lifestyle feels so far away from my urban dwelling. I would happily spend a lot of time in a cabin, it feels like the best way to spend some down time.
I suppose I'm fortunate, I live on the edge of my city and the Rockies are only a 45 minute drive. So many options out my way.
All those pics of cabins are drool-worthy — I loves me a good cabin with a fireplace and board games and old paperback books and a smell of woodsmoke and pancakes. Sigh. Lucky me, though: my own little house feels so cozy and sweet to me at this time of year that I'm reluctant to leave it. Catch me in another month, though, and I'll be full of the impulse to be elsewhere.
Same here Jan. It's almost a yearning for me to get out of town and into a cabin. Doesn't even have to be posh, just good insulation and beautiful surroundings and I'm good!
I saw the Note yesterday, but I was too late to chip in and the decision was already made. I'm glad! This was a great post!
For me the idea of seeking cabin life is about finding something new, simple, and authentic to experience vs the madness of the modern world. Although, I do get cabin fever from having to spend just a couple of extra hours in my tent!
A tent is a whole other version of fever 😄😄
I nearly tagged you in the manual coffee making part of my story. I immediately thought of you and your extremely manual coffee skills in pitch dark out there!
Hahaha! Its a labor of love!!!
This may be my favourite post you’ve done, and that’s saying something!
I live in western Canada’s cottage country and the definition of ‘cabin’ in this neck of the woods does not equate with your family’s compound of real lake cabins.
The cabins in our area are 5000+ square foot mansions with every luxury known to man. Some get used two weeks a year and over new year’s. But...hidden in the forest away from the glittering lake, and the buckets of money, are the real cabins. The kind you describe that nurture with nature.
Donna, ever since "meeting" you my family cabins make me think of you because they're near Nakusp. I remember you telling me you used to live in the town? I find it all so charming!
I'd love tonsee Invermere's version of the cottages you describe lol. That sounds like Bearspaw out here. Insanely wealthy rural life.
Yes, when the only place you ever live is a cabin, and you hunker down for the winter, you get snowed in. If you’re stuck in there with a family of five for 6 months straight, you’re gonna get cabin fever. I bet it sucked. No where to go for privacy, your children or spouse tormenting you for entertainment. The same boring food cooked by you. Snow drifts so high that you can’t leave.
These days we have the opposite problem. We get stuck in civilization with thousands of ingrates. And no cabin. We are trapped away from nature with no privacy, people picking on us for entertainment, and the same boring food every day.
And we get “I want a cabin” fever.
Haha your description of it made me think of Little House on the Prairie for some reason lol. I wonder how couples who live in cabins even have so many kids without having much privacy to make babies 😁
I think the term cabin fever was meant for those who live in a cabin. I didn't realize that winter cabining was a thing. Thanks for letting me know.
I think they need to update it to housebound fever just to keep it accurate lol.
I really love your writing style Kristi! Very amiable--like chatting with a friend. I like that you're encouraging folks to "get out there and rough it a bit". To immerse themselves in nature. You've really inspired me to share more about MY mountains, here in western Maine, where cabins abound.
Much love, gf!
Thank you so much Samantha! I'd LOVE to hear more about Maine's natural areas. Let's be honest, I'd love to visit them! Maine is high on my list but it'll be a while til I make it that far.