Cabin Memories (with a shout-out to Coleman!)

“Sponsored by Coleman and hosted by the Outdoor Blogger Network, this is my submission for the Coleman Camping Heritage Essay Contest.”  It's a little snippet into my personal life before I was married and had my own children.  Does it bring back any memories for you?  Anyone else depend on Kerosine Coleman lanterns for hours of game-playing?  

I grew up in Alaska with a dad who was trying to always get away from the phone.  He worked on-call as a doctor, and the phone meant having to leave his family and/or get up in the middle of the night (often working throughout the night and next day too.)  Therefore, we spent a lot of time at our remote cabin on his days off. 

“Cabin” to some people means electricity, running water, and no chores.  To us it meant lighting our Coleman lanterns in the winter for light (in the summer it never got dark enough to NEED lights), working to clear victims of the Spruce Bark Beetle for firewood (we literally had an entire shed full) and going through the endless task of sorting trinkets left over from previous owners.  The cabin (still) has character, and plenty of it!   The only access to it (besides bush plane) is via snowmachine (the “correct” term for ‘snowmobile’ if you are from Alaska) in the winter and hiking then boating across the lake in the summer. 

When the cabin was full of people (which was always great fun for us kids!) it meant setting up tents among the ample blueberry bushes and rolling out the Coleman sleeping bags.   They were the softest and warmest so we all fought over them.  I, personally, made sure to check my bag each time I got it in (whether I was in the cabin or the tent) for mice who lost their way and ended up snuggled inside before I did.  The likelihood of that actually ever happening was slim, I know, but I was convinced there was possibility enough to keep on checking.

The cabin, built in the ‘50s, smelled of a mixture of must, dust, and kerosene from the lanterns.  A smell I first despised, it certainly brings great comfort now.  Our newer lanterns mixed in with the older ones left there by “Vern” who loved the cabin and left it fully furnished after the last time he was there.  I have memories of playing Rummy 500 for (literally) hours.  I read books there that I never had time for at home.  Meals were cooked and dishes done by the light of our Coleman lanterns.  We were warned to not touch the wick lest it fall apart, and were all given lighting lessons at a young age.  It was just part of our life out there. 

While as a teenager, I often loathed that separation from cell phone service, friends and computers, I see so clearly now the value of complete separation from “normalcy” and a focus on the family.  With my boys now, we don’t own a cabin, but still find plenty of time to get away from it all and just breathe.  Our Coleman lanterns are now lit with batteries instead of the kerosene, but the sweet memories are still being made.  

Make sure to check out all the entries for the Coleman Contest over at the Outdoor Blogger Network - there are some fabulous ones with great pictures!  Interested in entering?  It's open until May 28th!