Fall Altimeter Cabin Adventure
Even through all the COVID madness, I’m pretty grateful for 2020. We gained a LOT of family time, and made some awesome vendor connections! I have to admit, when Andrea from Altimeter Cabin contacted me, it felt a little out of the blue. However, it lead to a beautiful collaboration and I’m honored to have been able to enjoy the venue as a family for our Fall Altimeter Cabin adventure!
Almost without fail, we left later than I anticipated on Friday night. If someone claimed every kid makes you 10 minutes later, I’d believe them. Adding a husband is probably another 30-40 minute delay. (Joking… sorta). So I had all these great plans to get to the cabin and snag dinner at Basecamp Bar & Grill. Only after we were halfway up there, did we realize that Basecamp closes for the winter. So we ended up stopping in Elbe for pizza (not a moment too soon either, as they close for 6 weeks between November and January), and arrived at the cabin well after dark.
Our kids were overjoyed. Emi had been able to visit Altimeter Cabin back in June 2020 when she played “babysitter” for the kids of the models participating in our Altimeter Cabin Styled Shoot. Gracie and Evan hadn’t gotten a chance to visit yet, so when Gracie learned about the awesome sleeping loft in the cabin, you can guess where she and Emi disappeared to. Evan was just learning to climb so the ladder to the loft was a fun distraction, and trying to keep him off it proved nearly impossible.
On Saturday, we hung around and enjoyed the cabin. The spacious grounds gave the kids plenty of room to play while I did some mini detail shoots for Altimeter Cabin’s social media and website. The cabin and grounds are secluded, making them a safe place for the kids to run without having to worry that they may get hit by a car or worse. They enjoyed the freedom and getting outside. The majority of the day was pretty lazy as far as Saturdays go, but I enjoyed the family time and even got a nap for myself.
One of the best things about our Fall Altimeter Cabin Adventure was taking advantage of how centrally located the cabin is. It sits about 5 miles outside of Mount Rainier National Park, so on Sunday we packed our gear and headed there. While I’d originally planned to head to Paradise for the day, we found that it was unfortunately closed. Changes of plans were just a thing in 2020 obviously, so instead we stopped in Longmire to take a look around. There we found a quaint little town and the Trail of Shadows.
Being out of cell service range, I didn’t bother to look up how long the Trail of Shadows was. Instead we just headed out on it, stopping to read the signposts as we went. It made for a great impromptu homeschool lesson as we trekked the short trail (it’s just under a full mile). Did you know that Longmire was named for the man who settled the area in the 1800s? Or that it used to house a spa where people would come for $12 to cure their illnesses? Or that the $12 included a round trip train ticket from Tacoma area AND room and board? Yeah, me neither until we hit the Trail of Shadows.
Heading back down the mountain and home, we stopped at a few other spots to explore a bit. By then the kiddos were getting tired and we needed to be on our way. Our Fall Altimeter Cabin adventure proved to be just what we needed. Relaxing and left our kids begging to know when we could go back!
