From Riches to Rags

We started our family vacation in Truro, Cape Cod staying at our friend Susan's summer cottage.  The cottage was designed by Anna when she renovated and the final result is pretty much spectacular.  The attention to even the smallest detail is remarkable.  We were bathed in beauty every single moment.  From the door knobs, to the sugar bowl, to the blankets, to the furniture, to the art on the walls, to the pebbly oceanfront beach,  - you name it - gorgeous.

Contrast that with a full week later...in Greenville. Maine.   Ten of us are staying in a log cabin built over 200 years ago, clearly owned by a hoarder with a cleaning disorder.  Squirrels and mice are evident inside the cabin.  Overgrown gardens and trash are scattered outside.  Inside, Rotten floor boards are covered with throw rugs, magazines from over twenty years ago are shoved on a crooked bookshelf alongside a scattered array of things like cleaning supplies, paint sticks, and random junk.  Mouse poop on the large dining room table.  Mouse poop in the bowls left by the sink, and a little red squirrel in the house, nibbling away at things in the kitchen.  In other words, not a comfortable nor beautiful place to be.

There is a beautiful lake here, but the amenities that surround are simply put, dirty and gross.  Sure there are life jackets and floating toys, but you have to be brave enough to walk into a dirty, spider webbed shack and snatch them from a dirty pile of things.  Sure there are kayaks and canoes, but you have to be willing to schlep through the woods and haul them out and then clean the spiders and dirt off of them.  Sure there are lawn chairs, but you have to be willing to sit on dirty crooked seats with missing arms.  Sure there is a dock to swim off of, but you have to be willing to figure out how to climb up from the lake afterwards because the ladder that makes lake access easy is nowhere.

We love our family vacations with the family, and we've had amazing trips in the past.  Beautiful locations in beautiful houses.  Clearly you can't have that all the time.  So we are making the best of  this trip by spending nearly all of our time AWAY from the cabin.   And it's supposed to rain the rest of the week!!  It's only Monday!!