How much wood could a woodchuck chuck?

Last weekend Caroline (and the doggies) and I went to Woodchuck, my families "rustic" camp in the Adirondacks. Woodchuck has been in my Dad's family since before he was born. We usually spend close to a week there each year, but this year we only spent a long weekend because we are taking so much time off for the wedding. Woodchuck IS a vacation, but it is a slightly different vacation than most people take. Some highlights of Woodchuck:

• Delicious running cold water in the kitchen sink (hint: that's all you get.)
• A new composting toilet to complement the flush one
• Herkimer the Moose (over the fireplace)
• ~100 acres, and several hundred feet of lakefront
• 5 cabins, sleeping something over 20 people

The main cabin

The entrance to Woodchuck. You have to let everyone know you are arriving!

Of course, a component of a Woodchuck vacation is always doing some maintenance work around the house. We weren't there long, so we only got to move some fireplace wood off of the tennis court. We also have specific family traditions like blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast, potato salad, chips and cream cheese salsa dip, smores, nightly board games around the fire, and reading books. 

A big part of Woodchuck is being on the lake, which Ash absolutely loves. If we let him he'd swim and chase balls all day long. He hasn't been as good with come and stay lately, so we didn't let him off leash this year. We are hoping we can conquer these commands with him so that he can be off leash more in the future. Pepper, however, is perfect off leash. He stays right by your side and knows right where "home" is when you say "lets go inside!"

Ash on the dock

Pepper, on the other hand, does the army crawl (belly to the deck) whenever he feels the floating sensation on the dock. He constantly wanted to be in someone's lap.

Pepper clings to Caroline for dear life

Caroline and I used to stay in the loft of the main cabin with Mom, Dad, and Katie. The dogs can't really get into the loft though, so we get our own cabin!

The "Little Cabin"

Our bed

Here are some other photos of woodchuck: 

"Little Woodchuck", for the kids, but it has a cot. Caroline's Dad slept in here once! 

Looking at the lake from the big cabin

The main cabin

The bathroom is in use

Tall pines. Caroline says: "Pretty amazing when you stop and really look at them!"

A wood shed we built last year

We had a great weekend, and as always, we welcomed our warm shower when we got home! Even the doggies got baths because they were covered in pine sap and pine needles.