Good Morning, Good Morning! I hope you all are having a great year and camping season!
Winter in Iowa is not camping season, but I want to share my Christmas present with you – it was just like camping, though snowy and cold outside.
The husband gave me a winter weekend get-away at an Iowa State Park cabin-a CCC sandstone cabin with an original working fireplace that was along a river! How exciting!
He was even frugal and used a 20% off winter get-away offer from the Iowa DNR. We had seen and discussed the offer before, but never booked it. So it was such a surprising Christmas present!
The cabin is actually a Civilian Conservation Corps built cabin along the Iowa River at Pine Lake State Park. It is a beautiful cabin, perfect for a weekend get-away.
I have always loved seeing CCC built structures when we camp. We even enjoyed visiting a CCC museum in the Black Hills of South Dakota a few years ago. It was a very interesting museum.
We loved learning the cabin history from a notebook we found in the cabin. A 1953 newspaper clipping had an interview with one of the CCC workers. He talked about quarrying the sandstone and building the walls and fireplace. It even showed drawings and mentioned setting the fireplace keystone in our cabin.
With the history notebook was a cabin diary. It was fun reading everyone’s entries. They discussed daily activities and local restaurants, some even noted the weather and where they were from.
There are 4 cabins along the river, the 2 North ones were built by the CCC while the other 2 were finished later. We were able to stay in 1 of the North ones. I would love to visit the nearby CCC museum at Eldora, Iowa, maybe when it is much warmer than when we were at the cabin!
When we arrived, our 200 yard snowy walk to the cabin went over a cute bridge and creek and by many geese. Since we had 3-4 trips to unload everything, we were very thankful for the wagon in the cabin.
We were also thankful for the cabin updates in 1993 and 2020. The sandstone walls and fireplace are still original and beautiful, but a modern bathroom, kitchen, electricity and furnace is appreciated!
I love campfires, so the husband brought lots of wood for the fireplace. That was really good, because the large living room was a little hard to keep cozy warm… I can’t imagine when it was the only heat source.
Of course, the Iowa winter weather didn’t help us stay warm or let us walk and explore outside. It was -17 actual temperature one night and a high of -4 one day. But it was so relaxing reading and tending the fire in the cabin.
I did manage a few short walks on the path near the river, I’m sure I was a sight-hat, scarf, boots, long-long winter coat with hood up and camera tucked inside the coat! But it was fun walking, looking for birds and wildlife and I always headed back to the cabin after my 7 minute timer ( to avoid frostbite!).
Besides staying warm with the fireplace, I was excited to cook over it. Our Reuben pie irons were delicious- just like when we are camping or making maple syrup!
Thankfully, the Iowa weather is warmer now and we can enjoy campfires and the camping season.
The CCC cabin get-away was a surprising Christmas present. I loved the cold, snowy adventure and I can’t wait to share more adventures with you soon!
Happy Camping (or fireplace cooking!)
Frugal Campasaurus