 |
| Eric's approval for our cabin at Monte Sano State Park. |
We couldn’t
get out of town fast enough this past Friday.
A very late birthday trip for Eric and a week made of Mondays were the
occasions.
Monte Sano State Park was our
destination.
I had discovered their
rustic cabins during a search for Civilian Conservation Corps buildings in Alabama
(this search prompted by a discussion with a coworker during which we both
expressed our desire to see the revival of FDR’s New Deal public works programs
to relieve, recover and reform our nation…a discussion that led to many
digressions on my part, thus my ending up reserving a historic cabin in a state
park).
Monte Sano
State Park is located on a mountain in north Alabama that overshadows the city
of Huntsville. The park is home to
fourteen Arts & Crafts stone cabins, most with working fireplaces and original
hardwood floors, and all with stunning views from the attached screened
porches. There is no real roughing it
in these cabins. Although it was small,
our cabin (Cabin #1) came fully furnished with the same amenities (or more) as
a hotel: two beds (one full –sized, one
twin), a dining table with four chairs, stove, oven, refrigerator, coffee maker
and microwave. The bathroom was stocked
with plenty of towels, wash cloths, soap, shampoo, lotion, and a hairdryer. On our porch, we had two chairs and a table which
we moved from facing the view of the woods to face the view of the bluff
overlooking the valley where the chocolaty waters of the Tennessee River flowed.
There was air conditioning (which we didn’t even have to use, the
temperatures were so unseasonably cool) and cable (which we DID use ever so sparingly
since we do not have cable at home and it is a novelty to us), and a blessed
quietude that hung on the bluff that entire weekend, a quietude that was not
even broken by the pulsing chorus of tree frogs that began to sing at
nightfall. And the fireflies…they danced
out of the trees to the rhythm of the tree frogs’ song and surrounded the cabin
like twinkling Christmas lights. It.
Was. Perfect.
We fed
ourselves with blackened tofu salads and fresh spring rolls with bee sting
sauce from the amazing
Chef Will, whose food truck is located in the
Lowe Mill Arts district of Huntsville, and other treats that we picked up at the
Whole-Foods-on-steroids store
Earth Fare.
One evening was spent at
Below theRadar Brewhouse, which claimed to have gluten free options, but clearly didn’t fully
grasp the meaning of gluten free by offering bangers boiled in Guinness and
covered in Stout gravy as one of their safe options.
Yeah, nothing about Guinness-boiled sausages
and Stout gravy sounds gluten free to me.
Because it’s not.
And the wait
staff were a bit independent, if you know what I mean (they disappeared for no apparent
reason for long periods of time).
But
they did have an amazing array of beers.
 |
| Chef Will, Lowe Mill, Huntsville, AL |
 |
| Blackened Tofu Salad, Chef Will |
What time not
spend eating and sleeping was spent walking trails (or, if you are Eric,
running), reading (
The Body by Stephen King for me,
California by Edan Lapucki
for Eric), yoga-ing on the porch, or meditating (again, on the porch).
At one point, while the voice on Eric’s
iPhone app urged us to listen to the sounds around us while concentrating on
our breathing, a squabbling ruckus from an unidentifiable bird broke from the trees.
The squabbling ruckus was immediately meditated
away.
 |
| View from our cabin. |
 |
| Our cabin from a trail head. |
