My next guest blogger is a friend from my past working life, and is one of the people that makes me miss the turn and burn of the media relations world. She was a producer extraordinaire over at NBC4, and I loved when I got a chance to get a client on her show just to see her. She always had a smile on her face and a warm personality to go along with it. We’ve both since moved on and taken on the best job in the world: motherhood. Kristen Maetzold is a Realtor for Advance Realty Ray Hustek and Associates, freelance writer, producer, and blogs about unexpected life moments from being a surprise first-time mom in her mid-40s over at Columbus Parent Magazine. Her blog is Middle-Age Meets Motherhood.
Bear Essentials
My two-year-old tips the scales at roughly thirty pounds. Why is it that it seems she needs nearly 4X her body weight in “necessities” when we travel?
Recently our family enjoyed a one-night-stay at a cabin in the Hocking Hills. Our accommodations, which I’ll get to in a moment, were impressive and included certainly enough “basics” that my husband and I only needed weekend bags, and still had about a day’s worth of space left over.
The funny thing about packing for a get-away, if the get-away includes a child under the age of 3, (which right there makes it not a “get-away,”) whether it includes one night or seven nights, the essentials are pretty much the same.
A “Pack-n-Play” for “crating” your child at nap time and night time. (This may sound crass, but I call it what it is.) A sheet or blanket, or both, in order to make the Pack-n-Play comfortable enough to spend eight-plus hours in.
Diapers. Ellie would need about 8-to-12 to be safe, yet I packed twice that amount. If she ended up needing even close to 24 Pampers, our get-away would likely include a trip to the ER.
I packed Ellie her own set of toiletries, yet forgot her toilet…which was kind of key since we’re in the middle of potty training. (There wasn’t room for it after packing nearly a case of Pampers.)
She’s not had a sniffle, sore throat, fever, even diaper rash all summer, yet I felt compelled to pack the remedies for all of these things….just in case. (I’m sure every mom out there understands.)
Rounding out her bag were three sun suits, two short sets, a couple of pair of p.j.’s, a sun dress, a beach towel, bathing suit, swim diaper, sunscreen, three bags of Gold Fish, a box of Cheezits, some Cheerios, a gallon of milk, and a bunch of bananas.
Finally, I let Ellie pick out who she wanted to accompany her on this adventure. She picked her Pooh Bear and another little bear-ish type animal we call Sweet Pea.
We set off for our one-night stay with all of our two-year old’s “necessities,” and three days worth of groceries; Ellie, Pooh, and Pea sat sandwiched between gym bags, diaper bags, grocery bags, and a Pack-n-Play.
We arrived at the “cabin” just after noon. Upon seeing Bear’s Den Lodge, I didn’t need to put one paw inside to see any bear would be lucky to hibernate here.
The home is billed as a “Nature & Wellness Retreat,” one only has to look as far as the front porch to see it lives up to its promise. It’s amazing what the perfect porch chair will do for your health and wellness, especially if it has a comfy cushion and a good view.
Tucked on 200 hilly acres, the cape-code style house is amazing. I’m a Realtor; I see a lot of houses. The list of its amenities is impressive: open floor plan, exposed beams, gourmet kitchen, walk-in pantry, over-stuffed furniture, inviting gathering spaces, cozy corners, roomy porches, and a well-stocked fire pit. The house sleeps up to ten…the hot tub on the back porch, about that many. And every window in the house, and there are a lot of them, has an incredible view. Picture windows that actually have a view worth framing.
It is the rare kind of retreat that makes you want to enjoy it with a special someone, or invite over everyone you know. I wanted to be by myself with a good book, or book a weekend with a best friend. I wanted to find out if a glass of wine tastes better while sautéing in the kitchen or simmering in the Jacuzzi. In short, there is an endless list of creature comforts, 24 hours is bear-ly enough time at Bear’s Den Lodge. (There is a reason the minimum stay is usually two nights.)
The amenity that deserves the most applause, however, is the fact that the home is Green. Creating an environmentally friendly home was the owner’s top priority when designing and building Bear’s Den Lodge and it’s “sister” Bear’s Den Cottage. Nearly all the wood was timbered locally and milled by nearby Amish. Most of the wooden furniture has been “rescued” and refinished by the family including the dining room table that was formally a school library table, and the chairs which were teacher chairs. The owners ask that you do your part during your stay like turning off lights (fluorescent,) put anything recyclable in the provided bin, and take all food scraps out to a compost container. Pretty simple requests. Even Kermit would have discovered it actually is pretty easy “Being Green.”
And speaking of frogs, you will find yourself surrounded by wildlife. No sign of bears at Bear’s Den, but while sitting on the front porch we did see a momma deer and her two babies plus a bunch of wild turkeys…and I’m not talking about neighbors. This wildlife is the closest thing you’ll have to neighbors during your stay. I also marveled at the number of butterflies; I think this may have been the first time Ellie actually saw a butterfly outside of a book.
It was a perfect stay; our only complaint was that it was too short.
Consider Bear’s Den Lodge a bare necessity on your list of nearby get-aways. However, as we learned, if you have a toddler in tow, don’t over pack, you’ll do fine with bare essentials.
