That being said, this weekend was quality family time spent at Bret's grandparent's cabin up in Happy Jack. It was mostly an unplugged weekend from the internet, the girls still brought their games and movies on the iPad. There is no cell service either (thank you TMobile for being on top of that). Although you could put in satellite in order to get tv and internet, I am glad they never have. I did a lot of reading and a lot of music-listening, as I don't sleep well when we go on these trips. A lot of just sitting on the porch, staring at pine trees and the storm clouds brewing, and the dog enjoying the freedom of having an entire acre to romp around in. Bret's parents were with us so it was also nice connecting with them for an extended period of time. You don't realize how fast and busy life is until you are in a place where you have no choice but to slow down.
There was talk about how we need more than two days up there. You get there late Friday, have all day Saturday, half the day Sunday. Then you want to make sure you leave early enough so you're not coming back down with all the other traffic trying to get back to the valley for work Monday. So it's not a great amount of time.
Technically you could spend weeks there during the summer. There's plumbing so you can shower and use an actual toilet. You're close enough to Payson or even Flagstaff for supplies. I guess that would be a way to check email and news. Of course when you work online, that becomes more of a problem. And, although I could catch up by getting a paper each day or week, I know I won't be getting all the information I am used to reading daily. It would be snippets, and I would probably lose my mind. I haven't read a print newspaper in... geez I can't even tell you how long. A long time. So the lack of information would be difficult for me.
I also attempted a run. It's about a mile from the highway up the hill to the cabin, and nice gravel road that I was itching to put my feet to. However, it's a different atmosphere there, and everyone has their dogs roaming free, and a lot of places aren't fenced in. Sunday morning I was up nice and early, and ready to kill my shins on the downhill, and a big black dog decided to come running up to me and bark. A lot. Not happily. I guess if we were going to spend a longer amount of time there, I would have to do some introductions to the animals there, so they know the person running by isn't prey. Worst case is we are right on the edge of the national forest, so I can go in the other direction and still get a nice hike in.
Regardless, we all love it there, and it was a wonderful family weekend away from the disgusting bad air and heat of the valley. It was nice to breathe easier, and not sweat simply by standing outside. I hope they winterize the place someday so we have more opportunities to escape throughout the year.
