There is nothing quite like a winter cabin trip – having the coziness of a heated cabin in the woods – and being able to bundle up and brave the harsh elements in order to enjoy the wonders of a CAMPFIRE!

However, winter fires pose a bit more of a challenge than ones you build other times of the year. Lovely sticks for helping to get a fire blazing might be soggy and buried under snow, if you’re lucky enough to find sticks at all. Knowing all of this, I made sure to do a little shopping before this trip!

Over the past couple of weeks, I did some shopping for flammable things – and things to keep my feet warm! Not pictured – indoor/outdoor fireplace starter logs, sticky toe warmers, a handheld fire bellows and…dryer lint. Seriously – if you really want to see My museum worthy collection of dryer lint in my laundry room trash can, then maybe I’ll bring a camera down to my laundry room (note I am not going to do that, sorry)! We like to stuff dryer lint into spent paper towel/TP rolls and use them to help get fires started. I also have a a bottle of clear fuel gel a friend gave us years ago to give things a little “nudge” (hand sanitizer also works in a pinch if you’re willing to waste a bit of it).

During this whole shopping experience, we bought items from Cabela’s in Dundee, Lowe’s in Ypsilanti, MI (both stores had fantastic curbside service) and Ace Hardware in downtown Ypsilanti. Great service there, too – I called to ask about the long matches, and she held them at the counter for me.

My husband is an old hand at building fires, but since it will be so cold, we want to try making the process as quick as we can. We’re even bringing twigs from behind our house. Time will not be on our side, and finding dry sticks at our cabin site might be a challenge.

I spoke to a ranger at the park who told me we can not only buy bundles of wood at the park, but that she would bring some bundles to our cabin to get us started. Now that’s service!

Now all we need to do is get packed and drive there! Our cabin will have heat in each room, an indoor bathroom with a shower, two bedrooms and a small kitchen area with a wet bar. Winter vacation, ho!