My husband and I revisited the Mill Lake Cabins on Memorial weekend. This was our second visit- we visited the first time in September, 2020 during the COVID pandemic.

The cabins were formerly used by scout and youth groups after being built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration in the late 1930s. They were used in this fashion right up until the early 2000s. They started being rehabilitated for public rental in 2015.

Now, five cabins are rentable by the public, and have recently been updated from rustic to “semi modern” since our previous visit in 2020.

They now have electricity (I counted 10 interior outlets) and baseboard style heaters, four ceiling lights, two exterior lights and one ceiling fan. You still have to hand-pump your water and and use a vault toilet. But hey, you still want SOME ruggedness, don’t you?😀

Being the super rugged gal that I am (ahem) I brought in two electric electric fans of my own. They were wonderful at keeping things cooled down on warm afternoons and were nice white noise machines at night! A family including four young boys – all appearing to be under the age of 10 were right next door – and could be a little boisterous at times. Who COULD keep ’em quiet? A challenge for even the most Mary Poppin-esque of nannies without access to kiddie downers or muzzles. Camping is exciting, after all!

The fans helped drown out their exuberance and gave the two of us some quiet! Though the female adult in charge of the boys did do a good job keeping them as quiet as possible – and entertained.

Here are some interior shots:

The two of us just wanted a calm weekend with no time constraints or obligations. I even bought what I thought would be appropriate reading material for the weekend:

On our first morning there, my husband wanted to catch up on beauty sleep – but I felt like exploring. Check out this cutie I met on my walk:

I also got some scenery shots:

What’s a camping trip without camp food? If you have kids, like the groups on both sides of us, it’s s’mores time! But… we’re adults – and altogether sweet enough already 😉 – so we opted for simple non-perishable meal and snack options.

On our last night, we burned off our remaining firewood since rain was heavily forecasted (and thankfully actually happened). We spent a relaxing evening inside listening to a Lansing MI based hard rock station (Q106). Rocker Dee Snider hosted an all hair bands syndicated show from 9 pm to midnight called House of Hair.

What better way to embrace life’s simpler pleasures than by listening to an old school radio in a cabin in the woods?