A cabin or cottage, although to me they are roughly the same thing. To me a cabin implies someplace smaller than a cottage and I tend to think of cabins as more isolated. Both would have at least cold running water and gas or wood stove. A few well placed windows and a few coleman lanterns are perfectly acceptable for light.  I also prefer them to be reasonably bug and mouse proof. Neither would have more people than just me (or possibly me and my husband) and a very large pile of books, knitting and cross-stitch.  I don't care for tents as they have yet to invent an air mattress or foam mattress that I find comfy, I like a proper bed. Tents also tend to leave a bit to be desired in the area of 'weather proof'.  I've been rained out of tents more than once and it's hell getting things dried out again in what generally amounts to the middle of nowhere. An RV or Camper would be an option if I wanted to go touring about.

I like our home away from home, our 78 camper:

We got a new mattress this year to replace the foamie of undetermined age, and have gotten quite comfy there. We have no bathroom, and we can move around.  Nothing fancy, but comfy.

It's tent for me. Cabin wouldn't fit in the canoe.

If money were not an issue I would be very happy in a cottage/cabin with full amenities and lots of windows looking out over the ocean or a lake. However, I do love our tent trailer and we love road trips and exploring. It’s not quite as handy as Northwind’s pull up and crawl in to bed truck camper, but it’s spacious for the 3 of us and suits us well. I would prefer our trailer to a small stuffy cabin. I sleep well in the trailer – big comfy bed, zip open the windows, turn on the fans if it’s hot and settle in to a good sleep.

jlin, I also grew up with summers at our lake ‘house’ (in NW Ontario) … what a life. My parents sold it before myst child was born because they moved to another part of the province -- too bad, I would have loved it if my child could have experienced summer holidays there.  

FANS???  You have fans in your tent trailer?  Now this is an unimagined luxury! 

For me I always want a lake for fishing wherever we go usually, I like trailers, cottages don't excite me much because of taxes, always having to work on it, maintain it. Cut the grass, put on a new roof, etc. Its like owning another house.

Tent camping is fun but has a claustrophobic feeling to it! 

Aside to Mendalla - hey - I was up in Haliburton last weekend - just down the road from Boshkung at a cottage on Big Hawk Lake!  Great countryside up there.

I'm off to the cottage next week, and like Mendalla's, its not fancy nor is it uppity.  Its just a place that my aunt has nurtured to make room for people she loves, and we've all pitched in along the way.  And it has a beautiful sunset view of the bay.  No shower, no laundry, but a kitchen & bathroom.  In a storm, I like that it is solid and stable.

I love tents but understand that my sweetie has a harder time with them physically.  But we're hoping to get back into a tent a few nights this year.  I have also lived through the character-building rainy experiences and would rather have a solid roof & floor if the weather is less than pleasant.  Best part about tenting is that you can get out in the backwoods away from anything.

You and I are neighbors in this area AZ because we go up to Buckhorn, and Pigion lake near peterborough.

I like renting a cabin for few days.

I've done both tenting and cottaging this summer.  I just came out of Algonquin Park, where I spent 3 days in a tent as part of a canoe/camp/fish weekend.  Then I came back to the decadent cottage where there's running hot and cold water, a flush turlet and a shower.  After three days of washing from shore or in the water, using a portable filter system for  drinking water and sitting on an open-air box for - well - you know what for, our little cottage on the Ottawa River feels absolutely luxurious.  

My last night in Algonquin I came out of the tent around 5am for a nature call.  A halo moon was hanging low in the sky, its light reflecting the heavilly wooded horizon onto the tiny lake.  Wispy clouds scudded past, but did nothing to dim the moonglow, so strong I realize now it lit our campsite in a sort of deep dusk.  My words beggar the effect as would a painting, which might come closer still.  I shall never, ever, be able to recreate the beauty of it and the feelings it engendered. 

Cottage, tent, trailer or cabin, moments like that  will keep me heading in the direction of the door...

It's beautiful. I've been over to Big Hawk Lake on occasion. Did you go see the old log chute? We aren't going this year (conserving vacation time so we can go visit my in-laws in the fall), but spent a few days at a resort near Parry Sound over Canada Day and it did remind of the "old days". We're thinking about going again next year since we realized on this trip that our son is now big enough to handle a paddle and he and I did some canoeing together. He's also interested in kayaking.

Mendalla

I hate to say this as my camping days are long gone - getting hard to get up from the ground in the middle of the night.

We live on a river so have year round comfort and outdoors - the moon was beautiful on the river the last few nights.

So when we leave our paradise we end in hotels - but that is few and far between - no need to travel on vacation we live it year round

When I was a camp director aaaaggggeeeeesssss ago, we'd have a tent at a campsite in case of rain, but our campers usually slept out under the stars.  (Of course, this was southern Ontario where they get more than two weeks of summer unlike other provinces.)

For years we were hard-core tenters.  I love sleeping in a tent and love the sound of rain on the tarp overhead.  We have never had too much difficulty with water/rain because my husband is one of the expert tarp-hangers.  My youngest son was sleeping in a tent by the age of 4 months.  Even specialson tented for a while.  We would hike his feeding pump out to a ranger station every night and pick it up in the morning so he could continue to get tube feedings. 

In recent years we have moved to a tent trailer.  We still tend to stay at hydro-free campsites so we don't use the little fridge or anything in the trailer.  We just see it as a slighter better tent.  I do appreciate being off the ground after a few nights.

In my fantasies I own a cottage.  We have talked about purchasing a vacation property and someday that might happen for us, but not right now.  And even if it does happen it would not be the uppity place that I think jlin imagines....something more modest. Realistically though, summer respite is so difficult to get that a summer-seasonal place probably would never be a good idea for us.  We have talked about something like the Collingwood/Blue Mountains area with the idea that it would be close to skiing, golfing, hiking, biking and beaches (year-round activities, not just summer). For me it would be more of a place I could escape to when the the presence of almost 24-hour staff in our home gets to be too much.  I love them but sometimes I just need to be in a place where it is just me (or just me and hubby, etc.).

ummm ... jlin .... daisyjane's "staff" are nurses who care for her severely disabled son ... not maids & butlers waiting on her.  

Apology ... I can't seem to get that second picture to scale down to a proper size!!  I've tried four times, so now I give up!

Yeah, the Trent-Severn waterway may be a wonderful thing for the boating crowd, but it can be an annoyance for those of us on the feeder lake system. Our water levels are entirely at the mercy of the MNR folks who manage the waterway and those of us further back in the system aren't always happy with the decisions made. There've been years when we had a beach, then had none, then had one again, then had part of one, all over the course of one summer as they messed with the dams. There've been years where we had to stop the outboard, pull it up, and paddle in to the dock because the water was out so far. There've been years when we could probably use the motor right up to shore. Of course, I don't care about the motor side of it anymore. I have no interest in paying to obtain the new boater's card, so I'm going to stick to canoes and kayaks from now on. Never been crazy about driving the motor boat anyway.

Mendalla

jlin.

Carolla was correct.  The 24/7 staff I was referring to are nurses that care for Matthew almost round the clock.  I wish they were butlers and maids! 

I'm not sure if I am hearing disdain in your postings but the stress of always having nursing staff in your house can get exhausting.  I don't get the sense you think so, but trust me, it can be tiring after a while.  They are wonderful, but I don't feel I can ever truly let my hair down because they are there.  Even when we are sleeping we have awake nursing staff moving through our house providing care to Matthew (he needs constant monitoring even when asleep).  I always feel I  need to be polite, constructive and up.  I personally don't feel there is a place for me to be cranky, tired, or whatever.   Your home, your parenting, etc,  is always being assessed by professionals.   Our home functions as a worksite and/or mini-hospital for a collection of nurses, personal support workers and at times, dieticians, therapists and other medical staff.  We have a "nursing station" with communication board and so on in Matthew' bedroom. 

We have talked about the fact that if Matthew is to remain with us always (a goal, vs. instituionalization), I may need a place I can run away to when I become overwhelmed....when the introvert in me needs a break.  We cannot afford such a place right now.  However, if our plans unfold as we hope they do we may be in the position to afford such a place (modest) in about five years. 

LP.  Yes, I have read Ian Brown's book.  I loved it!  In fact, a little over a month ago an organization for which I serve on the board invited him to be our keynote speaker at our AGM.  He's just as fantastic in person!

Thanks for your thoughts on Collingwood (or area).    While I would LOVE a cottage, a  place that we would need to worry about opening, closing, septic systems, etc, in addition to only really being usable 4 months of the year when it is most difficult to obtain respite would be a poor use of money for us. 

I like the idea of a condo, or small chalet,  in Collingwood near Blue Mountain.  I love to ski (though I am not all that good!) and my husband loves to mountain bike and we both like to hike.  Throw in some golf courses and a beach a short drive away in addition to a decent sized town (with restaurants, theatres etc). and I think it may be the most logical place for us to have our run-away retreat.  The fact that we could get to it in about two hours WITHOUT going near the 400 is a bonus!

 wow jlin, take a deep breath and rethink 

I don't have servants.

My kids do.