We were only about 30 minutes away from Packwood so we decided to drive up there. Why would we make a side trip to Packwood? Because...
Packwood is Baba and Great Grandpa H's old "vacation" home. They bought it along with Baba's family in the 1960's. The plan was everybody would contribute financially and put work into it but we know how that goes a lot of the time. So eventually Baba and Great Grandpa H just bought everybody out so it was only theirs, Baba's parents just gave them their portion because of the time/work/money Baba and Great Grandpa H had already put into it. When they bought the property there weren't any buildings on it so they bought a 100 year old Seattle Water Department shed that used to be by the Cedar River. They bought it for $5 and hauled it up to Packwood. They tore it apart and used the wood to build the cabin in the back. For a while they were using land that wasn't part of their plot because the salesman had shown them the property incorrectly so they had a little bit of moving around to do. Fortunately it wasn't big. About a year before Baba retired they added the mobile home seen on the right. It was sold about 10 years ago. Baba owned it for about 40 years. Obviously she wishes it could've stayed in the family but it just didn't work out.
A few extra tidbits Baba shared with me:
During the winter they would put out a salt box for the Elk that roamed through their property (which was quite a lot due to the creek and river on/by the property).
When Mt. St. Helen's blew they had to deal with all the ash. Baba, Great Grandpa H, Grandpa H and Grandma H had to go up there and clean it up. There was so much ash they were worried about the trees surviving. The ash was so thick on one side of the trees that it was smothering them. So they went to work shoveling, washing, hosing and brushing to save the trees. Once that was done they worried about the house. They got as much as they could but some time later when they took the roof off the cabin in order to raise it they found more ash in all the seams.
A little something Grandma H wanted to add:
Before the mobile home was added the only bathroom there was an outhouse. Prior to the Mt. St. Helen's eruption the river flooded and the outhouse was washed away. Baba wanted to add to that thought that she lost a cast iron dutch oven also, because it was stored in the outhouse... not entirely sure how that worked. So all you family members reading this that had the priviledge of being fed while at Packwood, remember that cast iron beast you were fed from and where it stayed when not in use!
Things Daddy shared with me:
On the drive there were a few traditions. One was honking through "honking tunnell" on Cayuse Pass. The other was laughing hysterically on the bridge over Laughing Water Creek.
There were a lot of things for the family to do in Packwood, the Cowlitz River was right behind the cabin just past a dike, though for many years it ran too quickly to play in it. There was a creek just behind the cabin that they spent a lot of time playing in (there's not really any water there anymore). If they wanted to swim they would go to the mouth of the creek to do it. They would ride scooters through the woods rain or shine for hours upon hours. Skate creek was also a short distance away so they would fish there (Daddy noted that it was listed as a hidden fishing gem of Washington). There was also a country club where they could swim in a pool and golf. There were trails all through the forest that they would explore. Great Grandpa H used to eat breakfast at Peter's Inn pretty much every morning (we ate dinner there). During the winter they would go up to White Pass to ski and then head to a pizza parlor to play darts and foozball and such. There were also day trips to Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helen's, and Packwood Lake. They also took motorcycles up into the mountains to drive around. The kids slept in the cabin and the adults all stayed in the mobile home. At night they would all gather around the firepit, watch a movie, play card games (Great Grandpa H was a master card counter and Pinocle was their game of choice), and Great Grandpa H always made plenty of popcorn to go around.
Some of Daddy's specific memories:
The drive to Packwood is where Daddy discovered that he could NOT drink Orange soda pop and then go on a road trip. It aggravated what car sickness he already had and (this is a little gross) remembers throwing up out the window WHILE driving. He said he just barely got the window down.
Before the roof was raised on the cabin Daddy remembers that Uncle Scott got "lost". Everyone was freaking out, thinking that he had fallen in the river or gotten lost in the woods. Turns out he was asleep in the loft tucked away into a corner where no one could see him.
Daddy wanted something to do at the cabin so Great Grandpa H made him a set of wood blocks to build with. They were kept stored under the deck of the cabin.
He remembers always waking up in the cabin (before the mobile home). Baba and Great Grandpa H had a trailer and the kids would walk over whenever they woke up and breakfast was always waiting for them. It was always a big thing to make breakfast outside in the firepit. It was always a big diverse breakfast.
Playing in the creek they would always be catching frogs or they would get logs and try to sit on the logs to ride down the creek. They never made it very far but they sure tried.
Over all Packwood was just a place to get away, relax and be close with the family. There wasn't even a phone there until the very end.
Here's the front view of the cabin and mobile home today. Daddy said that the new owner has connected the mobile home and the cabin via an indoor hallway. He's also added a hot tub and made some of the paths down to the creek more permanent and useable. They're very nice and have rock edging.
Here's the view from the dike. Sorry the trees were kind of in the way.
Walking down the dike (the top use to only have brush but now trees are growing). We couldn't go to the end because some of the owners have added fences to keep people off.
So we turned the other way and climbed down to this rocky little shore of the Cowlitz River.
Notice on the right is a little part of the river that gets kind of back filled, there's no current in it. Daddy's first thought was "We would have been playing in there".
I thought it was so cute that when Kayda and Dillon were climbing on the rocks of the dike Dillon held Kayda's hand to "help" her. They held hands for several minutes while climbing around on these rocks.
