When I ask my class composed mostly of students from Wisconsin where they’re going on vacation over break, one response comes up more frequently than any other: “a friend/relative of mine has a cabin in the woods.” At this I always wonder why one would want to take a vacation somewhere less comfortable than where one currently is. Instead of sitting in the bug-free, perfectly temperate climate of my apartment, I’m supposed to choose of my own free will to be too hot, too cold, covered in bugs and/or rodents of various sizes in a cabin with very little in the way of insulation between myself and a semi-wilderness? I also wonder what there could possibly be to do out in the middle of nowhere. When I ask, my students usually tell me that they drink, a lot. So the answer, basically, is nothing.
About a week ago, some friends of mine managed to lure me out to one of these middle-of-nowhere retreats. The lure came in the form of hours of board games to which I have recently become addicted. I figured suffering through the cabin-part wouldn’t be too bad if it meant playing games like Dominion and Agricola to my heart’s content.
While there, something remarkable happened. Like some sort of revelation in the tradition of Ebenezer Scrooge I was overcome with the spirit of the cabin vacation. When I could have been playing board games, I was out foraging for kindling with which to build the evening fire or just enjoying a beer on the porch. What I discovered is that there is nothing quite so awesome as doing absolutely nothing. The full effect of it didn’t hit me until I returned home to realize that I hadn’t checked my email in three days!
You might say that I had a fever and the only cure was MORE CABIN. Of course, thinking of Christopher Walken anywhere near that cabin gives me the willies.*
*If you don’t get this reference, go watch the SNL “more cowbell” skit. It is an essential part of any cultural education.
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