Cabin in the Woods

This week we closed on a cabin located at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon, about 30 miles from our house, yet a world away. It's a 5 minute drive to Solitude and Brighton ski resorts, and has excellent backcountry skiing and mountain biking right from our yard. It'll be a great getaway for us during extreme weather in the SLC valley (100 degree temps everyday in the summer; inversion in the winter), as well as a fun place for us to go as a family, to enjoy outdoor activities and wilderness peace and quiet.

The property came with a vintage snow cat, which apparently works, though we're hoping "vintage" doesn't just mean money pit:

 Apparently there's a snow mobile buried under the snow in the yard somewhere too. That's probably "vintage" as well. 
And here's our little Dutch A-Frame:

I think those Aspens are going to be pretty spectacular in the fall. Actually, I think this place is going to be wonderful in every season. We're pretty excited.

In addition to the snow cat and snow mobile, the seller included all of the furniture. Basically, he couldn't get a moving truck up there with all the snow and didn't want to move the stuff out. Much of it is terrible so we packed up a truck load and donated it to the D.I. (Utah's Salvation Army store) today. 
We are keeping a few things, including a set of bunk beds, which the kids immediately started climbing (and Luke jumping from the top bunk onto a mattress on the floor... we had to set some ground rules right away...NO JUMPING FROM THE TOP BUNK!)
The kids were running around the house having a great time and Luke was very upset when we left. 

Luke can't wait until the snow cat thaws out so he can go inside. He and Anna had a blast playing in the snow (it's really deep!) and I think they'll have just as much fun running around when it melts and uncovers a forest full of adventure.