Jilly Brandon

I was bored in the night, and so I do what I  often do to tire myself out, and hopefully fall back off to sleep to la la land….I look through photos from my Facebook, and I pad.  So many memories..some good..some bad..and some just darn ugly.  This photo makes me smile..It was taken a few years back while my husband and I were away at a mountain retreat for a lovely summer weekend.  We look perfectly happy in this shot…but oh what a tall tale I’m about to share with you.  Looks can be deceiving, and while we were plenty happy…this weekend was certainly one for the books, and it kinda begs to be shared…don’t worry..it will assuredly make you laugh, and perhaps you too won’t be too embarrassed to share some humorous exploits that you have also found yourself encountering along life’s’ way.

It all began rather uneventfully…haha…this is  gonna be good.  A friend had graciously invited us to make use of their lovely cabin up in the mountains.  We had decided on the weekend, packed our bags, jumped into the car,( with very specific instructions on how to get to the cabin, and get into it once there.)  We were free..headed out of town for a marvelous adventure, excited to getaway, reconnect, regroup,  and just breathe in the mountain air, and relax.

When we arrived at the small town it was about 9:30 at night.  We were starving, but nowhere seemed open to get a bite to eat, so we found a gas station, and loaded up on beef jerky, Cheetos, diet coke, peanuts…gourmet all the way for us.  It was pitch black as we rumbled down the dirt road in search of our destination.  The number markers on the road were very low, and hard to properly see with the headlights.  We finally stopped..opened our car window, and peered into the blackness..Well this must be it.  We carefully pulled into the somewhat treacherous driveway and pulled to a stop.  My husband pulled out the directions, and we ambled up to the front porch.  It was deathly quiet out…the air smelled of pine, and wild beasts!…yes, I was quite looking forward to putting on the porch lights.  We entered the front door code, and in we went.  When the cabin was Illuminated, I was delighted to see that the cabin was rustic and cozy.  A pleasant and easy mix of wood, leather and mountain styling, really very lovely..I was delighted.

Of course I did what many of us women do, I went about exploring my surroundings, and I was thrilled..oops..until I reached the bathroom and found there was no water in the toilet bowls.. Oh oh..I thought, the water has been turned off.  I alerted my husband to our dilemma, and after checking out the other faucets we realized that something was amiss.

He contacted our friends, then he went about messing with stuff in the utility room, but no action,…and no water..the owner found this peculiar, but it was clear that there would be no water, until a handyman could come and check things out in the morning…so guess what?..yup it was time to pee in the woods…man..as a girl..I am certainly at a disadvantage when it comes to this…..lol..My husband held the flashlight keeping potential bears away( I had heard that bears smell your pee..so I did not wish to be surprised at this time..)

We were laughing thinking about how we did not think we would be “roughing it” like this , but then jumped into the big inviting bed, and giggled about our situation. We awoke the next morning, and after digging a whole out back and making our mark amongst the woodlands, and then burying it..haha…decided to go into town for a nice hearty breakfast.

We were on an adventure, and the weekend was alive with possibilities..breakfast finished, and the darling town checked out, we headed back up to our mountain paradise.  I found a book in the downstairs bookshelf, got comfy in the big bed, and sighed..so relaxing.  A few minutes later I hear a truck outside, and a mix of male voices…my husband and some other dude.  Not thinking anything of it..I continued reading..must be the handyman come to fix our water I surmised…But not more than a few minutes later my husband comes running down the driveway saying as he went..” I have a bad feeling about this!”..”what??…”  I said….sitting bolt upright in my bed..” I think we are in the wrong cabin!” He blurted out..”what?”… I said incredulously….”we have stayed in the WRONG cabin..”  He said again…my mind was somewhat blown….he came rushing in, and explained to me that the hanyman had gone to our friends’ cabin NEXT door, and when he couldn’t find us, called the owner…” Oh my WORD!!”..I shrieked while jumping into my pants!

If you could have seen how fast we packed up in that moment you would have died laughing..I grabbed the water bottles, and haphazardly tried washing the dishes, and quickly drying them and returning them to the cupboards…we were frantic…Goldilocks and her kinsman(husband) had slept in the wrong house…and now, when were the 3 bears gonna show up… We were laughing and rushing, and acting crazed all at the same time..we had to get the heck outta there before, or if and when the real owners were gonna show up…

When we finally drove out of the driveway, breathing a sigh of relief.. We erupted into laughter like you have never seen..My husband was doubled over, and almost couldn’t catch his breath he was seriously losing it with laughter…it was great!

We opened the door to the “right cabin” and about fell on the sofa with relief..what had just happened?  It felt crazy!  Lorin( my husband),called the owner, and the two of them could not even speak…they just laughed until they cried…..so crazy…but what a great one for the memory books…somehow we had gotten through the front door with the other code because the door had not been properly closed…I remembered remarking the night before while sitting at the kitchen table, that who were the people in the photograph on the table?… Must be their friends we thought..but now..in light of our discovery..many things that didn’t make sense, were now becoming very clear….hilarious….to say the least.

We  decide to call the police to let them know what had occurred, since we thought it might not be prudent to not be truthful about our unfortunate and accidental stay.  The words out of the policeman’s mouth were very humorous to us..”um..well..did you take anything?..”  Me sarcastically..and to myself..” Yes officer we did steal everything, but now we are feeling guilty, and called to turn ourselves in..”..um..duh..NO… We didn’t steal anything.  We ended up conference calling with the owners, and leaving our contact numbers with them, but honestly they were very nonplussed at the situation..quite surprising I thought.

What an excellent and unexpected turn of events..it was fantastic..Lorin and I thought, now why would we ever buy a cabin when we could just try the doors, see if anyone is home, then just “borrow” accommodations for the night….so beware..if you don’t lock your doors, you might find The Brandon’s as your unintentional overnight guests……because after all, Goldilocks gets tired, and sometimes if she can’t find her own lodgings she will simply borrow yours…