Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Cabin Fever

I have a severe case of cabin fever. Or maybe it's just seasonal allergies. Or malaria. Regardless, it's something cottage-related and i can't shake it. Over the past eight years, I've heard/enjoyed/endured/tolerated many tales of The Cottage from Liz. Each anecdote more fascinating than the last, each serving as a small lesson in Murphy-family history. Her stories had piqued my interest. That interest turned to captivation. Which then turned to intrigue. Were these simply tall tales, the by-product of a gal's clever imagination? Or exaggerated accounts of a typical childhood summer? Or a really long set-up to an incredible pun? I had to find out for myself. So there was only one logical thing to do: marry Liz and hope that maybe one day she would take me there.

Well that day was Sunday. And as far as I could tell, the legends are TRUE.

If I had to rank the sights I was most anticipating, the rankings would look like this:
1. The Cottage
2. The Spillway
3. The Golden Dawn
4. The End-of-the-Road Beach
5. Elvis Beach
6. Marin's stars and stripes headband

Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to enjoy one of these sights. To everyone's dismay, The Golden Dawn was replaced with Ray's something-or-other. Ray is a jerk.

NOTES
Cal exceeded everyone's expectations and fetched FOUR TIMES on Elvis Beach! Marin face-planted the water ONE TIME!

People who ride ATVs need to take a hike. Literally.

Carving my name into a tree LEGIBLY is more difficult than I had ever imagined.

I was a tad disappointed in the Spillway: I was told of a trillion carp. I only counted a billion.

If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? I'm not sure because the ATVs were so damn loud.

Sterr can really grill! Delicious hamburgers and hot dogs! And good call on the horseradish!

Is it Murphy custom to always enter The Cottage through a window?

Some woman brought her laptop to the pavilion at the beach. Not to do work or surf the internet—but to play SOLITAIRE. This person should STAY HOME. Or at least bring an actual deck of cards. I mean I'd even be fine if she was doing ANYTHING else beachy in addition to solitaire. She sure knows how to enjoy a holiday! By being a loser.

MGM sure knows how to carry a football in a bucket!

En route to Elvis Beach, some guy asked us if we had seen any "arrowheads" back near The Cottage. We're STILL not sure if he meant snakes or actual Indian arrowheads. Too bad he didn't ask us if we've seen any weirdos with obscure questions.

It was certainly a Memorial Day vacation to remember. I can't wait for the next trip to The Cottage!

Next time I'm bringing my bike.

6 comments:

Bill Jr. said...

hahaha "MGM sure knows how to carry a football in a bucket!" ... random

Mike said...

Hey, way to blow up the Golden Dawn replacement quiz! Anybody got an idea for the next one?

Liz said...

Based on the first four votes, I think the cat was already out of the bag, Dad. I don't know if you guys noticed that Golden Ray's has a disc jockey who makes enthusiastic announcements over the store intercom. This might make it cooler than Golden Dawn ever was.

carly said...

great post, i enjoyed it a lot!
marin face planted in the water!

p.s. everybody: ray's intercom thing is slightly cool, but they still have golden dawn shopping carts!!

Uncle Bill said...

Entering the Cottage through a window, the keyless entry, goes back pretty far. But the original keyless entry was more harrowing and, if I do say so myself, required much more courage. Back in the day, when we arrived at the Cottage and discovered we had forgotten the key, it was decided that somebody (me) would have to wiggle through the hole left by one of the missing concrete blocks in the foundation (they're covered with vent plates now), crawl about fifteen feet through the sand and gloom past the black septic tank pipes (which, to a ten-year-old, hardly at all looked like giant anacondas), emerge through an access panel in the walk-in closet in the bedroom next to the bathroom, like Howard Carter poking his head into Tut's tomb, walk solemnly, the first guy in, through the hallway and kitchen and yell stuff like, "Who is it?', and "We don't want any!", until the threats got good and loud before flipping the lock thingy.

Liz said...

Wow, I don't think that even at my bravest (around 8 years old) that my Dad could have convinced by to crawl around under there. Too many daddy long-leggers!!!!