The 2nd winner of the 5-night stay was awarded for telling us about a "Favorite Memory that Matters" that was created while on vacation. We received over 30 stories which were all wonderful to read, but a few really stood out. We received the best story from Brenda Harkabus of Lakehead, California.
Here is her story!
"'Memories that Matter' In March of 2010 my beautiful, vivacious, 26 year old daughter died. I thought I was going to die from the horrible grief and pain. If there is anything more difficult than losing a child, I hope I never know what it is. My best friend of 20 years, who lives 9 hours away was my lifeline. She called me EVERY DAY for 6 months. Not many people are willing to enter into another persons grief like that. There are no answers or things you can say to make it better, but making the commitment to be on the phone every day to listen kept me from sinking. I wanted to do something to show her how much that meant to me and to spend some time with her. So, I made reservations for the Hidden Creek Log Cabin at the end of September 2010. She lives on the Oregon Coast and I in Northern California. I was so emotionally exhausted I had to take 2 days to drive to Welches. We met up at the office and proceeded to the cabin. From the moment we walked in the door I knew it was going to be a great experience. We enjoyed everything about the cabin and the area. We shed tears together and for the first time in 6 months I laughed again. I will never forget how that felt. My healing began there. She still calls all the time and we talk often about our stay there and how nice it would be to go back sometime."
Brenda will have the opportunity to re-visit the Hidden Creek Log Cabin because she won the 2-night stay at a Mt Hood Vacation Rental for her great story!
We had a tie for the 2nd place story, both of which we thought were good enough to share, too. The first story is from Carol Hoecker of Portland.
"We are 3 couples that share an annual weekend trip in January. This particular year there was a lot of snow and we barely made it to the cabin in Zig Zag. While hot tubbing one night we heard a creek, a crack and then a rumbling noise and the next thing we knew our quite, tranquil and relaxing time in the hot tub was shattered by most of the snow falling off the roof and into the tub. Once we found out that no one was hurt, we started laughing so hard we could barely get out of the tub. I think the temputure went down to 80 after the snow hit. That happened about 8-10 years ago and we still talk (and laugh a lot) about that story."
"I had seen the email promoting this contest once before and had dismissed it thinking that I didn't have a sound argument for "Creating Memories that Matter". We have never had any holiday celebrations there, or been there for a significant event, so I think my thoughts went directly to what fun times we may have had while spending time at one of the cabins we have rented. There were quite a few to choose from! But unless you were there-they may not be that funny! So I dismissed it. Until I looked at the calendar the other day and realized that it had been almost 2 years since we lost Denny. Denny was our cocker spaniel and he was considered the baby of the family. We contributed to that completely on our own by always giving him whatever he wanted! He always knew we would take care of him. And that always included carry him when he didn't want to get his feet wet. I'd never had a dog that didn't like the water or the dampness of the pavement, but rather than drag him everywhere we would pick him up on occasion. So when we booked a cabin during the winter we knew we were taking a chance. The winter meant snow, which also meant we'd be carrying Denny. To our surprise Denny never looked at the snow with fear in his eyes. He walked in it, rolled in it and (of course) ate it like he had been doing it all his life. It was the most remarkable thing I had ever seen. Stunned actually but it made for one of those unbelievable happy stories that-you wouldn't get unless you were there. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes. Denny is no longer with us, but if that's the last thing I could ever remember about him I will take it."
Five runners-up each won one adult lift ticket for their choice of Mt Hood Meadows, Timberline or Mt Hood SkiBowl Adult lift tickets to be used between January 1 - March 31, 2012 in conjunction with a paid reservation in a Mt Hood Vacation Rental. Our lift ticket winners are: Michael Dado, Cara Barstad, Maria Moiel, Jenna Gribbin and Michelle Plotner.
Congratulations to everyone!
