The register

Before the Internet or email, all cabin reservations were taken over the phone. A small deposit for the cabin was required, checks were sent via snail mail, and my mom recorded all the reservations longhand in a spiral notebook.

For our cabin guests, paying for their stay was never merely a transaction, but more like a welcome ritual. During their stay, they would visit our house (the office) to pay the balance on their cabin and sign the Register. Payments were usually made by check or cash and, in some cases, by the now obsolete “traveler’s checks.” In return, my mom would hand them a handwritten, itemized receipt showing the balance and tax received. It was so different than today’s world of credit cards, electronic transfers, and Venmo!

These visits would sometimes last for hours as many of our guests were like family and returned to the cabins year after year for many decades. My mom always took the time to offer them coffee or a Finnish pulla (cardamom bread) and ask about their families, jobs and lives.

The “Tourist Register,” a hard bound book, included arrival date and time, name, address, make of car and plate number, number in party, assigned cabin, rate, and departure date and time.

Viewing these books now is like going back in time. Each entry on the page, handwritten in the finest cursive, evokes memories for me. Memories of the people, what they looked like, their voices, where they were from, the time of year that they visited, and what cabin they stayed in.

One of the things I miss most is sharing these recollections with my parents. In this business, the people you meet along the way and their stories are really what makes the memories.