My girlfriend and I live in the south and did not realize how cold it actually gets in the north.
We decided to take a winter vacation there.
Pictures made it look beautiful. The snow, ice and mountains looked so pretty. We pictured sitting in front of a roaring fire with coffee and our knitted hats on. We booked a traditional log cabin house with a traditional fireplace for heating. We wanted the full northern experience. Well, we got it and it was horrible. The cabin was freezing cold the entire time. There was never enough heating. A traditional fireplace meant it was a wood burning one. We were left wood to burn, but not nearly enough. The wood burned quickly and left soot, ash and dust everywhere. We both reeked of the smoke and hated the smell. I had to actually go outside and chop wood once we ran out. Since the wood was in the snow, we had to wait for it to melt and dry before using it. The heating that came out of the fire was just pathetic. We did not just wear knitted hats. We froze in our full on winter gear and under blankets. The whole trip was focused on heating. Cutting more wood for heating. Drying more wood for heating. Never letting the fire go out due to heating. The traditional log cabin stay proved to us how bad it can really get in the north. That is the only and last time we will ever visit, especially in the winter. That fireplace was awful.