Our Trip to the Shack Up Inn

As in, shacks. As in, old sharecropper shacks turned into rad as hail places to kick it in for a weekend. And that is juuust what we did.

The weekend before Thanksgiving we met a big group of friends at this unassuming nook in Clarksdale, Mississipsisipsispsispsii. This place is beyond cool. Two quaint campground-style neighborhoods filled with tiny shacks, all facing each other like little friends, with a main lobby/bar/restaurant/gift shop right in the middle of everything. It’s basically all you need in life. That and momosas. But I’ll get to that in a sec.

Let me just say right off, this is not a sponsored post. The Shack Up Inn has zero idea that I’m blabbing about them. I just adore the place! You’ve seriously got to get a glimpse of this. And by glimpse I mean 29348293472 photos.

This was our shack! One room, two adults, two babies, a dog, and a poncho. And it was PERFECT. See, I don’t like camping. I hate bugs and I’m mildly terrified of nature, but this kind of thing is my spirit. A working bathroom, a comfy bed, a coffee maker and rocking chairs. Done.

Wait, I mentioned the bar, right?

See Aaron on our teensy little porch? That gives you some perspective on the size of the place. You just want to stick it in your bra, don’t you?

It was amazing, our first morning there, we woke up to a light rain, while a next-door neighbor mandolin player sat on his teensy front porch and serenaded the rest of us front-porch coffee drinkers with some bluegrass tunes. Oh hi, the most charming thing in the world to wake up to.

Also, front porch. (Why am I saying that so much?! Shacks, that’s why.)

This bottle tree thingy was in the middle of the courtyard. They say it’s supposed to trap evil spirits in the bottles at night and destroy them in the sun the next day. Aka: keep the blues away. But dudes, we were in the Delta. There ain’t no trappin’ the blues!

Aaaaand you want to punch me.

This is the view from the courtyard looking at the restaurant/bar/lobby/gift shop. Nothing else you need in life, you guys.

Our shack even came with modern Ikea highchairs! Just kidding. We brought those.

That wasn’t funny.

But look how well they adapted to shack life. I think I definitely need a rocking chair for our newly renovated front porch at home.

FRONT PORCH.

So our Arkansas crew arrived on a Friday afternoon, meeting up with the rest of our friends that evening. Here we all are at dinner, which was in the restaurant, which is the bar, which is also the lobby/gift shop. Really, you need nothing else in life.

You may see a few familiar faces. James, Aubrey and their crew, Sarah, Todd and Iris monkeying around in the back with Erin and Tom. Heidi on the right hand side with Smudge, and Rebecca with Clem. And then my lil’ clan. Wait, where are we? I don’t see us. We were sitting right there behind Heidi. Crap what happened to us? SEARCH PARTY FOR FOUR. YOU CAN EAT WHEN YOU FIND THE WEIDNERS. (name that (rip) comedian)

This is the way you change a diaper in a shack. And I need to say, Aaron is not that wide in real life. Something happened with the shadows and the vortex of multiperplexities of the abyss, and he looks hunchbackily weird. But I can assure you, he’s a fine piece of meat. (<—-oh gawd why.)

Speaking of shadows and the multiperplexities of the abyss, something happened to this photo too, and it added what seems to be another pregnant belly to my existing postpartum belly. I can assure you, that’s straight caffeine in that cup, my pretties.

This was right before the babies asked to go slaughter a deer for dinner and chop the wood for warmth that night. AND I LET THEM.

This is the bar/stage area/restaurant/lobby/gift shop. You can clearly see how there’s nothing else you need in life.

I have nothing funny to say about this except that I love that little guy looking at me on that dirty floor. We’ve both agreed that he’s going to stay this tiny forever. I’m so glad he sees it my way.

So later that day we got some bbq for lunch. I don’t want to start any bbq wars or anything, buuuuut KC’s is better. Don’t hate. Just skate.

That’s not how it goes, is it?

Then, that afternoon we spent a good chunk of time meandering our ways through lush cotton fields, momosas in hand. Not mimosas. But momosas. Sarah knows how it rolls.

We picked a lot of cotton that day. Natalie ate a lot of cotton that day.

“Listen, couple of cotton seeds become a couple of cotton plants. Fast forward a few years and you’re a fashion designer. But I get a 20% cut. 25%. 35%. Deal?”

I posted this one on Instagram, but I’d never live with myself if I didn’t show you here! I was explaining the difference to him between cotton and cotton candy. He didn’t buy it. But he did eat it.

This is Aaron carrying both babies and a blanket to meet our friends while I carried my phone and drink. Priorities! (mom, I’m kidding. sort of.)

Here’s Sarah and Charlie! Charlie was off leash the entire weekend. She absolutely loved it.

Sarah was off leash, too, obviously, wait this isn’t coming out right.

We also took a lot of photos of the babes. Babes in dirt, babes in mud, babes with kites, babes on blankets. These things happen.

Cute dirty pants butt + red wooden bus = I want 814345234 more babies.

Until I have to do laundry.

Erin bought all the kids kites to play with, and they were a HIT. Natalie even loved them, until she tried to eat all the string.

James and Sailor, juuuust a cotton pickin’. I was probably pickin’ my nose. You’re waiting for the “just kidding!”

Keep waiting.

That night we all cooked a gigantic friendsgiving meal, and as you can clearly see, Aaron was a hit with the ladies. Well, the ones under the age of five.

Here’s Birdie trying to reach for the gelato that we brought for dessert. The front of that fridge was spray painted black. But like, horribly painted. Well you can see at the bottom! Look at that awfulness. Why does this exist? Whoever painted this fridge knows how to party.

Our contribution to this fantastic meal? I almost don’t want to tell you, out of fear it would make you endlessly jealous of our skills. I guess I’ll go ahead and tell you. Jiffy cornbread. HEYYY. Two boxes. That’s right, bia.

The Shack Up Inn. What a place. You just HAVE to make it there someday. Do it for the children!

THE LOVE SHACK IS A LITTLE OLD PLACE WHERE WE CAN GET TOGETHEERRRRRRR.

You can’t believe it took me this long, can you?

The end.

Oh wait there’s one more photo. See what the Shacks do to me?

Okay, now it’s the end.