Ultimate Glamping Experience: Discovering Getaway House (Tiny Cabins) in Illinois.

If you're looking to take a break from city life, you should check out the Getaway House to see if they have one in your state. It’s a collection of tiny houses/cabins on wheels scattered across the woods. It's about three - quarter the size of a container, small, quaint but quite comfortable too!

There are two in Illinois State, one in Ottawa, Illinois (yes, there's an Ottawa in Illinois. I only thought it was only in Canada, but there's one here in Illinois, too). This location from where I live was about a hundred minutes plus because there was some traffic.
No, I did not drive; my lover did. I rented a car from Getaround after our Uber rental failed us woefully. We loaded up the car and headed out to Ottawa. The two-day reservation was cheaper on weekdays than weekends because more people want some getaway time on the weekend. They have a 25% discount right now, so that was great.

I was the DJ on our way, but when we got to this small, shanty-looking town called Marsielles, Illinois, I had to pause my duties because the cops pulled us over. It was the first time I had been in a car the cops pulled over, so if I’m being honest, I was pretty scared, but everything ended up being fine THANKFULLY. The rental car's license plates were suspended, which was no fault of ours.

Crises averted, and we arrived at the Getaway House at about 6 PM. And we started lost. The map attached to our reservation was extremely handy. All the cabins are numbered alphabetically, so that helped us get back on track. My lover drove the white Toyota rental into the little compound of Arlon. Yes, each cabin has a name, too!

Check-in was at 3 PM, and they sent the passcode about half an hour before that. Excited to experience life outdoors, we offloaded the car, settled down, and marveled at the space. I breathed air so clean that my lung capacity expanded a bit more.

The cabins were smaller than I had thought. There is also no Wi-Fi, but it was exciting to be out in nature. I've never been glamping before, and my first experience was beautiful! 

I did a bunch of grocery shopping at Target the day before and bought all the food imaginable because I knew we were gonna be in the boondocks, in the middle of nowhere! Before I left home, I already packed up our dinner. I marinated some gochujang chicken and ordered some jollof rice fries earlier. That morning, I baked one of my apple crumbles to take with us. I bought so many groceries that the mini fridge in the cabin could barely hold it all, but it is better prepared than under-prepared. Can somebody say amen????

Each cabin came with firestarters on lug bundles for an additional cost. My lover set up the fire. He got it going on the second try, but he got it because I was clueless, so shout out to him. We cooked on a fire (I almost lost both my eyes because the smoke was stinging the hell out of me). That was such an exciting and new experience. I would do that again. Sitting by a fire in the middle of nowhere, with no sounds but the cackling of the logs and a blanket of stars in the night sky, it was indeed one to remember. We put the chicken and rice on the fire, and they turned out better than we hoped, better than it would have if it were prepared on a gas cooker; our dinner was smoky and delicious. While we enjoyed eating our dinner outside by the fire, we took advantage of the fire to warm up the apple crumble.

Yes, BTDubs. I started running my little bakery from my home kitchen called Summertime Sweets, where I specialize in baking apple crumbles. So, of course, I baked an apple crumble for us to take on our glamping trip. 

I can’t shut up about how wonderful it all was. It was also quite intimate, and I felt like my lover, and I needed that. It was a great chance for my lover and me to bond, connect, and relax away from city life's constant hustle and bustle. You know what I mean?

The cabin had a comfortable queen bed with sheets, fresh towels, two water boxes, paper towels, trash bags, grilled foil, pots and pans, dinnerware, salt, pepper, and a few packets of olive oil. If you didn't bring your groceries, they could provide them for an additional cost. There was also hot chocolate and a smores kit for an extra price. There was no bathroom sink, which was hard to adjust to. We had to brush our teeth in the lil kitchen sink right before bed. 

We went to bed, and I slept for what felt like 900 years. I slept so good—for about 12 hours straight. I felt so good, so renewed and refreshed. We both slept well, and I woke up in a perfect and chipper mood.

We just lounged around and enjoyed a slow morning.

Because my lover had done the dishes a few minutes before, the water was cold when I entered the shower. A note above the kitchen sink informed us that the hot water tank was small and you’d have to wait a bit between showers before it became hot again. I should have waited a little longer, TBH. But thankfully, the tiny cabin had a heater to warm me up after the cold shower.
I started the day making breakfast. I whipped up some grilled cheese that is now like crack to my lover because he loved it so much and won't stop making it. 

Grilled cheese recipe - Brioche bread slices, Laughing Cow cream cheese, salted butter and provolone cheese. Slather each slice with butter and cream cheese respectively, add two slices of provolone and throw into a cast iron skillet.

Highkey, I would have loved to make the grilled cheese on the fire, but all our clothes smelled of smoke the night before. Plus, making a fire in the morning? Ain't nobody got time for that. I also boiled up some hot chocolate. Let me tell you something.   

Hot chocolate must be made on a stove in a saucepan, period! First, you boil your milk, pour in your hot chocolate powder ( I used Ghiradelli because, let's face it, they’ve got that shit ON), and mix it up in the pan; you can even add a drop of vanilla essence, and then it’s ready to be inhaled because that's how the good lord intended hot chocolate to be consumed, potion of the gods fr fr.

  Our cozy breakfast table also had some grapes and this delicious yogurt I got from Target. It was a lovely, slow morning. You know what I mean? We weren't watching anything; we were just talking to each other. The cabin had this worksheet of things to do, and one of the fun things was ‘get to know your partner.’ So we enjoyed asking each other those questions. What does your ideal day look like? If you had a celebrity guest, would it be? What's your favorite food? What's an attribute you wish you had? It was nice. 

The area has a state park about 20 minutes from the Getaway House in Oglesby, Illinois. It's called  Starved Rock State Park and that was our plan for day two. We had a slow, leisurely morning, and then we headed out to hike and vibe at the park.  

We were there for about four hours, walked to the top of Starved Rock, marveled at the Illinois River, and then continued our journey to see all the different canyons. We saw three or four canyons (French Canyon, Pontiac Canyon, Wildcat Canyon, and LaSalle). 

The first and most popular one we saw was the French Canyon. It had rained the night before, so the waterfall was water falling. It was a nice leisurely walk; I enjoyed being in nature. After about six kilometers of hiking, we were ready to return to our cozy little cabin, but first, we stopped by a Kroger to pick up some stuff for dinner.

Back at our cabin, my lover donned his chef hat (yes, chef!) and made us a rack of lamb and some potatoes on the fire. It tasted so good that it knocked the wind out of us. I told him the meal went to the top of the list of stuff he’s cooked that we still drool over. 

I made corn on the cob, threw it on the fire before it died out, and enjoyed some wine, leftover apple crumble, and ice cream for dessert.

It was a wonderful dinner and a wonderful stay. 

After our last dinner, we just relaxed in bed, looked at the lovely sky, bonded, laughed, and fell asleep. 

The next morning was our last day, and before check-out at 11, we cleaned up the cabin, showered, enjoyed another breakfast, loaded up the car, and said, ‘See you again soon’ to Arlon.  

I’ve made it easy for ya’ll by hyperlinking all the important spots. If you want some more juicy deets on my first glamping trip, click here. Until I book another flight somewhere… who knows where, follow me on Instagram and TikTok for more travel stories, tips, itineraries and gist. 

xxx
- Summer