People here in the Cities have Up North, which includes everything from the Boundary Waters to Lake Superior. Some people go over to South Dakota.

Dammit. Look at this. I wonder how much that'd cost in maintenance?

I'm thinking of buying a weekend home upstate.

Just so. The best part is that real estate is still pretty reasonable in places like the Catskills, where my brothers have their vacation place.

Look at this.

Wow! I see the future Buffista resort.

Dad has a place at the beach and our extended family has houses all together becuase my great grandfather bought the property.

My great aunt and uncle just tore down the original house that was built and built something newer and big enough for their needs (1 son has 8 kids). It was very weird to see the old place gone, but I understand.

Dad had the opportunity to buy one of the larger houses down the beach, but he opted against it at the time. Of course now he wouldn't be able to afford the property taxes, somethign similiar sold for $1 million.

It's really kind of sad to see what's going on, this area was "forgotten" and there was a big push to get the area on the map, so to speak, and now everyone's discovered it and developers want to build on and near land that is really too fragile for it.

Then Dennis came through and did major flood damage, I'm hoping some people will read about the projections for the hurricane seasons in the next 10 years and decide not to build. But that's probably too much of a Pollyanna view.

It occurs to me that some people probably have ski cabins in the local area, but as most of the skiing is a pretty quick drive from Seattle proper, probably fewer than would if it were further.

Is a weekend house just what it sounds like? Are they marketed as such?

The NYT had an article this weekend about how cheap homes are up in the Catskills, and it sounded attractive as an investment opportunity.

When I was a kid in Milwaukee, my parents were looking for a weekend place on a lake. They had a location and a couple of nice old houses in mind, but then we moved to Viirginia. Our house there was on a lake, next to a local pool and across from a tennis court. No need for a country house in Reston!

All my aunts and uncles bought summer places and promptly ditched their primary residences. Well, except for A&E. Their place in Maine, they go to summers. Of course, the primary reason is that it is a 10 minute walk over the hill to their son's place. He built the cottage for them so they can come spoil the grandkids and the rest of the time, it sits as an open invitation to anyone who would like to visit. (And the work on it is probably to die for. He started as a stage builder for the Guthrie, moved on to general contracting, then custom, hand carved cabinetry and now builds custom wooden sailboats which are just...guh. The handwork detail would make you cry.)

Is a weekend house just what it sounds like? Are they marketed as such?

Yeah, or a summer place. Most cottages I've known have not been insulated, so you really can't go in the winter.

You need it to escape from the unbearable bitching about the heat.