Postcard Cabins: An oasis in a sea of snow
A quick 2-day break to recharge my batteries.
A couple of weeks ago, tired, hungry, and lugging my heavy work bag back home, a thought dawned on me — I desperately needed a vacation. It had been ages since I’d taken a trip purely for myself, free from the weight of assignments lingering in my mind as I tried to fall asleep each night.
Now, I have a full-time job with very limited time off. This meant I could probably only embark on a quick, short-notice two-day trip during the weekend of Thanksgiving. And, luck would have it, I was able to book the Western Catskills location of Postcard Cabins just in time.
I’d heard of Postcard Cabins (formerly Getaway) before, and every girlfriend of mine who visited this enchanting, albeit middle-of-nowhere abode, said I needed to take my boyfriend with me — “Oh, it’s so romantic out there,” they kept harping.
Postcard has a number of locations around the U.S., and three just in New York — Wester Catskills, Eastern Catskills, and Machimoodus. The Western Catskills once seemed like the closest to me after a quick check on Google Maps during rush hour.
Boyfriend in tow, car rental secured, we made the 2.5-hour journey to the Western Catskills. The roads were snowy, and toward the last stretch of our journey, we had to turn up the halogens on our Volvo due to the lack of streetlights. The good thing? There’s a small town just 20 minutes away from the property — in Roscoe as well, where the cabins are located.
Here, we stopped at the only grocery store in town, Pepacton Health Goods, and secured fresh vegetables, Szechuan paste, and a few other necessities to make a heaping bowl of ramen once we settled in.
When we finally made it to Postcard Cabins, we were lost. I had my cabin name and area with me, but I forgot to download the map before we lost service — and we had no service pretty much the entire time we were up there.
After driving in circles around the property, we stopped by a staff cabin with one lone light illuminating the home. After a quick knock, a friendly staffer stepped out, immediately got in his truck, and had us follow him to our secluded cabin. There, up in the mountains, with nothing but trees around us, we felt like we had truly achieved Nirvana. Remember that scene in ‘The Holiday’ where Cameron Diaz’s character finally makes it to her home exchange? Yes, that was us.
Our little humble abode was named ‘Thamba’ and a neat wooden sign guided us up the stairs to our entrance.
Every cabin around us was full, but as each cabin was easily laid multiple feet away from each other, privacy was guaranteed. Our little house on wheels beckoned us with open arms. We dragged our suitcases to the door, input our private code into the digital lock, and immediately felt the heater warm our frozen toes once the door clicked open. This 250-square-foot room quite literally had everything we needed — a cozy bed for two, a kitchenette, and a bathroom with a hot shower. Now, while this might seem like the most basic of amenities, it is a pretty big deal when you’re in the middle of nowhere staying inside what I might call a self-functional caravan.
It was too dark to appreciate the views, so we got to work unpacking. A few things stood out to me. One, the Postcard Cabin team had placed a cozy Brooklinen robe and fuzzy slippers on the bed. Two, there was everything from salt and pepper to a s’mores kit in tow — albeit the s’mores kit was available at an extra price charged at checkout. Three, they had some thoughtful books on how to de-stress up in the mountains, as well as my favorite thing — a book on every card game imaginable under the sun. And, of course, a deck of cards.
Other amenities included plenty of utensils and cookware, a rechargeable lamp for outdoor ventures, and everything you could possibly need to start a fire. We were lucky enough to head to Postcards when the fire ban was lifted, so we were pretty excited to build our own fire.
We settled in, built a beautiful fire (after using basically all the fire starter kits and trying and failing about five times), and grilled a whole host of fresh veggies and sausages we purchased from Pepacton. There really is nothing like a fresh plate of steaming hot food while it’s snowing outside. The best part? The cabin came with its own Wi-Fi system, so we were back up and connected to our friends and family within minutes. Of course, the whole point of the stay is to technically be off your devices, so we neatly placed our smartphones in the provided smartphone locker and spent some time just playing card games and talking for the rest of the night.
After settling into the giant queen-sized bed and under every blanket provided, we quickly fell into a sound sleep with nothing but silence surrounding us. The next morning, I woke up to a view of snow-covered trees and tiny squirrels making their way through the hills right outside my window. There were winter trees surrounding every ceiling-high window and it was magical, to say the least. We took a little walk outside, appropriately bundled up, and took in the fresh mountain air.
Once again, though, we were freezing our butts off, so we took off inside and made a fresh cup of coffee with the included coffee packets Postcard Cabins provided us. While we could have stayed in our cozy nook for the rest of the day, we decided to trek back up to the town and check out the distillery on the premises.
Do Good Spirits makes something pretty yummy — Beaverkill Bourbon Cream. This creamy, nutty, boozy drink is the perfect after-dinner treat, and the distillery was nice enough to offer a free tasting of this and the rest of the whiskeys they make on-site.
We spent the afternoon there, taking in the sights (there’s a bookstore and also a brewery within walking distance), and then took the quick 20-minute drive back to our little cabin. There were a few other activities we did, but I won’t bore you with the details since this is technically a review of Postcard Cabins — but leave a note in the comments if you want to know about a goat sanctuary in upstate New York.
Since we left the heater on auto before we left our cabin, we walked into the perfect warm environment inside. I finally had a chance to test out the shower, and while the water pressure was a bit low (I mean, we were in a house on wheels, so this is expected), it turned pretty hot, and I was able to wash up easily. There was also a small first aid kit by the toilet, which included some female sanitary products and bandages.
Postcard also offers 24/7 customer service, where you can text and ask them about anything. They respond pretty quickly too and can help with general questions or add extras to your room, like late checkout. I only used this service once but was impressed by how hospitable the staff was.
That night, we spent some more time unwinding and making a ton of s’mores to indulge in — oh, and a giant bowl of ramen to warm us up.
There was a small radio provided in our cabin, which we could also use as a Bluetooth speaker. We used it to play some mellow classics and fell into another night of blissful, deep sleep.
The next morning, checkout was at 11 a.m., so we managed to pack up quickly before we hit the road. Postcard Cabins only asks that you give your dishes a quick rinse if possible to make it easier on the cleaning staff, but that’s really all you’re responsible for before heading out. You can text your concierge that you’ve left, and that’s it — you’re all checked out.
It was quite a bittersweet experience leaving, but we carried some of our favorite winter memories with us — s’mores by the fire, card games till midnight, and quite possibly the best sleep of our lives.
Postcard Cabins, we’ll be back very soon.
Whoa, that sounds like such a great time! I wanna read more about what you did in Roscoe. 🏔️🐐🏕️
Reading the article felt so good.. felt like I was there.. you have described your experience so lucidly..
would definitely love to have the same experience !