Saturday, April 30, 2011

We have arrived!

It is interesting how we managed to take 5 hours for a 3.5 hour trip.  This is mostly due to stopping for dinner but it was also interesting to have a person who usually speeds (that would be me) following a person who never speeds (that would be Bill)!  I was struggling to learn the lesson of patience and I do have to admit that I called him and told him to set his cruise control (since his speed tended to go up and down!).  He told me to mellow out and relax (which I do need to do)! :-)

On the drive up, we saw about 10 deer and a lynx cross the road in front of us.  This was our first sighting of a lynx!

We went over to the lodge today as there was a "cleaning" party arranged.  Due to the weather (cold and windy), we had fewer people than we had hoped.  In the end, the dozen or so people managed to get all of the kitchens, bathrooms, and inside windows cleaned in seven cabins plus splitting a pile of wood and cleaning the fish cleaning house...all before noon!  It was truly a blessing to have the help and it was a great start on the cleaning tasks.  We are praying for some nicer weather when we can get the rest of the cleaning done (before the resort opens in 2 weeks).

Did I mention in an earlier post about the challenge to bring less stuff?  In the end, we each brought one large kitchen bag (13 gallon size) of clothes.  This exercise in "getting by with less" has truly been enlightening and it will be interesting to see whether I return to "needing" all of the extra stuff after 6 months here.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Ready to start the big adventure!

Our "big adventure" will involve moving 185 miles north to our cabin so that we can help our friends manage their resort for the summer.  Our friend has cancer and we are blessed to be able to offer our assistance at the resort!  I will be working part-time remote and Bill will take jobs that fit our schedule (as he is self employed).
We move up today and are blessed, excited and nervous to begin the move part of this adventure.  We are struggling to take enough to get by while realizing that our cabin is very small (16 x 20 with a bedroom loft).  This is really pushing us to think about what is REALLY necessary and eliminate the "I might need this" and "this would be nice to have" items.  I have been amazed at how much stuff I have that is not really critical!!

We are off into the wild blue yonder!!