We did about 3 miles of a trail near Lake Sunapee and drove around the lake a bit. Got some pics of the chickens on the farm – there are two roosters who each have 6 hens. Cracker, the all white rooster, crows all day and LOVES strawberries. The g-kid and parents went to San Diego, where they celebrated birthday #2 with her cousin, Diego, who is about a week older than her. Time flies. B’s BF made it back from his vacay, and I had a good food week. Jim’s not a seafood fan, but he suffered through it so I could enjoy lobster, grilled fresh fish tacos and stuff clams.

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During our first week of settling in, we found a nearby trail and our first covered bridge. After receiving many recommendations, we visited Sanctuary Ice Cream for some local creations. Naturally, our first weekend in the new place saw a temperature drop and 3 days of clouds and rain. We headed north to escape the rain and were able to see Montpelier and Lake Champlain. The pictures don’t do Lake Champlain justice. It’s beautiful, a huge lake ringed with tree covered mountains, I hope we get to go back and spend more time there. We then headed to the scenic ocean route to see New Hampshire’s 22 miles of coastline and stopped for a much anticipated lobstah lunch. Part of the fun of a new place is finding new foods, so far nothing crazy except for “fiddleheads”, which we haven’t tried yet.

Jim accepted a Workamping position in New Hampshire for the summer, so we headed East. We stopped in Tennessee to see my sister and also got to see Jim’s sister and bro-in-law in Nashville, as they were passing through on their own trip. Then on to Erie, PA for some history and hiking. Erie played a huge role in the War of 1812, which was really amazing to learn about. Also, there are fish and frog statues scattered through out the city, some artists’ idea to pull in tourism….though the barbed wire around the community pool was surprising. Then on to some excellent pizza and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Ticketed times to enter gave us enjoyable, uncrowded, chill time to be able to see the history there, the Cards were well represented 🙂 We made it to NH and are preparing to see the sites and states in the area.

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Jim finished the walls and ceiling, had the A/C installed, and burned the windowsills and bathroom door. We stayed in the shed for a couple nights while the camper was being worked on, I got a pic of how a “certified signed for delivery” package is delivered when you’re rural, and a turkey found the bird seed. Jim also installed the cabinets, built the half wall for coat hangers, and had the countertops installed before we left.

Jim went to visit his family while I stayed to receive some shipments needed to complete the shed build. Britt went down and Jim was able to help Brittany buy her first car on her own! At the property, we had a week of sub zero temps with about 10 inches of snow, the well stopped working and I relied on bottled water and the neighbors’ kindness to let me shower 🙂 Nickel and I stayed warm (though Nickel was VERY bored) and enjoyed the peace of the snow covered property. Jim came back and we drove out to Utah to settle his dad in an assisted living facility until he could get his strength back. A couple days before he was to move in, Boyd passed away. Ashleigh, Mathilda, and Britt were able to come out for the funeral. Mathilda was able to meet some cousins, and we were all able to spend some time together, though we missed having Chayse with us.

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We did a hike at Norfolk Lake, spent a weekend hiking and looking at art in Fayetteville and Bentonville (Crystal Bridges), spent a weekend w/ my sister and bro-in-law in Memphis and received the blue pine we ordered for the walls and ceiling in the shed.

Some more hikes, one just down to Bull Shoals. We completed the Indian Rock House Trail that has a huge cave that Native Americans used as a gathering place, then later miners used before leaving defunct mines. We also went back to Mountain View, where a friendly, neighborhood dog went on a 2 mile hike with us that ended at a small, family, graveyard. We went back to STL to see Chayse and Heather for Christmas, and Britt and her roomie won the door decorating contest in their dorms.

Time flies – Jim finished tiling and building the bathroom in the shed – we got to see Chayse, who helped us move/donate even more stuff and close out the storage unit. We found some old pics of the kids and had our second ever Thanksgiving with just the two of us (no kids). We had a forestry mulcher come out, who did an incredible amount of work taking down small trees/brush in 4 days. The land around the shed is more open, with space between the trees, it’s really cool. We have seen quite a few deer, including a couple brothers, who wrestled for quite a while. Jim found an old squirrel gun and an armadillo shell on the property. We also went down to Mountain View to see Tim, and did a bit of hiking. Tim took us to his hangout, the Rainbow Cafe, where Jim got the world’s smallest chicken fried steak dinner. We also were able to see part of Arkansas’ only wild elk herd. For about 3 weeks it smelled like we were living in a hamster cage due to the amount of shredded cedars 🙂 We had our first snow, M learned to play air guitar, and B enjoys some down time, and gets out to see Idaho.

It’s hard to believe we’ve been back a month. Jim has been working full time on the shed. He built the bathroom, which is functional now, just needs some grout touch up and a door, he got the water softener and hot water heater in place, tiled the laundry room, and is almost finished tiling the whole shed. We put up some spotlights and got to see our Workamping buddy Tim in Branson. Britt graduated from Air Force Tech school (we were able to watch via face time), was promoted to Airman First Class, and was assigned a base in Mountain Home, Idaho. I’ve been cutting down old metal fencing and pulling junk out of the woods into piles so that we can clean up the land.

Well. That was the fastest summer of our lives. We had adventures, saw new things and places, learned to love to hike, and met some awesome people. We’re heading back to the property to get some work done and have a doctor look at Jim’s knee before deciding what to do next. We took our time on the way back, we slept in a Home Depot parking lot in Hays, Ks, and then a KOA in Springfield, Mo. In Springfield, we found a dude in a gold bug with the Halloween spirit.