Saturday, July 30, 2011
Vermont, Our New Home
No updates for quite some time as we have been extremely busy and not really sure where to go with the blog since we are no longer traveling.
We arrived in Vermont and spent one night with our good friends Meg and Ben in Chelsea, VT. Unfortunately they don't live close enough to Burlington for us to take advantage of their home to look for a place of our own. Enter Bridgette and Wayne. Bridgette and Wayne are great family friends from New Jersey who moved up to Vermont to take teaching jobs. They live in Jeffersonville, which is right at the base of Smugglers Notch. It is a great area for outdoor activities. and most cars there have a roof rack full of sporting equipment. There is an abundance of Subarus and pick-ups driving around with canoes, kayaks, and road and mountain bikes on their roof racks, leading us to wonder if Vermont is the most active state in the country. Bridgette and Wayne were so nice to us, allowing us to stay in one of their spare bedrooms for about 2 weeks while we tried to find a reasonably-priced rental apartment within 45 minutes of Burlington.
We did not realize how hard this would be. Apparently the rental market in the greater Burlington area is pretty competitive. We looked at a few places that were horrendous, dirty, and gross considering what the landlords were asking for in rent. We found what we thought would be a perfect place in the mid-sized town of Vergennes. A small studio apartment right in the middle of downtown. It was newly renovated with a good amount of charm for an old city building. We signed a lease on the apartment and waited for a week until we could move in. We moved in to the apartment last Monday. It is possibly the world's tiniest apartment, but after living in the back of the truck for 4 months (40 square feet), it seems absolutely palatial. After spending a few hours moving in, we realized we had made a mistake. We did not realize how busy the main street of Vergennes is. It is a major trucking route connecting upstate New York with Route 7, which runs into Burlington. It is incredibly noisy, and since it is summer, we have to keep all the windows open. I am sure after a few weeks we will get used to it, however, it is quite a shock after camping on Forest Service property for so long, where the only noises we heard at night were animals doing their nightly routines.
On other Vermont news, Misa is taking full advantage of her new schedule of being a teacher. This means she gets to wake up and enjoy herself every day. She is spending a lot of time exploring our new area with her running shoes as she trains for a few upcoming races, doing lots of yoga at the studio next door to our apartment, and hanging out with Tucker. I (Colin) am working, which is very hard since Misa gets to enjoy herself every day. Within a few days of arriving at Bridgette and Wayne's house, I had gotten two job offers. I ended up taking a job with a design/build firm based out of the Mad River Valley. I am actually lucky enough that the job I am working on is based in Vergennes. I have never had a job where I could walk to work and it is pretty nice. Misa actually walks with me every morning to the job site with Tucker. This firm does their work in fabric-formed concrete, something only a few companies in the world deal with. It is interesting work as it is not a material that I have any experience with, but the carpentry work is sometimes complex, as you are actually thinking about everything in reverse. The project I am on is building a pedestrian access and viewing platform for the Vergennes Falls so I have the most beautiful job site I have ever worked at, right next to the falls. When the wind is blowing, it actually can send a cooling spray off of the waterfall. This probably won't feel so nice come October, but for now it is great.
We have found a great real estate agent who seems very happy to put on his rubber boots and go tromping around the woods and fields to help us find our new home site, where we will build our next house. We have several properties that we are interested in and we are meeting with our expert Vermont homesteaders tomorrow to get their professional opinions on one of them. Exciting things are to come I am sure.
We have loved our time in Vermont so far. People up here are so friendly and eager to help. It is such a refreshing feeling. More to come later!
We arrived in Vermont and spent one night with our good friends Meg and Ben in Chelsea, VT. Unfortunately they don't live close enough to Burlington for us to take advantage of their home to look for a place of our own. Enter Bridgette and Wayne. Bridgette and Wayne are great family friends from New Jersey who moved up to Vermont to take teaching jobs. They live in Jeffersonville, which is right at the base of Smugglers Notch. It is a great area for outdoor activities. and most cars there have a roof rack full of sporting equipment. There is an abundance of Subarus and pick-ups driving around with canoes, kayaks, and road and mountain bikes on their roof racks, leading us to wonder if Vermont is the most active state in the country. Bridgette and Wayne were so nice to us, allowing us to stay in one of their spare bedrooms for about 2 weeks while we tried to find a reasonably-priced rental apartment within 45 minutes of Burlington.
We did not realize how hard this would be. Apparently the rental market in the greater Burlington area is pretty competitive. We looked at a few places that were horrendous, dirty, and gross considering what the landlords were asking for in rent. We found what we thought would be a perfect place in the mid-sized town of Vergennes. A small studio apartment right in the middle of downtown. It was newly renovated with a good amount of charm for an old city building. We signed a lease on the apartment and waited for a week until we could move in. We moved in to the apartment last Monday. It is possibly the world's tiniest apartment, but after living in the back of the truck for 4 months (40 square feet), it seems absolutely palatial. After spending a few hours moving in, we realized we had made a mistake. We did not realize how busy the main street of Vergennes is. It is a major trucking route connecting upstate New York with Route 7, which runs into Burlington. It is incredibly noisy, and since it is summer, we have to keep all the windows open. I am sure after a few weeks we will get used to it, however, it is quite a shock after camping on Forest Service property for so long, where the only noises we heard at night were animals doing their nightly routines.
On other Vermont news, Misa is taking full advantage of her new schedule of being a teacher. This means she gets to wake up and enjoy herself every day. She is spending a lot of time exploring our new area with her running shoes as she trains for a few upcoming races, doing lots of yoga at the studio next door to our apartment, and hanging out with Tucker. I (Colin) am working, which is very hard since Misa gets to enjoy herself every day. Within a few days of arriving at Bridgette and Wayne's house, I had gotten two job offers. I ended up taking a job with a design/build firm based out of the Mad River Valley. I am actually lucky enough that the job I am working on is based in Vergennes. I have never had a job where I could walk to work and it is pretty nice. Misa actually walks with me every morning to the job site with Tucker. This firm does their work in fabric-formed concrete, something only a few companies in the world deal with. It is interesting work as it is not a material that I have any experience with, but the carpentry work is sometimes complex, as you are actually thinking about everything in reverse. The project I am on is building a pedestrian access and viewing platform for the Vergennes Falls so I have the most beautiful job site I have ever worked at, right next to the falls. When the wind is blowing, it actually can send a cooling spray off of the waterfall. This probably won't feel so nice come October, but for now it is great.
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| I get to work on the left side of the falls |
We have found a great real estate agent who seems very happy to put on his rubber boots and go tromping around the woods and fields to help us find our new home site, where we will build our next house. We have several properties that we are interested in and we are meeting with our expert Vermont homesteaders tomorrow to get their professional opinions on one of them. Exciting things are to come I am sure.
We have loved our time in Vermont so far. People up here are so friendly and eager to help. It is such a refreshing feeling. More to come later!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Denver
After spending the long weekend with Curt and Claire, we were faced with the choice of driving straight back to New Jersey or driving down to Denver to visit friends before heading east. We chose Denver and made the 9-hour drive in one day. (And with just one rest stop!)
In Denver, we hit traffic for the first time since L.A., and got blasted back into the reality of summer with 96-degree weather. But it was all worth it as we arrived at the Larimer Lounge to meet Christel (Misa's first roommate from college) and Paul and see Slim Cessna's Auto Club for the second time on their tour. It was very sweaty fun. We hung out for the next few days at Christel and Paul's house in Denver, trying to gather up the will power to make the long 33-hour drive home. There were many places in Colorado and Utah that we wanted to check out on this trip, but since we now know we are moving to Vermont, it seemed silly to spend any more time exploring other states. We will definitely have to return to CO and UT on our next big trip...
Sadly, we took no pictures in Denver! Are we pictured-out?
In Denver, we hit traffic for the first time since L.A., and got blasted back into the reality of summer with 96-degree weather. But it was all worth it as we arrived at the Larimer Lounge to meet Christel (Misa's first roommate from college) and Paul and see Slim Cessna's Auto Club for the second time on their tour. It was very sweaty fun. We hung out for the next few days at Christel and Paul's house in Denver, trying to gather up the will power to make the long 33-hour drive home. There were many places in Colorado and Utah that we wanted to check out on this trip, but since we now know we are moving to Vermont, it seemed silly to spend any more time exploring other states. We will definitely have to return to CO and UT on our next big trip...
Sadly, we took no pictures in Denver! Are we pictured-out?
More Montana Pics!
Because Montana deserves more pictures ...
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| The view of the Absaroka Mountains from the Beartooth Highway |
Colin hiking up
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| Colin and Curt reviewing what Colin just snowboarded |
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| The wildflowers behind the lodge |
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Big Montana
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| Driving on the Beartooth Highway |
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| If you can find the small dot in the snow, that's Colin snowboarding. |
Later, we drove off in search of wildflowers and wild horses, ending up hours away from Red Lodge and nearly out of gas without seeing much besides sagebrush and dust. Upon returning to Red Lodge, we went for a hike behind the hotel after dinner and found the most gorgeous wildflower meadow we've seen on the whole trip. Who would have guessed?
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Crowds!
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| Lining up to see Old Faithful. Notice how far the benches curve around. |
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| The Mammoth boardwalk |
Yellowstone
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| Our first of many encounters with ... BISON!!! |
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| Old Faithful spouting! |
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| View from Mammoth Hot Springs |
Tucker, unfortunately, isn't allowed on any trails in national parks, so we couldn't stray too far from the pavement. It was very cool to see the earth so active, bubbling and boiling and steaming. It reminds that there is a lot more going on than what we see humans doing on the surface. |
| Much of the interesting springs were so shrouded in steam it was hard to see. |
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