Life at the lake!
“Settling into a new country is like getting used to a new pair of shoes. At first they pinch a little, but you like the way they look, so you carry on. The longer you have them, the more comfortable they become. Until one day without realizing it you reach a glorious plateau. Wearing those shoes is like wearing no shoes at all. The more scuffed they get, the more you love them and the more you can’t imagine life without them.”
We made it to our lake house in Canada! The bugs are brutal and the water is higher than ever but we are here! At the moment, this is the only real estate we own and I think it’s going to stay that way for a while. It was an odd feeling pulling out of the driveway at 6:06 am on a Tuesday with most of our worldly belongings in a 24’ Budget truck. Greg was a hero driving that barge across the country to Ohio. Chelsea and I were in the Santa Fe, also packed to the gills. A tear or two were shed as we slowly made our way through town, yet we remain truly excited about the journey ahead.
I’m not gonna lie – it was a whirlwind after David’s graduation. As if it hadn’t already been a hectic month of saying goodbye. We picked up the moving van in Fort Worth on our way back from Norman. The last few days were spent moving everything from the storage unit into the truck, sorting and repacking everything in the pool house, packing up the wine fridge (which adds an interesting level of complexity to this entire move), finalizing details at Tarleton and of course, attending one last concert – this one at Stephenville High School where Greg got to be the featured artist. We were terse with one another only occasionally and we managed to “get ‘er done.” It helped to get to visit our very dear friends in Nashville along the route who are settling into their own new adventure outside the State of Texas. And then we got to spend a few days in Ohio with family, which is even more special as we reflect that we will be out of the US for the better part of our next few years.
We actually had family to help us in Wooster, which was awesome!! Some of our nephews helped us unpack the truck into our newly leased storage unit. I went ahead and paid for a year – we won’t be getting our stuff out for a while. Then we had to figure out how to get everything we want in Canada into the car. That was a feat and a half. Chelsea and Sam are having their wedding this summer at the lake so we had all kinds of wedding items to pack. We were thinking up all kinds of crazy ways to get it all in the car. We ended up leaving non-wedding and non-essentials in Ohio. Greg is a packing wizard and managed to get everything else in with the help of a car top carrier from Walmart.
Chelsea and Sam attended a wedding in upstate New York while we were in Ohio. When we drove to the lake, we got to have lunch all together at FLX Wienery which was fantastic and worth every calorie. Then Sam had to drive to NY to fly back to Copenhagen. Chelsea stayed with us in what little space was left in the car. We had a fabulous unexpected day in Ithaca reminiscing about good times at Cornell, and then it was on to Pemichangan, our summer home! We had very little difficulty at the border but it was weird anticipating the border agent’s questions. We need to figure out a short “elevator speech” about what we are doing and why we have Texas plates but no longer live in Texas and don’t really have a home anywhere else either. In any case, we are now at the lake and are one step closer to our vagabond lifestyle.
We are in wedding planning mode. It is going to be so much fun to celebrate with Chelsea & Sam on July 8 in a place that is so very special to our family. We are thrilled to be here among our friends who are literally helping to make the happy couple’s dream of a cottage wedding a reality. I bet I will write more about it this summer but next time, be watching for a blog on how to make travel a priority in your life. We are living proof it can be done!
Are you planning a trip somewhere in Europe? We can help with that! Remember that we are always available to you and your friends and family for custom trip planning to Italy, France, Ireland, England and all of Europe. We also still have spots available on our small group trip to Tuscany and our small group trip to Piedmont! We'd love for you to join us! Feel free to reach out via email — We’re always available to talk about travel!!
The view from our porch at sunset