thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving to you  all!

Just a quick post to say how thankful we are to have people in our lives who are curious about and support us in our adventures. Some days it's easy to forget how blessed we really are. We take so much for granted and complain about silly little things, which are clearly small potatoes compared to all the terrible things people have to contend with around the globe. We are grateful. Blessed. Full of thankfulness for all the gifts we've been given.

in for the winter.

This post is oh, about a month overdue. Apologies for that! Life has been hectic, shall we say?

At the end of last month, we took the trek back down to Larsen Marine to have Interlude pulled for the winter. Why did we go alllll the way back down to Waukegan to have the boat pulled when there is a lovely facility for boat storage just across the marina, you ask? Well, Interlude is having some work done over the winter. When we had the survey done, the major issues were major, yes, but nothing to keep us from enjoying her for the remainder of the season, and after all the waiting we'd done to finally own her, we weren't exactly happy at the prospect of having to wait 6-7 months to get a feel for her. As part of our storage agreement, Larsen would pull her out, do all the engine winterizing and then have her repairs done, hopefully by year end, at which point, we'd be able to begin doing our little projects on her. Here's hoping January, February, and March are mild months!

Josh's mom and dad drove up on Thursday night so we could be aboard her bright and early Friday. We left a car at Larsen and one at the marina in Racine and sailed, or rather motored down all day Friday. I was down with some seasickness, which is the second time it's happened on Interlude and I think the trick is to have a full to the brim stomach. I'll do more experimenting in the spring, otherwise it could be an uncomfortable life :( We got to Larsen around 5:30 and docked with the greatest of ease (a skill we are working on. 36' is a whole lotta boat to dock!). Josh's mom and I drove up to Racine to get the second car while Josh and his dad unloaded the boat, took down the sails and got her a little closer to ready for winterizing. According to Paul, Josh's dad, taking down the sails was a pain, so we've got that to look forward to when we launch in the spring.

Saturday, Josh and his dad went back and winterized some of the systems. They drained the water tank and filled it with "pink stuff", basically antifreeze, emptied the sump and filled it with more pink stuff and did more work to get the other systems prepared for the cold. I should have been there, but Josh said it was tight quarters with the two of them, let alone four of us. And hopefully we'll only have to do the winterizing bit one more winter after this!

So Interlude is by now out of the water, her bottom cleaned, engine flushed, and she's probably in the shop. We haven't had any updates on the progress but once we do, we'll go up and check on the workmanship of the repairs and start planning our projects. 

another state, another lake.

We're just sitting here at the laundromat, washing clothes (our trip has been extended a few days and undergarments are waning in availability of cleanliness), watching snow lazily float down, reflecting on the last week. It's been full of adventures, to be sure. Turns out Minnesota is a beautiful state FULL to the brim with culture, bustling cities and minuscule hamlets, amiable locals always ready with a smile, and miles and miles of pristine wilderness, complete with thousands more than 10,000 lakes.

I tagged along with Josh to northern Minnesota for a site visit in Cohasset. We are staying in Grand Rapids at one of those places with the giant waterslides (!) about an hour and a half drive from both Duluth and Bemidji. It's a smallish town with a Walmart, Target and a few chains but also lots of rich history. For instance, THE Judy Garland was born here (I toured her childhood home for a mere $8), taconite was mined here, and at the turn of the century, logging was a boon industry. Oh, and did I mention the photo "Grace" was taken by a photographer here in town? See here for full story: http://www.gracebyenstrom.com/history.html

The point is that we love adventure. Everywhere we travel, fun is had. Small town, big city, wild wild wilderness of northern Minnesota, you will find us in the throes of discovering excitement and things of interest around every corner. This is what makes me certain we'll thrive in a life as gypsies afloat. We truly believe that life. is. beautiful.