Opportunity knocks

Looky what we put in...

 The black one around corner from the long row of white ones is ours.  That means that others could visit this place...  If you ask nice, you to could indoor camp at this fabulous location!  The ground rules are - anytime we aren't going to be there, you can go.  You're in charge of changing the sheets and cleaning up after yourself.  Remember, this is a construction zone, so keep your expectations low.

 Here's the new improved bedroom, much better than a camping mattress with too small sheets.  Now it's an 8 inch memory foam mattress with an old set of knit sheets and my special Grandma Jean wedding quilt.  It's still on the floor, but it's a pretty good night sleep (compared to the floor!).  The waves are so loud out on the shore, that you hear them inside when falling asleep at night.

 Here's our ghetto, almost camping dining room.  It's one of the ugly, random end tables that was left there along with some cheap-o plastic chairs, also left behind.  You'll notice that one of the windows is sitting on the floor.  When Brian cleaned the windows, he had to take off the extra pane to get to the foggy, dirty viewing layer.  It is assumed that if we put it back up, it would fog right up again and block the lake view.  We'll see what we decide to do about that...

This is the very much cleaned up living room, we got rid of the broken mood light picture thing above the mantle and propped up the cool street signs that we found on a different wall.  There's also a tiny little speaker sitting up there, we pulled that from the neighbors garbage pile (it seems everyone is cleaning out these condo units) to connect with the tuner that was left behind.  Now you can enjoy a true north shore experience and listen to WTIP radio while hanging with the fire.

So, how do I take advantage of this fantastic opportunity?  Comment here.  Tell me you're interested and I will let you know the details.  Depending upon the amount of interest, I'll put a little calendar together to let you know when we'll be there and when it's available for you.  There is no maid service, so you have to promise to clean up after yourself.  We leave the place in "ready for us to come back" mode, we will expect you too.  The sheets are fresh to us and the tools are piled neatly in the corner.  And, I've put so much energy into cleaning the grease out of the kitchen, there will be a damages assessment if you fry bacon while there!  Bonus points for hauling something useful there while you're at it!

Hauling loads

When we go up to work on the condo, we stuff every inch of our car with tools and supplies.  It's challenging to determine what we will need to have each visit.  We can't fit it all in and that leaves lots of decisions about what we should or should not bring with us.

This particular visit's winners were: a mattress - no more indoor camping! and light fixtures - no more dark cave!  Tools & supplies for patching all the holes in the walls was the other big need, we want to be prepped for painting as soon as possible!

Caribou Falls

Another GREAT hike not too far from the Lake Superior property is the hike to Caribou Falls.  It's only a mile, so it's Noah friendly.  The destination is very worth the walk.  The falls are so tall and magnificent that the photos don't even come close to doing them justice.

Trailhead

A piece of the falls

Can you see all those stairs??  Noah was bribed with cookies when we got  to the waterfall, he's enjoying sweet victory.

The rock wall that the water falls down is absolutely huge and amazing.

More falls as seen from the bridge just a little further up.

Picnic rock or possible preschooler swimming hole for next summer?

Britton Peak

Another fun hike right near our Lake Superior place.  Britton Peak is a very short round trip from the trailhead to the vista.  Britton Peak trailhead is also trailhead to a new mountain bike trail system that they are working on up in the area.  We'll definitely be checking that out one of these visits!

Rock dome at the top

Pretty trail

It's apparently named after a war hero.

Grand views

Taking up running

You probably think it's a little odd that a cyclist would even think about running.  Why would you want to "pound pavement" when you can roll and feel the wind in your hair?  Well, fitness has to be the answer for me.  With work, Noah, and all the other obligations I've tied myself to, I haven't had time to keep my fitness level up to where I want it.  Think about the extra time it takes to monkey around with cycling equipment. Since biking is a very efficient, it takes a lot more intention or more time to get a good workout from it.  With traffic, stopping, turning, etc., you have to spend extra time to get out of town where you can turn up the intensity and back into town cooling down.  Time is my biggest problem...
I've heard a couple of times recently that studies comparing lazy skinny people and fit fat people show that fitness is a bigger indicator of overall health than size, though being fit and not carrying around extra pounds is best.  How do you define fit?  I've heard a number of definitions, all relate to how quickly you can move your body 1 or 2 miles - basically they are all running tests. 
Enough theory, back to why I took up running...
A couple months ago, I was pretty stressed about big stuff (thinking about moving across the country, if that counts as big stuff).  One night, after a particularly stressful day, I needed to do something to eliminate some nervous energy from my system and clear my mind.  I decided to just go for a run.  It really worked.  I felt a lot better mentally and physically when I got home.  I slept better that night than I had in quite awhile. 
Things have calmed down since, but now that I'm working more, I just don't get as many bike rides in as I would like.  The "beginner" kids on the bike team can crush me now.
As it gets cooler and less pleasant outside, it's again easier to run than bike.  When you eliminate all the wind chill of biking, you don't have to wear as many layers.  You make your own heat, big time.
I was still struggling with the footwear I had for running.  My shoes either didn't fit well enough to run in, were too heavy, or were fairly worn out.  What better way to inspire some good runs than a fun and comfortable pair of shoes to run in...

New this summer. Love them!

That's enough yackity yack about running.  I'm having some fun with it, and feel like I'm somewhat healthier for going.  How about you?  Trying any new fitness motivators?  Picky about your footwear?  Hoping I'll stick with crafty fun and home improvements topics on this blog, or just let Noah be the star of the show?  Have a good day!