THANK GOODNESs, VACATION IS OVER!
We stayed in this little farm house about 300 meters from the lake. A picture of this house: A white old house. Very old. The state took it over when the farmer who lived there died without a will in 1920, no one knows exactly how long it was passed around his family before that. We did a little sweep through the house and the main section of the house. Everything had additions with time, but no needed repairs to the old stuff unfortunately. The celler was inside the house, dirt floor obviously and we could see the rotting tree trunks that held the floors up. The main supports of the house (other tree trunks) already had their bottoms rotted off and there was a bad leak with some of the plumbing so these trunks are just getting primed to rot through. My dad actually told us we were not allowed to jump in the house >>; That thing is holding together on a prayer, even Valentina (our AWESOME hostess) acknowledged that and mentioned selling it soon.
My least favorite thing about the house had to be the stairs, the 2nd steepest stairs I've ever had the displeasure of using. (My great-aunt's studio stairs are the worse) Unfortunately, no one had a choice of course. When I came home today and went upstairs it felt like breathing, not some climbing and balance exercise.
My little hobbit hole, my bedroom, is primarily mine because I'm the only one who could stand upright in it for the narrow strip where someone could. I loved it though, I had the only working clock in the house (and my cell phone wouldn't tell time, no service as many people found out!) and my bed was nice. I had a window directly behind my bed facing to the east, so when the morning came boy did I know it! I always woke up with the sun in my eyes around 8:00. Sometimes that was a good thing and sometimes I didn't care for it particularly! Oh, the most wonderful thing about vacation! Usually I got 11 hours of sleep! At the very least I got 8 hours. Since everything got so cold once the sun went behind the mountains, we'd make dinner and go to bed. Last night it got down to 40, so why bother being up? :D I loved that.
The lake was gorgeous! Valentina owns 5 rent-outs by this lake (all of the others being practically on it while we got our exercise :D) and there are two families who come back every year for about a month (for the last 18 YEARS!) who are super nice. We just grabbed a dock and piddled around with the boats and water and tried to get a tan. I failed, though my hair did get lighter! All of the colors are so bright there, no pollution in the sky and the plants aren't fried by the heat. Highest temp: 77! Bright greens everywhere! And red berries, tons of goldenrod, Queen Anne's Lace, Garden Phlox, Black Eyed Susans, Lupine, Purple Cone Flower and a crapload of flowers I didn't recognize. Just yellow, white, and purple with bits of pink and orange-red.
More flowers gushing! Every town we passed through had beautiful islands and flower baskets. They make ours look pitiful! But I didn't get too many pictures of that... with Meghan camera-whoring and Dad being protective of the stupid thing.
But yeah... I could go on forever... so I'll spare you every detail. 12 and half hours in the car, I was ready to puke and/or strangle Meghan, but HOME AGAIN WE ARE.
My least favorite thing about the house had to be the stairs, the 2nd steepest stairs I've ever had the displeasure of using. (My great-aunt's studio stairs are the worse) Unfortunately, no one had a choice of course. When I came home today and went upstairs it felt like breathing, not some climbing and balance exercise.
My little hobbit hole, my bedroom, is primarily mine because I'm the only one who could stand upright in it for the narrow strip where someone could. I loved it though, I had the only working clock in the house (and my cell phone wouldn't tell time, no service as many people found out!) and my bed was nice. I had a window directly behind my bed facing to the east, so when the morning came boy did I know it! I always woke up with the sun in my eyes around 8:00. Sometimes that was a good thing and sometimes I didn't care for it particularly! Oh, the most wonderful thing about vacation! Usually I got 11 hours of sleep! At the very least I got 8 hours. Since everything got so cold once the sun went behind the mountains, we'd make dinner and go to bed. Last night it got down to 40, so why bother being up? :D I loved that.
The lake was gorgeous! Valentina owns 5 rent-outs by this lake (all of the others being practically on it while we got our exercise :D) and there are two families who come back every year for about a month (for the last 18 YEARS!) who are super nice. We just grabbed a dock and piddled around with the boats and water and tried to get a tan. I failed, though my hair did get lighter! All of the colors are so bright there, no pollution in the sky and the plants aren't fried by the heat. Highest temp: 77! Bright greens everywhere! And red berries, tons of goldenrod, Queen Anne's Lace, Garden Phlox, Black Eyed Susans, Lupine, Purple Cone Flower and a crapload of flowers I didn't recognize. Just yellow, white, and purple with bits of pink and orange-red.
More flowers gushing! Every town we passed through had beautiful islands and flower baskets. They make ours look pitiful! But I didn't get too many pictures of that... with Meghan camera-whoring and Dad being protective of the stupid thing.
But yeah... I could go on forever... so I'll spare you every detail. 12 and half hours in the car, I was ready to puke and/or strangle Meghan, but HOME AGAIN WE ARE.