Saturday morning... it started out a little rocky. The cabins have no plumbing, so there are outhouses on the property. Thankfully I was in a cabin that had an outhouse rather close... still, at 4 am, when you really need to pee, and it is literally freezing outside... it does not sound like a fun wake up call. So, I tossed and turned for a while, and when the sun was up, I braved the cold. And yes, it was very cold. But not intolerable.
After that I hiked up to the main house.. and walking up that hill, THAT is a challenge! I did not need the gym this weekend that is for sure! And my second day there started as smoothly as the first had ended. The food there is amazing... I had a nice healthy breakfast... and finally made my way to a phone. I had not gotten in touch with my husband the day before, because out there, my cell phone was worthless (which I expected) so.. I finally got through to my husband... and decided... I had to ask.
"Hi sweetie... did I wake you?"
"Yeah, your brother is watching the kids, Aidan decided to get up at 3 am..."
"Oh, I am so sorry! I just wanted to touch base with you because we did not get to talk last night..."
"Ok" he says "how is it going...?"
"Great! And there are these puppies here... and I am in love with one of them...."
He says: "Ok."
And I nearly fell over. We talked about it for a moment, enough that I knew he knew I was serious... and I was beside myself. He was really telling me to bring one home! Ha!
So... I went out and told the news to the ladies that handle the dogs, and they got to work finding out how I could get one home, and all of that. We were not even sure it would be possible... but we were certainly going to try!
To those of you thinking "you already have 2 dogs, are you INSANE?" I swear I have logic behind this. Cooper our older dog is fed up with Neo the 2 year old, dragging him outside a zillion times a day, and pestering him, and wanting him to play... so.. if we get a puppy, my logic was (and is) that it would give Cooper a break, by giving Neo someone ELSE to focus on. Then Cooper can just live his life happily, being left alone, and pretending he is 5 years older than he truly is.
So, between Saturday and Sunday... we in fact, DID find a way for me to bring a puppy home! Since I was flying Southwest, as was a good friend of mine from Long Island who was there as well... we had hit a brick wall. They did not allow animals on the planes, as carry on, OR as transport.. however... a girl from New Jersey was flying American Airlines, and they WOULD allow her to carry on the puppy! And there it began... Tuesday my husband and I drove to New Jersey and picked up our newest addition. So far we are calling her Willow. My husband actually thought of the name... and she is an adorable husky mix, with one blue eye and one brown! And she already runs the house!!!
As far as the rest of the weekend... it was truly amazing, and eye opening! On Sunday night I stayed in a hotel in Clayton because the Intensive actually ends on Sunday, but I could not get a late enough flight... so I went to a hotel. That, was a really great nights sleep. I actually pulled up the sheets and read what type of mattress it was - and it is officially on my wish list. The bed was just THAT comfortable! On the WAY to the hotel, we stopped at a place called Maramec Springs. (I took a lot of pictures there!) And the waterfalls and the scenery was just amazing.
That area, all of it... the Grove and the weekend intensive, it is something I am really looking forward to doing and visiting again. And I love the area. I know I would never want to live there... it is just a bit too far out of the way of everything for me... but for a place to visit - I truly do love it.
Below, are loads and loads of pictures I took all weekend... they are not captioned, if you want to know more, click on them. And as always, you can find many, many more on my main buzznet page!
03.30.2006
3:39 p.m.
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