After three weeks of being on the road, Hunter and I are very excited to have finally made it to our final destination for the next couple of months. Until March, we will be hanging out in Sandy, OR, and working at Mt. Hood SkiBowl. I got a job as a ski patroller, and Hunter will be working as a snowboard instructor. We are very excited to be in the Pacific Northwest for the winter, and am hopeful we get a great season here.

Before I get too excited about where we’re going to be for the next couple months, I should talk about the rest of our trip. About a week ago we were in Utah, where we got to catch up with a bunch of friends. We hosted two of my friends from High School, Jack and Nick, in the camper for dinner. I made Shepard’s pie, which was much easier than most would think, and may warrant a recipe on the camper cooking page. It was the first time hosting in the camper, and with just a little moving of things onto the bed the camper comfortably can sit four for dinner! More than that might be pushing it.

The next day we took care of some housekeeping things, as we knew where to do everything from my few months in Utah last year. Maverick in South Salt Lake has a great, free dump station with free water. We stopped into the restaurant I used to work at, got some computer work done, and got to catch up with one of the owners and one of my old coworkers. For dinner, we headed to another friend Jack’s house, where he cooked something delicious as always. We met him during our EMT class. A lot of us have stayed friends after class, which makes it very nice to see them everywhere around the country.

Lastly, we stopped in Montana. Hunter was very excited to get the rest of his things and be able to pack them into the camper! We took care of some other housekeeping things, enjoyed the snow, and also enjoyed being in a house for a few days. We cooked Thanksgiving dinner for just the two of us, which was very yummy, and would have been my favorite meal of the year if I didn’t already get to enjoy my mom’s Thanksgiving dinner earlier this month. Spent almost every evening in the hot tub, watched some movies, and overall just enjoyed the few days we had there, even though they were busy with packing, organizing, and getting things together.

After hopping around from Walmart parking lot to street parking last winter, I did not want to do that again. Hunter and I found a work-stay on the same program we found our work-stay in Hawaii, Worldpackers. We are staying on someone’s property in exchange for 10 hours of work a week. Most of it is pulling Holly, which is invasive here, and clearing downed wood in their old growth forest. This house and property is absolutely gorgeous, and we are extremely happy to be here.

We have dropped the camper in a clearing of their mossy, huge forest. We get to shower in the house, have dinner with them once a week, and do our laundry as well. We have been enjoying the amenities of the property by taking Sunny on a walk on the trails every morning (something he needs a little work with again), having bonfires in their beautiful fire pit, and just enjoying not having to move the camper every time we leave. This property is more than we could have hoped for, and the people we are staying with are so nice it makes it hard to feel like we’re not taking advantage only working 10 hours a week.

Work-stay programs have definitely become something we look forward to now. We enjoy meeting the hosts, the other work-stayers that are there at the same time, learning more about farming and owning different types of property, and just working outside. Having somewhere to call home while having the camper is very nice as well.

We are (not so) patiently just waiting for more snow for the resort to open, and excited for the season to start. Being in the Pacific Northwest has been a dream of mine for a while now, and I am really excited to see it finally coming true. There is a lot to look forward to this season, and we are excited to be at our destination for the next couple of months!

We Made it West!

Week 1 at Marmot House

We’re Still on the Road!