I've always been a dog person. Flashback to the last day of 7th grade - while most of my friends were off celebrating the start of summer, I sat on the floor in my bedroom with Beanie Baby dog wallpaper cutting up old calendars and magazines to make the ultimate dog collage. Until recently, I had been dogless for the last 5 years after the passing of my beloved (misbehaved) Misty. Thankfully, Johnny's family has graciously shared their boxers with me over the years and we both knew shortly after we married and settled into our first home, we'd start the hunt for a dog of our very own. Enter my obsession with Petfinder. I searched for dogs near and far, by breed and size and completely at random too. We were both somewhat set on a "scruffy" dog and after almost adopting a beautiful Airedale terrier on a spontaneous trip to Sedona (we decided she was just too big for our apartment and happily she was adopted by another family shortly after) we found a schnauzer mix on Petfinder located in Scottsdale. At the same rescue (The Pet Knot - a rescue that connects and combines three wonderful rescues - E-List Dog Rescue, Lulubelle Animal Rescue, and Paw Promise Animal Rescue) we found another scruffy pup named Milford. I emailed the rescue expressing interest in both dogs and they invited us to come meet the one dog, Milford, a Scottish terrier-something-or-other mix, at their adoption event that weekend. We happily obliged and drove down the mountain bright and early on a Saturday morning. We arrived a few minutes early and I remember nervously pacing the Petsmart where the adoption event was held and sneaking a peek every few seconds to see if I could spot Milford. When we finally built up the courage to go over and introduce ourselves, we met Milford's wonderful foster mommy who told us about how sweet and snuggly and goofy he was despite having come from an abusive situation and several homes over the last few months. We could tell instantaneously that he was quite taken by his foster mom but she graciously left us alone with him in a private room so we could have the chance to get to know him. With our hearts racing, we asked each other if this was really it and both agreed - Milford would be coming home with us! Adopting a dog is not easy. Sure, the very day we took Winslow, formerly Milford, home, he spent the evening snuggling with us and he's just so darn cute! But we quickly realized the effects of his rough background and that he had some separation anxiety. We had baby gated him in our kitchen with our new, $10 Wal-Mart baby gate the day after we brought him home and before we even made it out the door, his tiny little legs had easily cleared the vertical jump. Contained in our bedroom, he destroyed our blinds and knocked down our fan so that he could watch out the window for us. We adapted quickly (i.e. extra tall baby gate) and better doggy proofed our apartment but despite leaving a treat-filled Kong and other toys, we would come home to a slobbery, upset doggy.
We've learned a lot about him and being dog parents in the last two and a half months, and I'm happy to say that Winslow has come leaps and bounds! Despite some hesitation (due to his initial hatred) we've worked on crate training and he's come to love his Kong and bones we give him while we're away. We're still learning how to be better for him every day but every second has been worth it! There is nothing better than coming home at the end of a long day to his happy cries and snuggles (he's seriously the best snuggler). I would adopt again a million times over and we plan to do so with our future furry family members (say that three times fast). Our experience has also inspired me to consider fostering (when we have more space and time and money). I have found few things so fulfilling in this life as providing a "furever" home to the most deserving doggy out there. We love you so much wittle Winswo!
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Yes. Those quotation marks around the word "lake" are intentional. Haven't read our "About Us" yet? Spoiler alert - I'm a self-proclaimed "lake snob." That's right, I grew up in the state of 10,000 lakes and I'll admit, I find it somewhat irritating that Arizona considers any puddle that hangs around longer than a couple weeks a lake. Maybe someday I'll get over it but right now I'm still "recently relocated" and a Minnesota girl at heart. One of the first places around Flagstaff we stumbled upon was Marshall "Lake" (okay - last time I use the quotation marks - I promise!). We were actually headed to another lake, Lake Mary (of which there are two - Upper and Lower) but saw a sign for Marshall Lake and decided to take the road less traveled. Really though, the road is a dirt path littered in potholes and cattle grates. Despite the inconvenient access, the destination is worth it. Before we moved, my parents gave us their gently used tent they hadn't used in years. Despite being packed away in our garage for 10+ years, we discovered it was in near perfect condition as we set it up in our living room the night before our camping trip. We had planned to camp at another dispersed camping location (i.e. primitive free camping) but found the designated spots were full when we headed out after dark after Johnny was done with work so our backup plan was Marshall Lake and suited us just fine. We set up camp in the dark, made omelets in ziploc bags in Johnny's new JetBoil (in buffalo plaid of course), and called it a night. This was both Johnny and Winslow's (as far as we know) first time camping and Winslow found our air mattress much more comfortable than his dog bed that we had brought with (he's a little spoiled but I didn't mind the extra warmth at night). The next morning, we made some vanilla rooibos tea (in the Jetboil again) that we had picked up in Santa Fe (the most heavenly tea EVER) and took a walk around the lake. It was a successful first outing with our new gear and we plan on camping more in the future - the Grand Canyon and/or Lake Powell are next on our list!
I wanted to do something special and different this year for Johnny's 25th birthday, and boy was it... something. I'd had my eye on trying out Airbnb for awhile. If you haven't heard of Airbnb (crawl out of the hole you're living in? I mean...) it's a website that allows you to find unique lodging accommodations across the globe. This was going to be our first trip outside of Flagstaff and really our first trip together besides our mini-moon to Duluth, Minnesota (deserving of a future post so look forward to that!), so I wanted it to be memorable and I knew when I found Bill and Robyn's yurt, it would be just that and more! Johnny's been interested in alternative housing for awhile (tiny houses, container houses, airstreams, yurts, etc.) and I had been searching for travel destinations within 5 hours of Flagstaff but as soon as I saw the yurt, I knew that Santa Fe was where we'd be celebrating his quarter century over Labor Day weekend. We could not have had a better first Airbnb experience. Our hosts welcomed us into Santa Fe with some provisions (muffins, fruit, chips and salsa, and even a bottle of wine and birthday card to celebrate!) and the city itself was so much more incredible than we could have imagined. It felt like being back in Spain - the narrow cobblestone pathways, tapas bars, and live music floating through the air. We also found some time to soak in Santa Fe's art scene, check out the local ski hill, and even take some of our Airbnb hosts' llamas on a walk (seen above). I know our travels will take us back to Santa Fe someday and the first place I'll look to stay is certainly the yurt - compositing toilet and all!
Fall has always been my favorite. The start of football season (why is there even an off season!?). My birthday. Leaves to jump in. Crisp air filled with that distinct decaying organic matter smell. And those October sunsets - you know the ones, smeared with too much color that seem to have forgotten the summer sun has long since come and gone. But this year, my first year away from the Midwest, my fall obsession has reached new, unimaginable heights and it's all because of the aspen. This is Arizona. I have to keep reminding myself of this because this is not the Arizona I thought I knew. Every summer, my family and I visited my grandparents who had made Arizona their home when I was a toddler. Once swimming with my parents and playing Legos alone indoors wasn't fun any more, I grew to despise Arizona. So to say our decision to make Arizona our home was surprising would be the understatement of the year (especially given the fact that Oregon was our other option - but that's an entirely different story for another time). But the Arizona I knew is far from the Arizona I'm getting to know: Flagstaff. Situated at 7,000 ft., Flagstaff is a dream and I can think of few other places I'd want to start our lives together. And so far, fall at Lockett Meadow has been the highlight of our time here. In the last week, we've been 3 times, all the way up the one lane, un-guard railed gravel mountain path. The first time we visited, we caught the very last bit of indigo light as it sank into the crevices of the San Francisco peaks. We knew then, even with just the last bit of light illuminating a few golden treetops, that this place was special so we headed back bright and early the next morning and boy, was that first light, golden glow worth it. After the first two visits, I spent the whole work week contemplating when we would see the aspens next. Their towering, paper white trunks and golden crowns had me in a trance. And then Friday happened... a student, a freshman student that my office had served, in a moment of fury resorted to gun violence and thrust our tiny mountain town into the national spotlight. Work carried on as usual - I saw students, asked them about their weekend plans, and helped them select courses for next semester, but at the end of the day, I needed the aspen and the fresh snow covered peaks but mostly, I needed my tiny little family and some time in God's creation. No one ever expects anything like that to hit so close to home until it does. But it's fall - the time to let go of the old and make room for the new, white as snow future - and fall is exactly what this resilient, little town needs.
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