For some reason I have grown up with the idea that money (or lack thereof) shouldn't be a barrier when making decisions. First you come up with your dreams, then you figure out how to make them happen. Back in November I started thinking about how fun it would be to spend a month in Minnesota in the winter. Yes, sounds a bit nuts I know. But Declan loves snow, I love all of the archives and antique stores out here, and we all love being close to Brian's family. The trick was that all of the expenses really add up: a place to stay for a month, car rental, airplane tickets, dog sitter back home.So I came up with the slightly crazy idea to swap houses and sent out a tweet to find interest. And believe it or not it actually worked. Through a friend-of-a-friend we're staying at a lovely house near Lake Nokomis in Minneapolis, borrowing their car, and taking care of their cats while the other family and their two young daughters stay at our house in Portland and take great care of our dog. We even had two free airplane tickets from miles, so the expenses have been minimal. And we're having a blast.
Apparently I'm not the only one who's ever had this idea. The Oregonian recently ran a couple of stories about house swapping (with slightly more exotic locales like Denmark and the Caribbean). Of course I'm already planning the next getaway. I'm sure someone in Hawaii will want to swap houses, right?
Posts
4 comments:
Three cheers for resourcefulness and ingenuity!! Huzzah!
As soon as I have a swappable house, I'm definitely trying this...
Personally, I can't imagine deliberately moving to Minnesota during the winter....but.....!!! Sounds like a great trade for you. Thanks for the freebie images! I already have several of your newest collage sheets.
in NE Oregon
Yes, you're not the first to wonder why in the world we'd go to MN in February. But we don't get much snow here and it was fun in part since we knew it was only a month.
Some young hockey players feel being in THE STATE OF HOCKEY to practice on pond ice is exotic. And his progress as a skater and stick handler gives him the momentum to possibly become the first USA hockey team member from Oregon.
Biased bumppa
Post a Comment