I'm plumb tuckered out!
I got to go with Mike for a few days to Spokane to find us a place to live. He had Monday off, but had to work Tues and Wed. The plan was to drive home Wed/Thursday to drive back up with the moving Truck, Sat/Sun for work on Mon. That was the plan....see later post.
We left Sunday and dropped Isabelle of at Mike's mom's. My idea of a 2 year old for an 11 hour drive, hotel room, and house hunting didn't sound fun. Thank goodness for grandmas! We had to tote Michael along. He did awesome for the drive up. We came the Coeur D'Alene way. We discovered for this drive, even if you don't think you need gas, potty, or food in Idaho Falls....YOU DO! There is NOTHING until Missoula other than teeny little places that you leave behind a leg or an arm for a tank of gas and some food. It's a good few hours of nothing but beautiful scenery. The drive up was gorgeous. It didn't feel as long as it really was. We made it to Spokane and got lost a gazillion times just trying to find the hotel. We got settled in our hotel and went to buy a GPS. That thing saved our lives for house hunting. It was awesome! Not to mention there are LOTS of one way streets and even more streets that look like major roads only to end in nowhere. That night we drove to the temple.
I only had a few stipulations for our house. The floor was clean enough for me to let Michael crawl around and the yard/street was safe/quiet enough for Isabelle to play. I'd also like to not feel like I'm going to get shot or mugged in my neighborhood. Well the first few places we saw maybe only hit 1 of the 3.
My favorite one...We're standing in the living room of a house and looking out the back window. The lady showing us the house said, "I do have to tell you that is the prison you're looking at. Some lady got really mad when I didn't tell her that. It's only a minimum security place, so they aren't that bad. They also do trash pick-up around here, but they're always in their orange jumpsuits and easy to spot." We're looking at an empty field and then a prison. Nothing behind this backyard and a prison except a wheat field? Thanks, but no thanks. Unfortunately, that place had new carpet. :(
By lunchtime, I had to drop Mike off for a lunch meeting and went back to the hotel for Michael to take a nap. I was so bummed and sure we were moving to a hole! After Mike's meeting, he got some input on where to look and that helped alot. We found lots of areas we liked, but nothing for rent. Along the way we met THE Gonzaga bulldog mascot. She was really cute, and I don't normally say that about bulldogs. We found a few places I was sure we were going to get some sort of disease just from setting foot in the house, and the million dollar homes. It was an adventure.
The guy Mike is replacing suggested we come look at his duplex. It fit all the requirements!!!!!! Tuesday night, we were calling his landlord and were able to sign a lease Wednesday morning.
Michael did great on the entire trip of being in the car for 3 days, until our drive home. He finally decided he was done, unfortunately it was 5 hours from home. He gave in and slept the last 3 1/2. Needless to say, it was a very LONG hour and a half!
We lived to tell about it and had lots of adventures in those few short days.
At a gas station: YEAH! I'm out of my carseat!!!!!!
