Agassiz Wildlife Refuge

The search for housing has taken us far and wide in the past few weeks, and our travels have increased as we have expanded our net each week.  This weekend we drove out to Thief River Falls - the house did not work out. After eating at Buca's Pizzeria and strolling through their Saturday market we decided to just keep putting more miles on the hatchback and headed up to explore Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge.

It was really beautiful. But the weather Saturday was incredibly blustery. I know that Calhoun is not super thrilled with being back in the Red River Valley, but to me all of the views are new and beautiful, even blustery Saturday afternoons over flat marshlands.

Then we saw the coolest thing I have ever seen out of a car window. When we were eastbound on River Road/Reservation Highway 19, just west of the Beltrami County border, WE SAW A BLACKBEAR. He was strolling across the highway and took off when he saw us coming. We stopped the car to see if we could see him and we could tell that he was sitting just a few yards off the highway by the way the trees and bushed wiggled, just waiting for us to go by so he could cross the highway on the game trail again. It was so cool, I've never seen a blackbear in the wild before, it would be fun to see one again but hopefully always from the safety of the trusty hatchback - that little car has seen so many adventures. 

Not the Move I Imagined

We moved our things out of the house in Windom. Despite our best efforts, after hours of driving we moved them in to the in-laws storage shed and Grandma's garage.

To put it mildly, the rental market here in the Crookston area is dismal. D-I-S-M-A-L. I have put off writing this post in the hopes that we would find something, that one of my many leads would come through and I would be writing this post from the kitchen in my own house. Alas, I am not. I am writing from the dining room table of the in-laws.

But, I am so thankful.

I am thankful to have in-laws that have let me stay with them for more than six weeks.
I am thankful that they have let Sogn come to the house.
I am thankful that we have a safe place to store our things.
I am thankful that we have people looking for us, helping us as we make this incredibly difficult transition.
I am thankful to have a job that I love going to every day.
I am thankful that my job is an amazing attorney job in an unforgiving market.
I am thankful to have found incredible co-workers who have already found ways to encourage, challenged and support me.
I am thankful that Calhoun has moved back to the Red River Valley with me, and that he's cooking a great pheasant stew while I type.

The past few weeks have been incredible in so many ways.