Weekend Road Trip

This past weekend we drove to West Virginia to check out the area of a potential job location. The job sounds like it would be a great fit and way more stable than what Mr M currently does, but we wanted to make sure we liked the area before we moved forward with the job hunt. If we hated the area, it would be time to look for other job options.

We tried to time the trip with peak fall foliage, and we were partially successful. Some trees had lost all their leaves already, some were beautiful technicolor, and some were still green.  We thought this overlook was quite scenic.

While we were driving around, we randomly found this really cool park. Ocean needed to eat, so Mr M took the older two to stretch their legs while Ocean hung out with me.

Mr M was way too tall for the zip line, and even Sunshine was a bit too tall for it. It did spark her imagination though and now she thinks we need a super-elaborate zip line for the tree house.

River didn't want to hold still for the camera, so I "helped" him.

Sunshine has no such issues and had fun hamming it up for the camera. I think she was pretending to be scared of a dragon in the photo above.

This is just the front side of the play structure- there was a lot more on the backside. Isn't it so cool? The sad thing is, we were the only ones there. It was a little chilly, but we thought there'd be at least some kids there on a Saturday afternoon.

We went to the local ward Sunday morning, and we've never been welcomed to a ward by so many people. It's a small ward and they were very excited at the prospect of a new family. We've lived in a small ward, so we totally understand :) They were disappointed that we were just visiting, but hopeful that we'd return.

Will we return?

Probably- as long as we can find a job. The job we want was available 6 months ago, but the application website wasn't working. So we know the job we want exists, we just have to wait for the right timing, which apparently isn't right now. Hopefully in the next year or two, though.

The area is beautiful, though parts are more hilly than our current location, which brings an extra element of adventure when driving on narrow, twisty roads. And there's definitely neighborhoods that haven't seen an influx of money in a really long time. There are also some nicer areas, so it's not all crumbling abandoned houses and derelict single wides (seriously- so. many. single wides). The lure of affordable acreage with a nice mix of pasture and trees and the possibility of building our dream log cabin has us excited for what the future could bring.

In the meantime, we'll focus on getting out of debt and fixing up the kitchen and master bath- the last major projects in the house.

Edited to add (because I forgot to mention this): We haven't taken too many road trips lately, and none since Ocean was born. We have a longer road trip coming up in December when we head west for my brother's wedding, so this was a good opportunity to see how things work on a smaller scale. Three kiddos in the backseat of a Camry Hybrid is a very different experience from one kiddo in the backseat of a Chevy Avalanche pulling a travel trailer. Not as comfortable, but the mileage was soooo much better.