Thursday, September 27, 2012

Sandpoint farmers' market

I could tell you how smooth our border crossing to the States went (a bit stressful when you are 30-something with 3 kids and try to explain to the good agent - who sharply told you to turn off your engine since it was not McDonald's here! - that you are a translator - a what? - who works from anywhere and who has clients in Quebec and Ontario, but crosses the border in Washington and plan on spending the winter in the States...) or how cool Sandpoint (Idaho) is and how we loved its farmers' market. Or I could just show you the pictures from the market and you would think that we have to coolest life in the world (we do, by the way)... But the truth is, I feel like crap right now. The truth is, traveling and working can be stressful at times and stress does not get the best out of me...

We had found a nice state park to camp for a couple of nights (Farragut), but even if the map from our newly acquired 4G Mobile Hotspot said there was connexion, well, there wasn't. So we kept going and went to Sandpoint, found that great farmers' market and asked at the tourist info where we could camp. There was only one little campground out of town and we headed that way. It was gorgeous, empty and just by the lake. I had told the girls we would make dinner on the fire tonight. We got the trailer leveled and found out we had a suspension leaf broken, then realised there was no connexion there either... and we both had rushed contracts for the next morning...

The girls had started to build a fairy house and getting back in the truck, forgetting about the fairy garden, the food cooking over the fire and the beautiful sunset just about to happen was NOT going to be easy... Anyways, from then on, it wasn't pretty... The idea of having to stay in a Walmart parking lot, again, did not please any of us, but we needed to work. And we needed to go. NOW.

Right now, as the 10th train of the evening rolls by, loudly, my heart is heavy with the lack of empathy I showed my girls and JF because I was so engrossed in my own stress about getting my work done, my own disappointment and frustration.

So there you have it, life is not always the photos you see on the blog, it is just a glimpse...

We all are a work in progress.

Désolée mes lecteurs francophones, je n'ai pas la force de traduire ce soir...



5 comments:

Francesca said...

Are you sure you're in Sandpoint, Idaho? And nobody is wearing a sweater?? I've spent many summers at hubby's family cabin near Spirit Lake (FYI there's an internet bar there), and Farragut was a regular venue for picnics. But my fondest memories are of the wonderful wild salmon that's available there in August! :)
About Internet, I didn't understand how you connect. Are you not traveling with a USB internet stick? BTW, this is a great place to get international SMS cards for data (and phone): http://www.telestial.com/
Hope you got your work done!

clemferrat said...

J'espère que la nuit a été bonne et apaisante...pour notre passage de frontière nous n'avons même pas eu le temps d'éteindre le moteur...direct à la fouille complète (rien à faire du bébé qui dort à l'arrière)...et je peux te dire que nous devions être les plus vieux à se faire fouiller...je n'y ai pas vu de retraités avec leurs gros bus...(désolée mais c'est vrai !!)...Nous avons aussi eu de bons moments de stress et d'énervements (pour ne pas dire d'engueulades...) à chercher le bon campement et à se retrouver dans un truc au final un peu glauque...

Catherine said...

Francesca, I know! We're so lucky it is warm like that! I sure was not expecting it! It's so funny that you know this area! It is really lovely!
Thanks for the info on the SMS cards. We will look into that. We need something that works well outside of the big city. We bought a Mobile Hotspot, but it does not cover this area very well. We are going to exchange it this morning...

Clem, je te jure que les douanes, c'est pas de tout repos... Mes filles se souviennent encore de la fois ou nous avions pratiquement été traité comme des criminels (JF et moi séparés, filles dans l'isoloir), car ils avaient trouvé... des mangues! Je te jure...

Oui, la vie de voyage, c'est pas le stress du 9 à 5, mais c'est sans contredit une autre forme de stress!

Joanna said...

toutes mes pensées sont avec vous ma chère...
courage courage courage...
moi aussi j'ai une clé USB qui se ploge après mon ordi portable et ca marche même en abitibi au fin fond du trou du cul du monde...
bizarre qu'aux états unis ca marche juste à côté des wall mart...
j'espère que tu as pu finir ton travail et que tt va mieux mtn...
tu sais, tu es humaine et tes filles pourront s'accepter avec des défauts d'imparfaite humaines si elles voient que toi aussi parfois tu n'est pas miss perfect et que tu petes un plomb. c est correct.
don't worry.
elles pourront faire des maisons de fées et des feux dans un des milliers d'autres merveilleux spots que vous aurez la chance de croiser en voyage.
RELAX, tout va bien!

gros gros becs
jo

Nathaly said...

Très belles photos !!!