Abode Hunting

On Saturday we ventured to Vermont for a quick day trip.  It was a beautiful drive along rivers and through small mountain towns.  We were loving it.  Our goal: find a place to live.  We had a packed day with 6 different potential dwelling places on the agenda, starting in Manchester and then working our way down to Bennington. 

We checked out a few places, imagining where we would put certain furniture, where we would go grocery shopping, etc.  Thinking through the possibilities is always fun.  We found "our favorite" in Arlington.  A 2 bedroom duplex that has a back deck with woods as the backyard, new appliances, lots of closets, and a cozy fireplace.  We were sold.  

With three more places still on the docket we headed south, stopping at Jeremy's soon-to-be-office on the way to time the distance from "our favorite" (16 minutes! no stop lights, amazing views!).  As we were pulling away, we heard an awful screeching coming from our car.  It sounded like metal grinding on metal.  We checked to see if anything was dragging and tried to keep driving, but it was too terrible.   I seriously thought our engine was about to fall out of the car with the screeching. 

We pulled into someone's driveway to get off of the narrow road and popped the hood to have a look (although we weren't sure what we were looking at).  Jeremy got on the phone with AAA while I chatted with the homeowner and a neighbor that had heard our car.  They took a look and since they knew what to look for, the neighbor decided that it was brakes, definitely not the engine.  I told him, "You are full of good news!"  So they went on their way, while we waited for AAA, said a prayer, and I called the next appointments to tell them that we weren't going to be able to make it.  One woman was getting ready to come pick us up and give us a place to stay for the night.  (Isn't she the sweetest?)  I told her I think we had a place to stay if it came to that, but that I would keep her updated. 

The guy came and towed us to their little mechanic shop.  He told us all about the area after we told him what we were up to.  I kept thinking, "People here are so nice!"  They gave us suggestions of little diners to walk to and hang out while they worked on the car.  We ended up walking a little over a mile to see one of the places on our list.  While checking out the place, Jeremy missed a call from the mechanic and checked the voice mail as we started our trek back.  To our surprise, the car was all set and it didn't cost a thing.  A little pebble got stuck in the front passenger side brake.  See below:

Needless to say, we were amazed that such a little thing could cause so much trouble.  Don't worry, we said some prayers of gratitude! We walked back with an extra spring our step, excited about our future in these lovely Green Mountains that seemed to be filled with angels that day.  We picked up our car and promised to write glowing reviews online after the shop refused all forms of cash payment.  I will forever be their customers.

We rescheduled to see one more place, although we knew it wouldn't be the winner (no washer/dryer hook ups).  But the sweet lady had offered to come pick us up in the midst of our car trouble, so I figured we should at least meet her.  It went about as we expected, so we officially crossed it off of the list.  At this point, we were starving and found a local pizza place that had delicious gluten free pizza.  See the Hawaiian below (so delicious!!).  Pizza has become my favorite these days!

We chatted about all the possibilities and narrowed it down to our top two of the places we had seen, eventually deciding to pursue "our favorite."  So our application is on its way and we are pretty positive we are the first to get it in.  Hopefully, it will be finalized within the next week.  We almost have a place to live. The next time we go to Vermont... will be when we move there in June!  :)