Why did you choose to do this and do you like what you do?
These are two questions that come up quite often. Many feel that this is their dream and are curious about how we like it now that we have made the jump from dream to reality.
In short, we love it! That being said, it is a lot of work! There are pros and cons to every career. We are very blessed to be able to do what we have chosen to do. And the pros far outweigh the cons. I will begin with those things that make the “job” most difficult.
- Instead of one home to maintain, we have twelve. Twelve to paint, furnish, repair plumbing & electrical, etc. You get the idea.
- We are tied to the property 24/7 for at least six months out of the year with no days off. Maybe a dinner out, but no days off. If we need to be sick, it has to be planned for “off season”.
- You may be thinking; “Wow, this should be a pro, only working six months of the year!” However, it is in the other seven months that all the maintenance, updates, renovations, and major repairs take place. From new tile to paint, from roofing to replacement of water heaters/furnace, etc.
- Yard work, landscaping, outside maintenance, etc. are continuous on the property. And don’t forget removing up to 300 inches of snow each winter!
- We just can’t please all of the people all of the time.
The benefits:
- We meet the coolest people!
- We see people at their best – Vacation! Most are very friendly, very happy to be away from home, very happy to have found this little slice of heaven that we discovered many years ago, very appreciative of all the work that goes into running the property and very happy to be watching the sunset over Lake Superior. (If you have not yet seen the sun set over Lake Superior at the Porcupine Mountains, you will be awed when you make your trip to the U.P.)
- We are our own boss, sort of. It is always are guests that we aim to please, but we do get to make all the final decisions (ok, this could be a con alsoJ)
- As I mentioned in an earlier writing, we used to vacation at Mountain View Lodges. Now we live where we vacationed, one of the most beautiful parts of the country in all four seasons! Three miles from the ski hill, one mile from the entrance to the Porkies, and we are surrounded by the Ottawa National Forest.
- We are blessed to live in a true wilderness area where the trees and wildlife far outnumber the people. No smog or pollution, including light pollution. Our skies are black and our stars are bright. We even bear witness to the Northern Lights.
- We live on Lake Superior!
- We have had the opportunity to visit many beautiful locations, learn the good and the bad from other lodging properties and spend some time really living in our off season. If you would like to read more about our trips, you can visit: http://varechatravels.blogspot.com and http://2011traveladventures.blogspot.com.
- We homeschool our youngest daughter, Karsten, who is now 15. Our lifestyle has enabled our family to travel together to see many parts of our beautiful country while enriching her education.
So, do we like what we do? YES! Why do we do it? We love meeting everyone that chooses to stay at Mountain View Lodges and we enjoy being out of the rat race.