Middle of NOWHERE

I just got back from a wonderful trip to the middle of nowhere...aka Southeastern Utah.  My husband and I stayed in a bed and breakfast that is pictured below.  It is the tiny white rectangle near the bottom on the left.  It was...oh gosh, I don't even really have a great word for it.  Simple?  Beautiful?  Serene?  Relaxing? Refreshing?  Tranquil?  All of the above.  We had such a great time getting away from traffic, job, kiddo, house work, weeding (even though we love and are a bit obsessed with the yard), worries, and the world, really.  It felt like we transported ourselves back in time.  Funny to think of it that way because we were right next to Monument Valley which could be where some of Back to the Future was filmed...

This awesomeness of a bed and breakfast is totally off the grid.  For those of you who aren't hippies and/or don't have a husband who is in the business of being green :) that means this place isn't hooked up to the electricity or gas lines in the area...it is run completely off solar and wind power (I didn't know what "off the grid" meant until my husband got into this stuff a few years ago.  Maybe you are smarter than I was).  We got the behind the scenes tour because we are nerds.  It was super cool.  The couple who owns it has lived there for 18 years.  They run their truck off used vegetable oil from the restaurant fryers in a nearby town.  And we thought WE were hippies!

Here are a few more pictures, just so you can get the idea of how beautiful and calm and relaxing it was.  Yes, I'm a little homesick for it...

You would NEVER guess it was off the grid if you weren't told beforehand (and if you ignored the huge array of solar panels in the back).  It reminded me of something I read a few months ago by Tammy Strobel - "Simplicity isn't about austerity.  It's a revolution in personal growth." 

Also, by Joan Winmill Brown, "I would sooner live in a cottage and wonder at everything than live in a castle and wonder at nothing!"

I had to look up austerity when I read that first quote.  It is defined as "extreme plainness and simplicity of style or appearance."  This place and the people who run it are evidence to me that first of all, simplicity absolutely doesn't have to equal austerity, and second, living your own authentic life is the coolest thing anyone can ever do.  I envied the satisfaction they so obviously get living this lifestyle of quiet solitude.  Living within their means, sitting on the porch watching the sunrise, mingling with guests from around the world.  So cool.  And so inspiring.

"We are happy in proportion to things we can do without."

-Henry David Thoreau