It’s hard to believe that we’ve been at Sahalee full-time for just 90 days. It seems so natural, like we’ve been here our whole lives. Our 16 years in Florida now seem very much like a sweet tropical dream- Just a little blip on our personal time travel continuum.

We met in 1995, aka The Summer of Love, while working as fresh-faced high school grads in seasonal temp jobs at Lake Powell. Ben filled up yachts and schmoozed their owners at the fuel dock while I showed people the ropes and shoved them off on their rented houseboats. We’d giggle aboard the ferry-floating bookmobile reading Dave Barry, and we’d venture out to scramble up the rocks with Moki holes on our days off when we weren’t tying party barges together for the broadcast Spring Break festivities. Those 3 weeks were just the beginning…

New Mexico quickly stole our hearts as we  left the lake to camp in the Carson for the rest of the summer. (Our parents were quite shocked and confused when we notified them of the change in plans several weeks later.) We worked at the local inns with diners so we could score some hearty meals and hot showers in exchange for cleaning rooms after cooking and serving breakfast.

Sweet little Corona found us outside the Smith’s on Ben’s birthday after being rescued from death row. Fuzzy pup Sierra came shortly thereafter when our neighbor introduced us. Our family was young, proud, and restless, and many years of story followed.

Today, we let the Grrrls run free back at their home home in the NM hills, and we celebrate the start to our next 20 years here with Radar at Sahalee.