Ramping...rustic camping in the Outfitters

Several events led to the Olson family living in the deserted Border Lakes Outfitters building. First of all, we purchased the 1.5 acres in Winton on May 8th. Then we closed on our house in Prairie Farm on May 26, which left us essentially homeless for a few weeks. Mark started work on June 1, so he headed up to Winton to camp out in the old Outfitters building. Thankfully, we have amazing friends who offered to let the kids and I stay with them until the end of the school year. Then we all moved up to live in the old Outfitters.

You may have heard of "glamping" which is glamorous camping. Well, as the photos and video show, this was more rustic camping.

One end of our apartment we created within the large building, otherwise known as the horse barn. Apparently the building was built in 1890 as a horse barn for the logging operation located in Winton. Later, it was remodeled into an outfitting business that was at some point in time owned partially by Sigurd Olson.

We are working to find a way to preserve this historic sign that has been here since 1929 when Sigurd formed a partnership with Walter Hansen, shown here in front of the building.

 View of the other end of the sleeping apartment in the building. This window looks out over the lake. We went to sleep to the sound of the loons calling, and woke to still and misty mornings. It was cold in early June, and when it rained the window leaked.

 This photo shows the fake wood paneling covering the old wood paneling that previously covered the wall. We plan to reuse as much material as we can from the building.

This shows the apartment from the outside.

Fiona enjoyed her time living in the "horse barn". She also really enjoyed the bike chariot that we got for her so she can go wherever we go!

This video was shot on June 13th, and shows a bit more of the property. Fiona is quite vocal in the background, and I am optimistic at that time that we would be moving into a different house by July 1st, which did not happen as planned but I will explain more about that in the next post.