All things considered, November was a crazy month. We moved into a new apartment, furnished it in about two days, stocked up on food and then began quarantining so that we could spend Thanksgiving with family!

Our first stop was to get our truck out of storage. We thought about swapping out the bus, but we still needed to empty it out, and possibly sleep in it again!

We signed our lease and then promptly went to Costco to buy a mattress. They didn’t have any mattresses we liked so we got loads of groceries instead – we’re building our pantry from almost nothing! After groceries were unloaded, we had to find somewhere else to buy a mattress. The alternative was sleeping in the bus in the driveway. It was dark by the time we got home, but we managed to find something.

The following day, we left early and headed to Ikea. Maybe some day soon we will have a day that doesn’t include hours of driving. We bought some critical things and some frivolous things. I know you’ll laugh at this, but we bought the first bed we’ve ever owned! Prior to this, we’ve always put the box spring right on the ground. Like the ruffians we are.

With the basics taken care of, we spent a day thrifting to pick up the rest of our furniture. Remember, we’re starting with NOTHING! We went to about 15 thrift stores, and met with some decent success. The only thing we didn’t get was a vacuum, but my brother texted and told me they had an extra if we wanted it!

COVID cases were on a steep incline as we were out and about running these errands, so while I would normally take my time and enjoy thrifting for those perfect finds, we were happy to be done shopping. We officially started a self-isolation period so that we could safely hang out with family on Thanksgiving.

We still had plenty to do, of course. After eating simple, prepackaged meals while living in the bus, we rebounded with some elaborate, delicious dishes. And I got REALLY good at assembling Ikea furniture.

To combat isolation boredom, we drove out to the coast to hike in some sand dunes. We found a great little park!

Since the waves were really bouncing on the coast, we drove to the nearest lighthouse to watch the show! It was fantastic, even though I promptly got caught by a wave coming over the breakwater and soaked both feet.

It had been a pretty full day already, but we had one more park to explore. I wanted to see the suspension bridge at Grand River Ravines!

While hiking there, we came across a snake! I thought these guys would all be in hibernation by now.

Kyle has been making more progress towards his running goals, getting up early in the morning regardless of the weather! He took a photo of this sunrise, and he wasn’t the only one: we were checking out online forums for this area and it seemed like everyone posted a photo of this sunrise!

Kyle usually comes home and tells me about the new areas he explored while running, which of course makes me jealous, so we’ve also been walking around. One day we accidentally found ourselves in one of the most scenic neighborhoods, it overlooks the city of Grand Rapids!

I’ve been dreading snow, but when the first snowfall came down it was beautiful. Giant balls of snowflakes softly falling everywhere. We tried to get out and enjoy it, but our wardrobes still need a little more work in order to handle these temps!

We spent Thanksgiving with my brother and sister-in-law. It was a wonderful, lazy day. Of course, we couldn’t miss that after-dinner walk (as is tradition in my family) and they live right next to one of the biggest parks in the city!

As the landscape becomes browner and the weather gets grayer, I’m struggling with how I’m going to handle this winter. Without being to freely socialize, and without a little retail therapy, it’s going to be a struggle. Almost everyone I’ve talked to in this area expresses the same sentiments. I really want to do more thrifting, we don’t truly need anything at this point, but there are some things that would really improve our quality of life.

However, instead of doing any shopping on Black Friday, we headed downtown to explore more of the parks. Fish Ladder park is off the beaten path, but as with everything we’ve explored lately, I’m sure it’s much prettier in the summer!

Despite the weather, the river was full of fishermen!

We also found a brightly colored bridge that was very photogenic!

So that was November. I think we’ve set a pretty good precedent for getting out of the house without risking virus exposure, but we’re both really rooting for this vaccine!