A weekend without running water

Ever had to survive a weekend without running water? Ever tried it with 3 families (20 people) in one house for 3 days? I don't recommend it unless you really, really love those people. Luckily...I do.

In mid-April we had our annual Friends' Reunion at Bear Lake. Our numbers were smaller than they've been in years past, but we still enjoyed spending quality time with those who could make it.

Now to the water issue. Apparently a pipe had burst or something and the city was digging up the road in front of the house and they just left it for the weekend, assuming no one would be up at the house (a fair assumption, since Bear Lake in the off-season is pretty deserted). But we all arrived Friday evening and were shocked to find that there was no running water in the house. Now the thought did cross my mind to turn around and go home, but we had just driven 3 1/2 hours and we had lots of great food and fun planned for the weekend. How could we call it quits?

You might be asking -- how did we survive? Well there was a good size pile of snow on the north side of the house. We started melting that down on the stove. We used that water for washing hands, dishes, and filling up toilet tanks so that they could still be flushed. Yes, we did still use the toilets, sparingly, but they were available for those who didn't enjoy using "the great outdoors." But with 20 people, we went through our snow pile pretty quick. Luckily, we found a water spigot in town at the Post Office. We made a couple runs a day filling up ice chests with this water to use for our hygiene and sanitation needs. We bought bottled water for drinking.

It was a little inconvenient, but like most trials, it seems to bring you even closer together as you weather the storm and tackle the challenges together. Speaking of storms, we experienced some pretty weird weather -- off and on rain and snow most of the weekend. Luckily we had a break in the clouds and we did manage to get a few hours of sunshine on Saturday so we could go to the park.  Despite all the bumps in the road, we still had a wonderful time catching up and just hanging out with dear friends.

Sadly, I only pulled out my camera as we were all saying goodbye on the porch and I didn't catch even half of the people. So these are the only pictures we have to commemorate our most memorable Bear Lake Weekend ever.

There is nothing like good times with great friends!!!