Luggage Has Arrived!

I created a Facebook page for the January 12 - 15, 2013 Marlboro Chill Off the Grid Winners - and have been reading, with plenty of excitement, about other travelers receiving their luggage.  

Despite my characteristic desire to be surprised with gifts and things, as soon as I found out about the trip, I started googling what "gifts" I would be receiving, so I knew it was VERY likely that we would get luggage.  The mystery, of course, was what that luggage would look like!

I was really surprised when the box arrived today at work, because the woman I spoke to at Marlboro had said it would be sent to my house.  It appears that our box has been through some times; it received a second set of tape at some point between Southaven, MS and here.  Don't tell my sister, but she's getting the bag that has a couple of little mud splotches on it.

When the box arrived, I was PRETTY sure it was the luggage, even though, as I said, I wasn't expecting it to come to me at work.  Because I win a lot of things (see my Incredibly Lucky 2012), I wasn't 100%.

Here is what arrived:

I'm impressed with my restraint - taking a picture before opening it!!

Inside the box was our luggage - two rolling "Vertex" Duffels, and two baseball caps.  

Sadly, I generally do NOT look very nice in hats, but, am totally excited about wearing this one when we're at the airport (specifically our Chicago to Bozeman flight, which will have a number of other travelers on it!!).

Here I am, rocking my hat (which, thankfully doesn't scream Marlboro - which would be okay, but not as classy looking):

Yes - that is a paisley shirt - that's how I roll

I'm not sure if I'll have time to blog anymore about my pre-trip excitement before it's actually Trip time!!!  We leave at 5:39 am on Saturday, and then arrive in Bozeman a little after 2:00 pm.  I can PROMISE that I will post PLENTY of pictures when I return!

To read all posts related to this win - go to my Marlboro Ranch Page!

Ticket Time!

I have been neglectful of the world wide everyone with my Marlboro Ranch Trip updates!!!

Back on Wednesday, January 2nd, I received our Airline tickets, in addition to information on what we need to bring, a $25 Visa card for myself, and for my sister, for us to check our luggage (which you can read all about in my next post).

Our Information was in these cool little folders

The letter was filled with great info on what to bring, as well as contact info for the ranch.  In the ticket folders are little handouts for folks back home - emergency contact info for us at the Ranch.

The most FUN thing (yes, I know, the plane tickets are super fun, and definitely added an element of reality to this dreamlike vacation) was the "Activity Confirmation." If you read my post "Paperwork II: The Fun Stuff" then you saw the form we got to fill out rating our preference for different activity choices.  The Activity Confirmation has our schedule of activities for days 2 & 3 of our trip!  Check it out!

I used my incredible office skills to remove our last names

I'm beyond thrilled at the Zip Line Adventure, and the Dog Sledding.  I am really interested in the Archery Adventure, and I'm actually kind of glad we got wait listed for the snowmobile; I was nervous that the posture you maintain on a snowmobile might not be beneficial for someone who had spinal surgery less than six months ago.  

All in all - this is, as usual, a total win!! 

Luggage arrived today, but I decided to make that a separate post!

To read all posts related to this win - go to my Marlboro Ranch Page!

Paperwork II - The Fun Stuff

Did you hear that?

I suspect folks all across the nation heard the squeal that I just let out!  It's wild, I just got the confirmation phone call, with my dates, and the FedEx guy delivered the second set of paperwork this morning!!!

This is the fun stuff - we get to give our sizes for hat/clothing (they provided a handy-dandy hat sizer, as I suspect I'm not the only person who has never thought about her hat size beyond infant-youth-adult. I'm not, am I?), and pick out our activities!!!

I'm going to scan all the paperwork that came, but thought I could give you a summary!

We get to rate our interest level in different activities:

• Archery Adventure - My one experience with this proved to me that I'm no Katniss
• Zipline Adventure - I have ALWAYS wanted to do this - and no flesh eating bacteria is going to dissuade me.
• Dogsledding - Even though I lived in Alaska for a winter, I've never even met a single sled dog!
• Snowmobile Intro & Trail Ride - I REALLY want to do this!  It's pretty crazy that I've lived in Maine for the vast majority of my life and have never been on a snowmobile.  My only concern with this is whether or not it's a good idea with my back (I had back surgery in July of this year - Laminectomy and Microdiscectomy in case you're wondering.  I feel FANTASTIC now, but am terrified of injuring my back again)

We provide our sizes for the following items:

• Boot Size (option of Men's and Women's sizes)
• Glove Size - this is unisex sizing - I think I might need to go try on gloves at LLBean or something to figure that out.
• Hat Size - as I mentioned, they included a hat sizer, but I think I'll need my sister's help using it, as my eyes are not on stalks like a snail.
• Jacket Size - I wish I knew what brand it is - I might try LLBean on this as well
• Thermal Undergarment Sizing - (aka Long Johns) - this is unisex, which I need to keep in mind, as I am not a very tall person.

We get to specify if we want to share a bed, or have two beds (and while I do love my sister a lot, I don't love her in a creepy way that would make me want to share a bed with her).

We specify our tobacco preference.  As I said before, I'm not a regular smoker anymore, it's just when I'm "out" or at a party or something.  The equation works like this: Jessy + Alcohol = Jessy + Cigarettes.  It's not a complicated equation.

The fantastic folks at Marlboro also provided a schedule of when everything else will happen, keep in mind that the trip is January 12 - 15, I'm sure these dates are specific to our trip date, but if you're going on the trip, you can probably math it out:

• Around December 3rd, I will get a call confirming my mailing address. I have until December 10 to change my travel companion (I guess that means Conni had better be on her best behavior!)
• Around December 31, I will receive the airline tickets, and a check for $600 (this should cover the taxes I will need to pay on the trip in 2014)
• From January 1 - January 11th - I will be consumed with my upcoming trip, and will have trouble eating/sleeping/etc.  

Tonight I'm meeting with Conni to do our hat sizing and paperwork.  I won't have access to a fax machine until Tuesday because of Veteran's Day on Monday, but will fax the info Monday morning!

I am over the moon excited.  I scanned in all of the paperwork I received - read on!

Descriptions of the activities & the Hat Sizers!

The Official Letter

Rating Activities

Size and Preferences

To read all posts related to this win - go to my Marlboro Ranch Page!