Overview of Trip

As we move towards departure day, activities move to a fevored pitch. In thinking about this trip, and sharing within this blog, it seems appropriate to provide an overview of the trip as planned, and share some thoughts about our personal goals in this journey.

The photo here is of most of our Chequamegon Bay delegation. From l-r: Steve, Mary Rehwald, Nancy, Beth Armstrong, David Thomas, Christopher Bolt. Missing: Irene Blakley and Donna Lynk.

These 16 days will take us to 9 different municipalities in Sweden - the further south being Helseingborg and the furthest north being Overtornea, just south of the Artiic Circle. Visits to these various eco-municipalities will bring us face to face with many of the pioneers of the sustainabiity movement in Sweden. We will learn about how they went about bringing changes to their infastructures that were more ecologically sound and economically viable. We will learn how they brought the communities on board. We will explore their operations and their models. We will explore the relationships between the local government bodies, the buisnesses and the communities. We will examine the opportunties for truly sustainable economic developement.

I've added a number of links to the blog if visitors want to explore these topics. The itinerary is posted, providing a brief explanation of each community we're visiting.

Within all of this, there are specific areas of interest to each of us making this trip. For Steve, it's education. For Nancy, ecotourism is a major focus. Our own goals are to learn all we can, both for our own business development, but also for our communities. We look forward to bringing good information, ideas and opportunities back to the Chequamegon Bay.

Mania Continues

The mania continues to escalate - but that being said, we are slowly getting to the point where we realize that's alright :-)

We've spent time meeting and chatting with area leaders to find out specific ideas / topics they would like researched in some detail. One consistent message we've heard is to find out how the municipalities worked to get community buy-in....specific strategies to engage and excite folks.

The idea of finding a sister city with similar demographics, etc. has been discussed. Something to think about.

PreTravel Mania

Preparations for this trip are taking over our daily activities. The thoughts of leaving the inn for over two weeks is a bit overwhelming - yet quite appealing. So lists are created, categories, reorganized (a wonderful diversionary tactic) and slowly checked off. Gardens weeded and mulched. Check. Hanging plants up and established. Check. Windows washed. Check. Multiple pages of instructions completed for Inn-sitter. Ongoing. Oh, the dogs. Add that to the list.

In the meantime, we anticipate, we wonder about packing the right clothes, we think about our purpose for making this trip and we attempt to get our arms around what and how we can bring meaty, usable information back to this place we hold so dearly.

And we think about what we can do to take a bit of this place with us.