pacific city

Our Last Days in Pacific City

As excited as we are to see what the lies ahead of us on our journey, as we were going over the pre-flight checklist on our last day I found myself feeling wistful to leave Pacific City! Even though Andy had to work every day we were there, including the weekend, we were able to wring every drop of fun out of that little town. And we made a name for ourselves on the pool’s check-in log, with our name filling nearly every other line on the list!

Our friends Kelly and Jason came to visit over the last few days, and we introduced them to the pool and hot tub, Pelican Brewery, and the incredible views on the beach. With their help, we discovered the superbly tasty fish and chips at the locals’ favorite hangout, The Sportsman’s Pub (skip the high prices on that menu item at Pelican), as well as the scrumptious fish tacos and scratch margaritas on the deck of BJ’s Tacos. They stayed in a nice little cabin on the same site we were staying, where we had room to play games and watch the Super Bowl. We had an unbelievable stretch of sunny 65 degree days while they were here, so we got plenty of beach time and even a few farmer’s tans!

The sunsets each night were breathtaking.

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Sadly, the day after this sunset, my phone took a lethal swim. It had been in my coat pocket on the edge of Kelly’s bed, and when I wasn’t looking it slid off the bed and right into the dogs’ bowl! It sat there for the precise amount of time necessary to completely crash. I lost a bunch of photos, and am still working through that grief.

On our last day, the rain and fog rolled in, giving us a misty, moody final walk down the beach.

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Scout ran up and down the sand dune three times, and was still ready to take on the remainder of the beach.

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We assured him that we were only leaving one beach to reach another, grabbed some coffee, and hit the road for the next stop on the journey!

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We Made It!

We’re here!

On Sunday we arrived at Pacific City, Oregon for the first leg of our exciting new life.

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It was a bittersweet farewell from Portland, which was to be expected after living there for a combined 17 years! Portland holds a very special place in both our hearts, and it would take nothing more than a thrilling new adventure to convince us to leave such a unique and beautiful city.

January 30th was both the last Saturday of the month and my birthday, so shortly after noon we left our cozy slice of Sauvie Island and headed to my sister’s house in Washington. There we got to hang out with two of my three sisters, along with their husbands and all 8 combined kids! I was in sister/auntie heaven. The following morning, after a delicious pancake breakfast for me and a (requested) leftover pot roast breakfast for Andy, we said our tearful goodbyes and hit the road.

About a week earlier , we had purchased a Groupon for the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, and stopped there on our way to the coast. If you’re ever in the McMinnville area, I assert that it’s worth the seemingly-high ticket price to check the place out! You can easily spend at least 3 hours there, and more if you see a show in the theater or go to the water park. They have a waterslide that starts at the top of a Boeing 747! (Check it out at http://evergreenmuseum.org)

In the interest of time we didn’t do the water park, but we got to walk inside the Spruce Goose, take a tour inside a B-17, and see an SR-71 right up close.

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We arrived in Pacific City just in time for the wild hail storm hitting the coast, and checked into the park. The following morning we were lucky enough to get a bright and sunny start to our stay here! Andy had work to do, but over his lunch break we took Scout down to the water for some border collie beach fun! He was grinning from ear to ear, bounding down the beach and back, jumping up to spring off our legs, and then would bolt away for another lap. It was hilarious!

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The rocky coastline makes for a dramatic backdrop! It’s also a lot of fun to climb around on. Scout made it to the top and back five times before we made it halfway up. This really is the happiest I can ever remember seeing this dog. He was having such a nice time he even let me catch a few photos of him.

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We have a nice little spot for our tiny house right in the middle of the park. It’s a clean and friendly place, and as a extra bonus, the grounds are home to dozens of wild bunnies!

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We also have a great pool and spacious hot tub, which we have been taking full advantage of. Our new schedule allows us pool time before breakfast, during lunch, and after Andy finishes working. Andy gets so excited about pool time that his new work uniform consists of a warm hat, sweater, hiking boots. . . and swim trunks.

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On our second day here, we opted to stay in the hot tub for the entire duration of Andy’s lunch break, so afterwards Scout and I took a trip down to the beach by ourselves. The sky was mostly overcast and the wind was incredible! It was stunning and invigorating.

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The waves were crashing and pounding on the horizon, and they whipped up the frothiest sea foam I’ve ever seen! A wave would push mounds of foam on to the sand, and then the wind would push it in peaks sideways down the beach. When I tried to pick it up in handfuls, it would vanish instantly in a wisp of airy bubbles. It was magical.

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We endlessly marvel at how unbelievable it is that after working so hard over the last year, our vision has finally become a reality. It was incredibly hard work, but our dream to make our lives more about quality time together outside is now our real life! We’ll keep you posted on the goings on of the upcoming week, but so far it has been made up of relaxation, lots of laughing, and especially much more time for days like this:

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The Final Countdown

If you just got the song stuck in your head after reading this title—you’re welcome. 🙂

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This will be a brief update, but a necessary one, due to the fact that we are very close to our launch date and want to keep everyone apprised of where we’re at. We’re so excited to get this show on the road, and that our lives (as well as the blog) are about to get way more action-packed!

As of today, we’re merely 5 days away from beginning the big adventure. (squeal!) Andy has 3 more days of work in the office, and at the beginning of February will be working remotely and cutting his hours back to 3 days a week. When you get rid of the cost of housing, water, sewer, garbage, additional car insurance, and electricity, it turns out working 40 hours a week is no longer necessary. When we came up with this crazy plan, our primary focus was to spend less time in traffic and office buildings and more quality time together, being active outdoors and sharing new experiences. So every week now we’ll have four full off-grid days to get lost in the woods and play outside.

I will continue to work remotely on my artwork, eventually adjusting my deliverables to cater more to downloadable pieces for simplicity. I don’t want to have to seek out a printer in every town we pass through, or worry about leaving the forest and rushing to a post office to ship my work by a deadline. So this will be a nice excuse to push myself to think in a different direction and expand my portfolio. I’ll also be gleaning my inspiration from our travels, so it will be fun to see my work becoming a road map of where we’ve been! And the very best part is that our new offices will soon be located in coffee shops on the beach and lodges in the woods. Unbelievable!

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Already our new lifestyle has afforded us valuable paper hat-making time. Andy gets full credit  for the jaunty feather.

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This new schedule has also allowed us time to relax with friends! Scout’s a natural.

So on January 31st, the Turtle will be able to be spotted heading west toward Pacific City, where we’ll spend a week and a half dipping our toes into the new lifestyle. Andy especially loves Pacific City. It’s a great little town with a beautiful coastline, a great big sand dune that people sled and snowboard down, the cozy and delicious Pelican Brewery, and neat spots to hike around on the rocky ledges with great views of the ocean.

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From there, we’ll head north up the Oregon coast, taking our sweet time and stopping to check out places of interest. I made a Google map to mark our route, and dropped pins on the map to indicate restaurants, attractions, and RV sites with hookups. I’ve been ordering brochures and doing lots of research on places we’ll want to see, and with the map pre-pinned we’ll be able to decide to either stop or not as we drive along.

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As we traverse the Olympic Peninsula, we’re planning on hitting every waterfall listed on the “Magical Misty Tour” brochure. There are a lot of them!

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After we reach Port Townsend, we’ll make our way to Seattle. Both of us have lived in Seattle and we have loads of friends and family to visit, as well as restaurants where we’ll grab some old favorite bites. So— Seattle people, you’ll be hearing from us soon! I’ll make a reservation for us all at Annapurna.