In the midst of packing and re-packing as we get ready to head to the Great Northwest for a little vacation and retirement home prospecting. Even with a full-time housesitter, there is a great deal that needs to get done around the homestead before we go, although having a housesitter helps immensely with not becoming overwhelmed with stress. Knowing that someone we know well will be actually living in our house while we're away helps with that a lot. Forget the neighbor checking in twice daily. Move someone in for the length of your vakay, I say.
Will we hate Spokane/Coeur D'Alene? Love it? Never want to come back here? I guess we'll find out. We are actually looking at retiring there in several more years (no worries residents, we are not coming to take your jobs). Most appealing to us is cost of living, followed by weather, followed by living in a place that actually has enough water. I can imagine the charm of living in a place where enough wet stuff falls from the sky that one does not have to worry about the ol' well running dry on a year-to-year basis.
I come from a migrating tribe of people -- my family's personal story, told by our DNA and family history, takes us out of the Middle East during the Jewish diaspora, to the Mediterranean, then England, then the Eastern US, then to California. Looking over the horizon to new land is in my blood. I truly believe it is either in your DNA to be a pioneer or it isn't (and no judgement either way). You're either born with the migrating gene or not.
But as we draw closer to the end of our careers, we ponder where we can best afford to have the quality of life we want, and where there are amenities close by that we will need or just want to have. Spokane is on the short list, and so out we go to case the promised land.
I'll take lots of pics and report in once we're home.
I'm so excited!!!! Yes I mean each one of those exclamations. A house sitter is worth his/her weight in gold. Can't wait to follow the progress on this. I am a settler and come from a long line of the sort. Pick a place and stay there. In my family there are three moves in location between the 1400s and now! I envy the gypsy spirit as I've never felt like a free spirit a day in my life.
ReplyDeleteWow! You guys definitely know how to stay put. Three new locations in ... 600 years? Sometimes I'm envious of that, to feel that satisfaction where you never want to check out what's over the next hill and are content where you are. My husband is also more the settler type, but he's learned to flex a bit since we've been married. He's had to!
DeleteWe have been giving so much thought to where we could live happily, besides here. I need sunshine, no question. I'll be interested in your thoughts on Tacoma. Travel safely.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Denise. We actually moved here thinking this is where we'd retire, but between the high cost of living and water woes, we're looking more affordably out of state. But like you, we want sunshine and for me, also slightly cooler summers. Spokane averages about 85 degrees in summer -- perfect!
DeleteI have often thought about relocating to a warmer, sunnier climate. I have had enough snow for a lifetime! However, the biggest drawback is leaving my circle of family and friends. I find as I grow older, just how important the camaraderie and support is to me.
ReplyDeleteOur cost of living is very reasonable and we have plenty of water. But I could so do without the snow!
What are Spokane winters like?
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely snow there. Kind of like Denver in that it snows, then melts, then snows again, etc. It's a trade off for having all that water and cooler summers I guess. You are lucky to live in an affordable place where you have family. Probably the best of all worlds!
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