3 years….

It has been 3 years since we left Illinois. Though it doesn’t sound like that long, it feels like a lifetime ago.  It’s an odd feeling when you go back to the place you lived your whole life, and even though everything is familiar, it just doesn’t feel the same, it’s not my home anymore. So I guess for now, Colorado will have to do 🙂

Last spring, I was finishing up my assignment in Santa Maria, California. We were living on a little studio cottage on a small farm in Arroyo Grande. Everyday we saw chickens, pigs, a mini horse, and sometimes a peacock would run down the road. The beach was a 15 minute drive away and SLO was about 30 minutes. The Central Coast is much different from the rest of California, it’s less populated, and runs on a much slower pace, but it is just so beautiful.

We left California in June and headed back to spend some time with family before moving out to Colorado. On our week long trip back to the Midwest, we stopped in Pinnacles National park, and then made our way to Lake Tahoe to meet up with some good friends we met while traveling. Lake Tahoe is always so much fun, we went kayaking, and SUP boarding, and water tubing. The water in that lake is unreal. Then we kept going, stopping at the Black Hills, where we found the most amazing swimming hole to cool off on, on a hot June day. And next to Badlands National Park and ate the infamous Sioux taco

Sometime during our time back, we managed to preview a few houses (via video) and make a few offers, while we had reception, of course. Just before making it into Wisconsin, we found out our house offer was accepted, and a few hours later we celebrated with Dan’s family. We spent a week in Wisconsin, visiting cheese factories, picking strawberries, camping at lake Emily, and spending time with family. Then it was off to Illinois.

We spent about 3 weeks at my sisters house, just hanging out and enjoying the summer. Met up with some friends that we hadn’t seen in a while, partied with our old neighbors, and saw some family. We spent a few nights in Chicago, where we met up with some more old friends. Then came the task of going through our storage units and downsizing, ordering Pods to ship it back, all while filling out all of that house paperwork. It was a little stressful but we made it through and left Illinois in July to become residents in Colorado.

We spent another week living out of our beloved trailer and exploring the area (since we really didn’t know the city that we had just decided to buy a house in), bought a sailboat and closed on our new house July 28th. Then it was time to start my new job…

Its such a great feeling to wake up in the morning, sit on my porch, and watch the mountains. Then take a bike ride to a local place for breakfast, and spend the rest of the day hiking or kayaking or sailing or skiing. Yes not everyday is spent that way, we still have to work, and do house stuff and blah blah blah. But I love the culture of Colorado, everyone is always out doing something, there’s never an excuse of its too hot or its too cold, you just can’t help it when you see the mountains everyday, they just draw you in. So that’s where we are now, not sure for how long, but enjoying it while we’re here.