Home

We did it! 
We bought a home. It's a 4 bedroom/2 bathroom house sitting on 2.5 acres of partially wooded land in Shelton, Washington (just outside of Olympia).

Escrow closed on Thursday.

Exactly 4 weeks of searching and 12 weeks of waiting through escrow, we are homeowners again. 

Last month we drove for two days straight, breaking only to go to the bathroom, to get gas, or to sleep. We loaded our possession from the storage unit into the 6'x12' trailer we bought, the bed of Dan's truck and the back of my van. Anything that didn't fit was left in my mothers garage. We visited briefly with friends and family before headed back up to Washington state. Dan drove alone towing the trailer and I hauled the van with our boys. It was going to take three days to ride back with the extra weight.

This has been a long time coming. 

A year on the road made us homesick. 

Even before we sold our house in San Diego, we were homesick for somewhere different. Finding our "home" was the main purpose of our travels. We needed to find it. Early in our year long journey, we favored Washington after our brief stay in Kennewick. Something about the land and the people spoke to us, made us feel welcome.

As we drove away from my hometown, I felt no regrets, no fear. I only felt anxious to get back to my home. The realization hit me hard. I wanted to go home, and that place was In the Pacific Northwest. 

As we crossed the California/Oregon border, I saw the landscape change and I felt a flutter in my heart. 

Almost home. 

The trees were tall and green, surround by thick yellow grass that reminded me of lions fur. After 15 hours of driving through dried and dead landscape, the sudden appearance of green actually brought tears to my eyes. The leaves were beginning to change colors, signaling fall was on its way. There would be a change of seasons, something that I never had growing up in San Diego.

The initial tears turned into a full-blown quiet sob as something in my tight chest loosened. I had been holding my breath for so long that I hadn't even realized I was doing it. I was happy. Optimistic. I longed to return to what my husband and I loving named "the land of the plenty." Where the streets are lined with wild blackberries & apple trees and the elk greet me each morning on my jog.

I missed the ocean breeze coming off of the Hood Canal and the friendly waves of everyone we pass. I missed the house I had seen exactly twice and the potential it held for our family. 

Each mile brought us closer to our future, closer to ourselves. The last 50 minutes we spent driving up the long and winding road alongside the Hood Canal was an exhilarating homecoming. We felt grounded and anxious at the same time.

When we finally packed up our 5th wheel trailer for the last time, it felt bittersweet. It was our home for such a long time and brought consistency throughout our travels around the U.S. 
We decided that we needed to sell our trusty rig because its just too big for small camping trips. 

So we pulled out of the small RV park in Brinnon and headed towards Shelton to our new home.   

Driving out of our campsite in Brinnon, WA

We drove up to our new home and our realtor met us there to hand us the keys. I'm not going to lie, I cried. Happy tears of course. As I looked around our new property, I was overcome with gratitude and joy. The trees in the back yard were so beautiful and majestic. Then I spotted a full rainbow beaming through the sky. If that's not a perfect homecoming, then I don't know what is.

Rainbow in our backyard

We were acctually able to move into our new house before the official closing of escrow because the sellers were understanding of our need to put our son Daniel in Kindergarten. Just another amazing testament to the good graces of the Washington people.

Daniel going to his first school open house

Daniel is excited to meet his new teacher at open house

First day of school! The bus picked him up right outside our house

So finally, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place when the local Chiropractor offered me a job after Dan mentioned that I used to work in a Chiropractic office in San Diego.

 It was fated. 

And now I sit here typing the perfect ending to a not so perfect story of a family of four setting off on a year long adventure into the unknown. We went through so much during that time and I often questioned weather or not we had made a huge mistake. Of course there were good times as well and we reveled in the opportunity to see family and friends that we wouldn't have been able to see had we not embarked on this journey.

Yes, in hindsight, it's perfectly clear that it was all just as it should be. I don't want to get too preachy, but I think this past year we were guided by something much bigger than us.

If any of you are tempted to change your life by traveling outside your comfort zone, I would highly recommend it. Because as I've heard so many times before and now I know is true:

Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear.

Do not be afraid to do what you desire. 

Go for it!

Now, with full hearts we leave you all with a few more pictures of our new life.

Dan playing the Jurassic World video game with the boys in his new office

He may have gone a little overboard with his football set-up

A deer in our backyard

My daily drive home from work...beautiful.

Tractor on the country road

Daniel found his pumpkin for this years jack-o-lantern

...and Caiden found his

The wagon ride from the pumpkin patch

So long and farewell from The Camerons...

From California To Washington

So now that our family has come "full-circle" in our travels, we have been talking about settling back down again and buying a house. The truth is, we are ready to put down roots again, you know like--grow vegetables in a big garden. Also, Daniel is ready for kindergarten and I'm not interested in homeschooling. I've tried teaching my boys and so far it's not been very successful. I think I'd rather leave it to the professionals.

That said, Dan and I settled on Washington State (around the Olympia/Pugent Sound area). Dan was stationed in that area for four years and loved it. We visited my friend Tara up in that area about 6 years ago and I loved it. So that settles that. We are Washington bound.

We left San Diego on a Friday morning and our drive was smooth sailing but filled with traffic. In fact, there was traffic the entire length between San Diego and just past Los Angeles where we stopped in Valencia for the night. The next day we traveled up to Lodi and then from Lodi to Yreka, which was our last stop in California. Each place, we stopped for two nights to rest up, then drove in a northernly fashion up the interstate 5.

It was no frills, no nonsense driving. We just wanted to get to Washington.

We noticed the change in atmosphere once we hit Northern California. Crisp, cool air and beautiful scenery. With all the trees, It was literally...a breathe of fresh air.🌲

This is the Yreka RV Park in Yreka, CA.

Once we crossed into Oregon, even more trees appeared and so did the awesome hippie cars, lol. We stayed at a Emerald RV just south of Salem. We started searching for a place to stay in the Olympia area but quickly found out that EVERY SINGLE RV PARK is booked solid!

Wow, we just hadn't realized that Washington State was such big snowbird location. No problem, we just spent two days researching and calling RV parks and campgrounds anywhere within an hour to two hours outside of Olympia. Finally, we figured out that maybe if we should book a spot after the 4th of July. Bingo! Cove RV in Brinnon could accommodate us on the 4th of July for the next month and beyond. Perfect!

So now we just had to figure out where we could stay for the next 18 days. We found a place near Mount St. Helena called Kid Valley RV that could take us and with that, I took about five deep breaths and let myself relax. That was pretty stressful. 

Here is the hippie car in Oregon.

After securing our accommodations, we excitedly drove from Salem, Oregon to what was to be our new state of resistance. We passed over the state line via the Columbia River. The interstate 5 bridge carried us over the water and dropped us into Washington. We've arrived!

I love that Oregon was thanking us.

Entering Washington via the interstate bridge.

After crossing over the state line, we drove for about 30 minutes to the Kid Valley Campground and then it started raining. Most people might have been put off by it but I was rather excited, it wasn't cold and we were surrounded by majestic looking trees and foliage. It was the kind of place that solidified my belief in fairies.

I mean, come on! Look at this.

After checking in, we needed to carfully back in to our campsite. I called Dans phone so we could play walkie talkie while he backed up the trailer. Wait...no cell service? Hahahahah......!

I didn't see that one coming. We were going to be in the back woods of Washington for 18 days with no cell, cable, antena, or internet service. I know, we should just embrace the quiet seclusion--but we're just not those people. We love our internet and cell phones.

Whatever, we just decided to take this curve ball and roll with it. We've acctually become quite good at rolling with it on our adventures. 

So, cell service and internet aside, our campsite was brilliant! I mean really gorgeous. I wanted to pinch myself for how lush and green everything was. I took pictures with my phone but I wish I had used a real camera to capture the magnificence.

The view outside our front door.

The view from the entrance of the campground.

Our huge trailer nestled amongst the trees.

Front view

View looking up.

The first day is always busy as we getting set up, but soon we settled into a peaceful routine of coffee in the morning, coloring/drawing/reading/exploring during the day and a family movie at night. In fact, life without technology was peaceful. Who knew?

Here is Daniel's dinosaur world creation.

Another strange thing that happened was that when I went for my morning jog, I no longer wanted to listen to my upbeat music. It seemed too loud all of a sudden. Unnecessary. 

So I stopped. I just enjoyed the natural sounds of the forest and took in the beautiful landscape. I took some pictures of the plant life I often passed each morning.

I love these flowers 

I guess growing up in the dessert climate of San Diego has made me easily impressed by a little greenery, lol. 

Most nights we would have a campfire and visit with our neighbors. Honestly, our neighbors were so unbelievably open and welcoming, it was hard not to feel like this was our home. This experience has strengthened our belief that Washington is the right place for our family.

Daniel cooking his hot dog. He's a pro now.

Several times a week, we had to drive down the mountain to check our messages, email and make phone calls. I took pictures of some of the things I found interesting.

Dead dear atop of a parked car.

Always trucks with logs.

I loved seeing this sign reminding me that we were in close proximity to both of these awesome cities.

A REAL PHONE BOOTH! That says how far removed we were, this place still needed phone booths.

After our 18 days were up and it was time to go, we all felt like it was too soon. We had made friends here, more than that...we made family. After exchanging phone numbers and promising to keep in touch on Facebook, we backed up our trailer and readied the truck.

With full hearts and tears in our eyes (well maybe just my eyes), we pulled out of the Kid Valley Campground and drove north to find our new home.

❤️❤️❤️

Back In San Diego

After 9 long months of travel (adventures, mishaps and all), we are finally back where we started...

my beloved San Diego.

I could hardly contain my excitement to see my family and friends. It's so easy to take for them for granted when they have always been there, always at my fingertips. Now that I've had distance and time away from such a precious resource, I am starving to be surrounded by their assured presence of unconditional love and acceptance. 

Anyone who has ever moved away from their home town understands what I'm talking about.

❤️❤️❤️

We arrived in San Diego just in time to celebrate Daniel's Birthday. We gathered at my sister Holly's house. It was a lovely reunion. There was food, drinks and warmth that surrounded us like a quilted blanket. Daniel received lots of presents and had a dinosaur/crab cake. It was pretty awesome.

Daniel getting help with one of his presents from MiMi 

Super arm shooter-that won't be any trouble later (yeah right!)

Giant "Voltron" looking Power Ranger toy

The infamous Dinosaur/Crab Birthday Cake!

We decided to stay at the Sweetwater Summit Campground like we did right before leaving San Diego 9 months ago. We picked a secluded spot that overlooked the Bonita canyons and golf courses. 

The boys roasting hot dogs.

Caiden is super focused on that hot dog.

We had an overwhelming response of friends and family come visit us at our site but in my enjoyment, I failed to take ant pictures. Anyway, we spent the next few weeks visiting our friends & family.  Dan and I also actually got to go on a double date with our friends Mike and Denbigh. 

Mike & Denbigh camping overnight.

Mike and Dan trying to figure out how to pay for parking Downtown.

While here in San Diego, we planned to attend an annual midevil event held over Memorial Day weekend. It's one of our guilty nerdy pleasures and we LOVE it! Dan actually built an authentic midevil style yurt about 7 years ago for us to sleep in. I had to sew the boys new midevil garb because the constantly grow out of them. I had like three days to do it, and somehow I managed to pull it off.

The event was crazy awesome! The boys called it a knight festival and spent the whole 5 days playing with other kids and watching the huge battle reenactments. Dan and I enjoyed lazily drinking delicious bloody marys (that I made of course) and wandering around. We connected with friends that we only see at this event as well as our many regular friends that also attend this event. 

All I can say is that life is pretty good when you're sitting around the campfire in midevil garb listening to the rhythmic sounds of drums. I don't care who you are, it's satisfying on a primal level that can be denied by no one. 

My brother and his wife (also one of my very best friends) Kate drove into San Diego from Iowa on the last day. They came straight to this event and we got the privilege of their company for the final night. A perfect ending to a perfect weekend.

Dan Caiden and I with my brother Troy and sister-in-law Kate

Boys and I watching the battle reenactments 

Fighters in the midst of a battle. FYI, most of the guys hand make their armor.

Cuties

Caiden and Daniel inside our yurt

As always, I wish I took more picture of the fun we had but alas, we were too busy having fun. When we got back we spent the next few days doing laundry, packing up and Dan was able to build two arbors for my mom.

The front arbor 

The back arbor

We had only a couple more days to say our goodbyes to family and friends while stocking up on as much Mexican food as we could get our hands on (it's just superior to anywhere else save Mexico). 

We loved our visit and with tears in our eyes, we said our fair well to San Diego. 

Now off to see the Pacific Northwest!