Unless something unforeseen occurs, we'll be officially nomads as of May 1. Either that, or we'll be officially financially screwed. We've now dug deep into our savings to make deposits and up-front payments for our summer rental homes, at least half of which are non-refundable, so it's Westward Ho! or bust for us when our lease is up.
Here's what we have solidified so far:
MAY
2-bedroom condo near the beach in Dana Point, CA
I'm a little bit excited about finding this place. It's quite new and lovely, 100 paces from the beach, and the price was incredible for the location. I'll get into the financial aspect of all of this in a separate post, but finding furnished vacation rentals on the west coast within our budget during the spring/summer months was like panning for gold. We're thrilled about this one. We'll be able to visit Havarti's grandparents, aunt and uncle, cousins, my brother and his wife, and my mom and grandma while we're there.
JUNE
Stay with family in the Bay Area for a week, then three weeks at a 2-bedroom cottage on the Oregon Coast.
Again, finding this Oregon Coast vacation rental and getting the deal we got was either sheer luck or providence. So many hours spent searching. So happy to not have to look anymore. It's not too far from Tillamook. Yup, where the cheese comes from. I'm going to see if they have a tour.
JULY
A week at Baha'i family summer camp (where Havarti and I met 30 or so years ago - holy smokes, that's a really long time).
We love this Baha'i camp. We both went there throughout our childhood and young adult years. Lots of great memories. Plus, both of my brothers met their spouses there as well, so if we want to get our kids married off, we need to start getting them out there. (Kidding, of course.)
Then three weeks in a 3-bedroom condo in Seattle
We love Seattle. All of western Washington, actually. Especially in July, when it's likely to be sunny and still have green grass. (Fact: People generally don't water their lawns in western Washington. I think it's because they don't have to. So if a summer is particularly dry, by August the grass is pretty brown, though everything else stays green.) Per night this is the most expensive place we'll stay, but that's mainly because it's July. Everything is expensive in July. But it's a nice 3-bedroom condo, and it still came out to less than the price of a hotel, so YAY.
Then my 20th high school reunion in Spokane
Still in denial about this.
After that, we're into August. The plan is to start heading back toward Chicagoland so that we can spend most of August back with our friends and family here. Havarti's brother's family is planning to come from Spain, and his sister's family might be coming from Australia as well, so we'll try to plan around their visit. We would like to stay a bit longer in Washington and Idaho with friends and family there, so we may spend the first week of August doing that and then head back to the Midwest.
Then, tentatively, we're looking at Michigan in September, then New England through December, then Myrtle Beach in January, then Florida in February. Lots of places bookmarked, but nothing reserved yet. The places on Cape Cod and in Myrtle Beach (and most likely Florida, too) are priced so low in the off season that they'll make up for the expensive summer places. So we're in this for the long haul, at least until February.
Excited, nervous, overwhelmed with what we have to do to prepare, but ultimately really looking forward to it. And trying to decide if I want to start a separate blog just for the trip. There are a lot of details and such that I'd like to document for anyone else who might want to try something like this, and I'm not sure this is the best place for all of that. If you have any opinions, let me know.
And if anyone has a magic wand that can sort through household items, school supplies, linen closets, and bathroom cabinets and keep only what's necessary, that would come in handy. Thanks. :)
