It's official - we're moving to Oregon.
We've been living in Virginia for not quite two years - one year in Hampton and 8 months in Norfolk - and are pretty much over living in "the swamp". We've met a few great people and had some good experiences, but it's time to move on. At the end of the summer M put in transfer requests to a number of jobs in the Pacific Northwest, and the final result is we'll be in the Portland, Oregon area in early December.
I kind of can't even believe it's happening!
Here's some commonly asked questions I've gotten since slowly leaking the unofficial news over the last month or so, and their answers.
Why the Pacific Northwest? Why Oregon? Isn't that far away? Doesn't it rain there? Have you ever even been there before?
Yes, it's far away. Yes, I've heard rumor of rain. No, I've never been there.
When looking at states to potentially move to, one of my top considerations has been climate, in particular - temperature. My migraines, and a number of my autonomic neuropathy symptoms, are triggered or made worse by temperature variances or extremes. One reason for considering the Pacific Northwest is the relative moderate temperatures. Landscape is another factor. Living in a flat, coastal area for this time has made it obvious to us how much we need to be near the mountains! Everything here is flat and straight and terrible. We are so excited for hills again. Still, it's not land-locked, and that feels important, too.
Another major consideration is the culture and lifestyle of the people. Everyone who knows me, and has familiarity with the people out there, says I'll fit better out there. I've thought about going out that way for years and years. At least since applying for colleges. I hear that the stereotype of the land of friendly weirdos that love the outdoors, arts and crafts, and music is based on much more than just a little bit of truth. A running joke in our house has become "of course Portland!", as I've built it up in my mind as more and more of a fairy-tale land. An awesome new restaurant reviewed online? It's in Portland. That chai tea I'm drinking for breakfast? Made in Portland. List of best cities for anything worthwhile at all? Portland's on the list. City that allows you up to three goats before needing to get a permit? Portland. Everything seems to be a sign pointing in that direction.
M was/is mostly looking for career advancement, and is less picky about what area of the country that happens in. He's taking me to my dream place.
I'll let you know about the rain. From most of the people I've talked to who *actually* live there (so not just vaguely knows someone who lives there, or heard third hand), it's not that bad and is totally worth the winter drizzle for the beauty of the summer.
Sure we might be all wrong and decide it's not the place for us. But at least we will have tried.
What do the kids think of all this?
It's hard to say exactly. This will be Big B's 5th time moving. Little B's 4th. Though they haven't been big or very long distance moves before now, the kids aren't really strangers to living a bit of a roaming life. Also, we haven't had the best of luck finding our niche here in Virginia, so I think they, like us, are hopeful for finding that in Oregon. They are looking forward to this being one of the last stops on our journey and getting closer to our "forever home". They are sad to leave the few friends they do have here, especially since some of them we just recently met and starting to bond with. Oregon has some of the most relaxed homeschool laws in the country and we're hoping that between those, and there generally being more like-minded people around, it will be easier to find more friends.
Big B re-homed his guinea pigs with a homeschool buddy here, since we decided not to put them through the move. That was one of the hardest parts for him, but being able to find a home with a friend who can send him emails and pictures has made it easier. He's also looking forward to getting a dog one day in our "forever home".
They are most apprehensive about the long car drive and about being farther away from family.
How are you getting there?
We're driving.
I've already mapped out our route, which will take us roughly nine days of driving 5-8 hours each day, taking a southern route east-to-west (because it's December) and then turning north to go through California. This will allow us to stop in some major cities along the way, see the south rim of the Grand Canyon, and hopefully we'll avoid any major weather interruptions.
We will pack our cars with most of our clothes, the toys that we're keeping, and whatever else we need to live and stay mostly sane for about a month. The rest is getting packed into Door-to-Door crates and being shipped, and possibly stored if it takes us very long to find a place to live once we're there. I've started purging tons of our belongings, so we're hoping whatever doesn't go in the car will fit in two crates.
The cats are going to be flown out to us by my mom and dad, who were lovely enough to offer to do that for us so we wouldn't have to deal with nine days of yowling and cat-poo car smells.
Have you found a place to live?
No. It's an adventure!
I've started looking online, and M will have a opportunity to go out there for just a few days to generally check things out, but the plan is to stay in a one-week place when we get there while we hardcore house hunt. That's even what it says on my calendar - "Hardcore House Hunt".
What can we do to help?
Thanks for asking!
Mostly we could use well wishes and happy thoughts.
Everyone seems to know someone out there, but if you actually have a close, personal friend or relative that you think we would get along with, who would be willing to talk to us about areas of town and where or where not to live, that would be great.
If you're a gift-giver type and are thinking ahead to Big B's birthday and Christmas, pleeeeease keep in mind that we are trying to limit our belongings to the bare minimum possible for a relatively mainstream family of four. Gift cards are awesome. Or save up to come visit us, instead!! Or consider donating to our scouting organization at NavigatorsUSA.org, letting them know you're a friend of Chapter 58.
If you're a VA local, we will need packing help the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Are you going to come visit the east coast ever again? Are you going to send pictures? Why aren't you my friend on Facebook anymore?
Yeah, we'll come visit. We just won't get home to Maryland as often as we did before.You can come visit us, too, ya know!
I started dismantling my Facebook a few months ago, so if we were friends, that's why you might not see me anymore. This is something I've tried to do before and was less than successful, but this time it's for real. And for real I'm going to try to keep up this blog with what we're up to, as a replacement. I will post pictures.
I am more than happy to have an individual, direct conversation with any friend or family member who wants to talk or share! Please email me! :)
