Cruising up Lewis Channel in Desolation Sound a couple of years ago. Thought we might be out in the wonderful B.C. cruising waters this summer, but fate seems to have other plans.
Well, we thought we might be able to do some cruising this summer while we were staying on our boat during the time our house was on the market. Seemed like a good strategy to get out of the house so it would stay cleaned up and show better. But sometimes things don’t work out the way we plan.
Soon after we arrived in Anacortes, our Realtor called us with two offers on our house, and after our house had been on the market for less than a week. Wow. Didn’t expect things to happen so quickly. After many discussions with our Realtor over the following couple of weeks, we now have a signed sales agreement and our house is sold! Once the deal was firm, we packed up our car and returned to Bend to clear out our house and pack up our stuff to be out of the house before the closing date. Lots of work ahead!
On our drive south. As we headed up I-90 toward Snoqualmie Pass, it was a sunny day and the air was clear. Not much traffic either!
At Snoqualmie Summit. We stopped for a break and to make a couple of phone calls. This view is across the frontage road where there are some cute chalets, a new brew pub and what appears to be new condo or hotel units. Although it’s only August, we noticed that some of the tree leaves are already showing signs of autumn.
On I-82, nearing Yakima. As we headed east from Snoqualmie Pass, smoke from all the wildfires in Eastern Washington started to fill the air.
On the Yakima Indian Reservation. By the time we got further south, the density of the smoke increased, possibly due to wildfires burning in Oregon adding to the smoke from the fires in Washington.
Approaching Satus Pass. The smoke was thick in this area along US-97 where there had been a huge wildfire a couple of years ago that left lots of charred trees covering the hillside.
Since our house sold so quickly, there hasn’t been time for us to find another house before we have to move out, and we have decided to put our furniture and household goods into storage and stay on our boat in Anacortes Marina while we look for another house. For now, we’re starting to pack, talking with movers and trying to locate mini-storage facilities. We aren’t even sure where we want to live! We may stay in Central Oregon, or perhaps we’ll return to Western Washington where we’ll be closer to our boat and the saltwater we love.
Our garage is already starting to fill up with packed moving boxes.
So, hectic times are ahead for us, and our life will be busy, tiring and up in the air for a while. After being in our house for 16-plus years, it’s going to be a big change for us. We’re not looking forward to all the packing and moving, but do look forward to the change. We may end up staying on our boat for a little while (or a long while!), but that’s okay! We like living on our boat, and it will give us plenty of time to find a house we like.
It’s going to be a rather busy few weeks as our house sale closes in late September. Don’t know if we’ll have enough energy for late season cruising in October, but anything’s possible!
Cruising With Phoenix 
What a wonderful story. My wife and I are planning / dreaming of cruising from WA to SE Alaska in 2017. Our story is similar in that we just listed our home for sale. We do not have a boat yet. We are researching different vessels and trying to learn as much as possible about the trip.
Hi Jim, Thanks for your comment and for stopping by to take a look at our blog. Sad to say that our moving adventures have gotten in the way of another season of boating, hence the absence of posts from me! Our house sold so quickly and we couldn’t find another house, so we put all our things in storage. After 4 months of house searching, we ended up having to wait for a house to be built and spent 9 months (over last winter) staying on our boat. We moved into our new house in Central Oregon this summer, and the unpacking and setting in are still keeping us busy.
I wish you the best in selling your house and finding a boat you like. We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise to SE Alaska, as well as our many years of boating in Washington and B.C. waters (and beyond). The Pacific NW is a fantastic place to enjoy life on the water, and we really hope we will be able to get our moving behind us and be back on the water next year. All the best to you!
Alice
Wow, that was fast. Congratulations on selling so quickly. Looks like all the work you did ahead of time paid off. By now, I hope you have finished all your packing and are ready to look toward the future. I know you will make a great decision for your life ahead. Best wishes anyway, and keep us informed. Love, Julie
Hi Julie!
Thanks for the note…sorry I’m a little late in replying. We have a lot going on here, still up to our eyeballs in packing! We were happy with the quick sale, but it has resulted in lots of packing and organizing to do in a short period of time. The house sale closes in a couple of weeks, so our priority now is to get our stuff packed and into storage. Wow, what a lot of work!!! We’ll be heading back to Anacortes when the sale closes to stay on our boat while we look for a new place. Once we figure it out, I’ll be sure to let you know. Hope things are good with you and Norm. Stay in touch!
Love, Alice
Alice, Soon you will be free to explore the rest of the dry world. You and Jim will be missed in Bend but we will be in touch. How did we live without the internet.
Thanks so much for your thoughts, Bob! Social media and the Internet will certainly help us keep in touch! Thanks for all your help in keeping our yard looking good while we were off on our nautical adventures for these many years!
Alice & Jim
How lovely this is.
Thanks Bonnie! We love that area of B.C., it’s so pretty with the mountains that tower over the water. Wish we were there now rather than here dealing with packing and moving! Oh well, once we get through all of this, we hope things will settle down and that we can have somewhat of a “normal” life! Hope all is good with you and your furry family members.
Alice
Wow great news for you guys. Are you going to downsize the house? Love the pictures of driving back to Oregon.
Sent from my iPhone
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Thanks, Sarah. Yes, we will be looking for a smaller place and look forward to having less to maintain! This all happened so quickly that we are scrambling to make decisions, get everything set up for moving, storing, etc. Glad you liked the pics, the smoke has been really bad…it is still smoky and hot in Bend today, as well as a lot of other areas in Oregon, Washington, and all of the west coast for that matter. The wildfires have been horrible. Hope you’re hanging in there…I think of you often.
Alice