Where You Belong

Rarely does one live in a place by choice; most of us live in a place by default, a place where our family grew up or where there was a job available. Many of us have a dream place tucked away that never becomes a reality. Pulling the plug on a life that was working in chase for something better... grander, even, well--that's just suicide.

So, here we are driving around Washington looking for that place in our minds, a place where we belong, and after town after town, I kept bringing up that damn grocery store in Olympia.

"Sure would like to stock up on some of that produce at that Top Foods in Olympia...remember that place?"
"Yep," Sean quietly drove looking at the farmland and day dreaming of owning one.
"Well, you want to start heading back that way? It was really nice there..." I trailed off thinking of the exotic plums and nectorines.

We drove south I-5 hitting every town that was recommended and wondered why anyone would recommend it in the first place. Sure they were nice places, but they were either too far from SEA/TAC or had no shopping/downtown area or had no views of the mountians, etc. We had kids with many needs of good schools, sports, dance, bike paths, nature at their fingertips, and I needed to be near business so I could resume some line of work once the economy picks up. We wanted to be around people like us, outdoor enthusiasts and into healthy living.

We headed back to Olympia and stayed at a campground in Tumwater, WA--a suburb of Olympia that took us in for three weeks at a good rate. We belonged there. The people, the views, the lifestyles, and nature galore. We found an apartment complex high on the hill overlooking the Olympic Mountains, Puget Sound, the State Capitol, and Mt. Rainer--all in one sweeping look out our belcony. It wouldn't be ready for another few weeks for us to move in, so we hit the road and headed to Long Beach, WA. Twenty-eight miles of unobstructed beach just north of the Columbia River outlet into the Pacific.

A beautiful place to rest and explore for the week!