Heading stateside, we're ready to 'set roots' somewhere, have a home-base where we can return to in the summers - as we're determined to continue international teaching as a life-style. Before I became pregnant, Todd and I spent a lot of time talking about where we wanted to buy a house and set roots. We both love our hometown of Juneau, Alaska for many reasons; the breath-taking nature, the small (but not too small) community, the fun and funky downtown, and the Eaglecrest ski area to name a few. But... my immediate family no longer lives there and it's only accessible by a pricey flight from Seattle, WA. It's land-locked and water-locked, which means no roads in or out. The difficulty of family visits and the general isolation of Juneau, would make it a harder place to settle long term. So, I started researching cities in the US with our 'must-have' criteria, including: on the ocean, an hour from a ski-area, an active 'artsy' community, young, family friendly, and near a major airport. It was surprising how few cities fit these criteria, but one of them was Bellingham, Washington. It's on the Alaskan marine highway, an hour or so from Vancouver, an hour and a half to two hours from Seattle, WA, a little over an hour from Mt Baker, and a pretty young crunchy community. So... Bellingham will be one of the places Todd looks for a job (ha, yeah finding a teaching job in the US now). I have faith that we'll find something, somewhere, despite the economy and job situation in the states.
I'm hoping that this blog will help me to keep family in-touch and up-to-date as our little family grows up.
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