Pragmatist
Pragmatist

Home again, home again in a year is going to be Vancouver, Washington. I've found the apartment complex where I want to live. talked with management. and walked the premises. When I move in, it will be into a newly refurbished apartment. Everything will be new. It's an income-limit place, and I'll have no trouble at all at meeting their upper income level.

The problem now is moneymoneymoney. I need to get a part time job and sock away every cent from that income. When you consider first and last months' rent, pet deposit, and moving expenses just to get there, then figure in deposits and such for getting utilities started it takes a sum of money. Oh, and don't forget cable and high speed internet connections. Yep,  sum of money is needed.

I have spent ten days in the most beautiful place I have ever seen. And I want to go back as soon as possible!!  I will have to live in Vancouver, which is about an hour away from where Megan lives in Yacolt, but an  hour away isn't significant when it's to the most peaceful, beautiful, quiet, aaaahhh! place you'll ever find.  I've been calling it ya-colt, but the natives call it ya-colt.  Whatever, you couldn't find a sweeter place on earth. Population 2,074 I think it was.  Not sure about the 74.  You can't look in any direction and not see trees. Lots of trees.. Big trees. Trees that have been there probably since Creation. And not only are there trees been growing there since forever, but people actually plant more trees. And mountains all around.  No cell phone reception, as Yacolt is surrounded by mountains, and there's no communication tower anywhere to be seen.

One evening when I was sitting outside, reading, all of a sudden I realized I wasn't hearing anything. Not a sound. No cars. No people yelling. No police sirens. No dogs barking. Just pure silence. I could hear my heart beating. Another day, I discovered that even the motorcycles are quiet. I realize that Vancouver won't be that quiet, but when Megan and I were checking out the place, the apartment complex was quiet. Pleasantly so.

Oh my! Would someone like to send me $6,000 so I can move now?!

Yacolt has a trading post, no police department, a fire department, primary school, pizza place, no hospital, post office ZIP 986--. a Catholic church, an Evangelical Free Church (there may be others, but I didn't see any on my walkabouts), oh, did I mention trees?  I think I saw a law office, but no doctor's office, and I didn't check the phone book. The ice cream truck comes around every afternoon. Oh, and the loveliest surprise of all--the children have manners!!!

Vancouver is a pretty little city on the Columbia River, just across from Portland,  Oregon.  In fact, Portlanders call Vancouver a suburb. I didn't have a chance to check out anything more than the apartment complex.

We visited with waterspriteflying. Saw some of her completed projects and a lot of her projects in the works.  She has scads of objects in drawers, on shelves and table-tops just waiting to be mated to something else in another drawer, shelf or table-top. Some of her creations are decorating her yard and flower beds. Something interesting everywhere the eye happens to glance. RC is one of those early-birds, so he left us for his bed. And female chat ensued. A lovely evening. Thank you, Ani.

I have pictures in my digital camera and on my cell phone. Will be showing some of the trees I saw.  Also. there will be pictures of a river and a creek and their falls. Some pools for swimming by those hardy folks who enjoy snow-melt temperatures. I climbed over rocks, and staggered up and down trails with my walker no less. I went to bed early with Vicodin that evening. 

We never made it to the State Fair, but that's OK. We'll do it another year once I've moved up there.  So I came home with some money left because I couldn't spend it on gew-gaws at the Fair.

Oh, it was a lovely ten days.


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