Decision Time

If you missed it, we’ve decided on Taos, New Mexico. It’s a relief to have a single location to focus on, but until we sign a contract to buy a home, there’s always a chance for things to change. 

Everyone in my family is very on board with Taos, but that’s because they’ll live within driving distance from us for the first time in my adult life. Mom and Dad are even seriously considering moving to Santa Fe, so they will only be 1.5, rather than 6, hours away. We won’t be as accessible for Cameron’s side of the family, but I’m justifying it knowing that we will be up there fairly regularly for work and social reasons. Luckily there are direct flights from Albuquerque to Seattle, and the extra 3 hour drive to the airport is less time than waiting and taking a secondary flight somewhere. 

Overall, I feel really excited about Taos, but there’s some FOMO related to the other serious contenders. We even wrote in to a podcast asking for the hosts’ opinions on Taos, Wenatchee, Bend, Missoula, and Carson City. (They have yet to address it on the air.) We also had to make the decision to disregard the East Coast spots we originally had on the list. Taos is great, but is it the absolute best option for us?

Maybe, maybe not, but I am committed to being happy with our decision. I’m already fantasizing about joining a community theater group, biking to the farmers market, piling rocks into cairns in the front yard, and befriending some cool young shop owners. Plus there’s always the option to move in a free years if our happiness isn’t sustained.  

For now, the tentative plan is to either get a furnished monthly rental or pay for long-term hookups at an RV park. That will give us time to identify parts of town we’d most want to live in, and to see how day-to-day life is in Taos. We want to meet in-person with some real estate agencies to find someone who can guide us through our many (often conflicting) wish list items. Maybe during that process we’ll be underwhelmed and realize that small-town rural New Mexico is not what we want, but I’m hopeful it will be the opposite and we will fall more in love with Taos and the Land of Enchantment. 

As this plan solidifies in my mind, the costs are adding up. Moving is always expensive, but we’ve been downsizing for years so will need to purchase a lot more than most folks. There’s the cost of the house, potentially building/renovating costs, and the short term rental; those are all standard. Unlike most, we’ll need to but a car, figure out how to move our small storage stashes from multiple states, and furnish the house in full (we have next-to-nothing as far as furniture goes). Thinking about these forthcoming costs makes me want to delay indefinitely and keep living the rent-free vanlifer life style.

But that’s not a true deterrent. We are sold on Taos but aren’t heading back that way immediately. We have to make a trip back to Utah for dentist appointments and a pre-planned social visit, so the earliest we’ll return is early April. Until then, this blog will be on a short hiatus. 

Taos has been the topic for my journaling and doodling a lot lately


Starting the list of what we want included in our dream home. Casita and workshop are at the top of the list. 


I don’t have any new pics of Taos, but here are some other spots on New Mexico I’m excited to go back to. The Gila Wilderness has food potential for future backpacking trips. 


Attempting to go to some hot springs in the Gila, but we turned back because the river was too high. 


Catwalk Recreation Area will be another future backpacking trip spot.

Taos, NM – Round 2

If you remember, Taos was the first “yes” I felt sparkly-excited about. Our first trip was spontaneous and quick, but this time we returned for a family ski weekend. I wanted to see if that sparkly feeling was sustained during a holiday weekend during peak tourism season. 

In short, yes – I still love Taos. We had two very different but both very good ski days. Despite meeting people on the lifts from Colorado, Texas, and New York all visiting for Presidents Day, neither the slopes nor the town felt excessively crowded. We always found easy parking, we never had to wait for a restaurant (although we probably would have the first night at Taos Inn if we didn’t have a reservation), everyone was really friendly, and the town had a nice bustle to it.

Everything about our trip was great. The skiing was fun, everywhere we ate was tasty, and I had no problem shopping for a gift. Most importantly, I can picture my life here. Whether we live in a little adobe walking distance to town, or an Earthship on the other side of the Rio Grand Gorge, or we build a house en route to Taos Ski Valley, I have a mostly clear idea of my day-to-day. Regardless of which scenario we end up with, I’m happy about it!

Maybe I’m looking at Taos through rose-colored glasses, but I think this is it. We’ve spent the last two weeks perusing real estate apps and there have been at least three homes I’d categorize as my dream home. If Cameron weren’t insistent on waiting until after our taxes are dealt with, I’d be a Taos resident already. 

Taos Ski Valley is a well-renowned expert resort, and Cameron said it has a lot of favorable similarities to his childhood ski area in Canada. 

The ski area’s village is cute. It has a Spanish Colonial/Native American style and it’s carbon neutral!

We took the record-breaking Kachina lift up to 12,450 feet of elevation. The elevation was noticeable, but the skiing was excellent. 

Skiing day 2 was a different vibe. Visibility was minimal, but we had fresh powder all day. Cameron and I hiked up to the Highline and West Basin ridges and now are officially “ridge heads.”

Enough skiing pics! We had fun in town too. There was live music in the lobby of the Taos Inn on Friday night. 

I also had an excellent green chili margarita at the Taos Inn. In fact, I had multiple tasty green chili cocktails while in Taos. 

We had other yummy treats in town. Rather than ice cream, we opted for mousse cups at Chokola. 

Although I’m happy to report you can get year-round ice cream across the street at Manzanita Market. Fun flavors, too! Plus they sell my favorite Albuquerque-made deodorant. 

Cameron didn’t get to walk around town last time, but he finally did this time around and was impressed.

I just love the wood-and-adobe vibe of Taos. 

This is inside a restaurant, but I want this style of architecture in my house. One of the reasons Taos beats out other “yes” towns is because we probably can afford a home with charm and interesting architectural features. 

Anyways, Taos is great, and New Mexico is a great state that I’d be happy to move back to. 

Carson City, NV

Nevada is underrated. Most people only ever go to Las Vegas (which holds next-to-no appeal for me), but northern Nevada is pretty cool! There’s Lake Tahoe, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the “Biggest Little City,” Reno, as a hub. We spent a few days in Carson City, the State’s Capital, visiting family and one of my childhood friends from Germany. It wasn’t my initial intention, but I liked the area enough that it’s worth an assessment for the Goldilocks Project. I’ll focus on Carson City, since that’s where we were, but I’d be open to other parts of Northern Nevada.

The Good

• Their area is underrated, so outside of the “big cities” of Reno and Carson City, it’s pretty sparse and affordable.
• The exception to that is Californians. Our relations were saying that Californians are starting to discover it and move in. No surprise because you still have easy access to fun parts of California, but you’re paying $1+ less per gallon of gas and property prices and taxes are way more manageable.
• Carson City has everything we’d want, plus it’s only 45 minutes away from Reno when we need the airport and larger-scale entertainment. 
• Most of the State’s population is in the cities, which means politics tend to lean liberal. 
• Lake Tahoe is only 30 minutes away and it’s gorgeous! I know I’m not the first to say that, but wow! Since it’s a popular tourist destination, I’m happy to see that there is other lakes and rivers nearby that I expect are more locals-only spots.
• The city is bordered by the Carson Range, and then the Sierra Nevadas are not much further west. We enjoyed skiing at Palisade Tahoe one day, and I already know I like hiking in the area since we spent 21 days backpacking the Sierra Nevadas this summer.
• Built in family and friends is always a plus, and it’s in a good middle-ground between both of our immediate families.  

The Bad

• Although it’s not Las Vegas, gambling is omnipresent in Nevada. There are casinos of course, but even gas stations and convenient stores typically have a few slot machines. 
• I’m worried about water conservation and access. The fact that Lake Tahoe is so pristine it’s a good indication that the State is aware that ongoing water access is crucial to living in its dry climate and is taking water conservation seriously. 
• Summer heat is a concern. Average temperatures are pretty manageable, but historic highs are far beyond what I want to put up with.

The Verdict

Yes, but we don’t know much about it. Before it sneaks into the top 5 we need to do a deeper drive. 

Lake Tahoe is amazing and a huge selling point.

Even in the winter, the lake was attracting folks for multiple reasons, including some sort of kite surfing-type thing. 

 

Although technically in California, we enjoyed skiing at Palisade Tahoe. That said, there are some ski areas on the Nevada side. 

The ski area was packed, mostly with tech folks working in San Francisco based on the conversations I overheard in the aerial tram.

Views of the Carson Range from a Carson City neighborhood. 

Nevada State capital building. 

Apologies for the limited and bad photos. I didn’t expect to add Carson City as a blog spot until pretty late into our visit. 

We had good pizza and beer at Great Basin Brewing. 

After auditing casinos I’m less dismissive of them than I used to be, but they still aren’t appealing. 

Vanlife: An Update

Wow wow wow – it’s been over one year since our first “practice trip.” At this point, I think we’ve become true vanlifers and have gotten ourselves into some vanlife-specific predicaments. I still hesitate to disclose our living situations to everyone, but I think Cameron and I have both mellowed out about a lot of things thanks to our unusual life style.

Over the holidays, we saw quite a few friends for the first time since moving into the van. The most common comments were:

1) “It’s way bigger than I realized from the pictures!” – Yep! From tires up, Vanjie is about 10ft tall and 24ft long. That’s about double the height and length of a standard car.

2) “Every section is so multifunctional!” – That’s the nature of tiny house living. I’ve tried to detail the layout in previous posts, and I’m really proud of our setup and ingenuity. One friend we saw who also lives in a tiny house was very complimentary, which felt extra special since he knows just how tough it can be to make a small space livable.

The next comment is typically either “I wish I could live in a van like you” or “I could never do what you’re doing.” I also tend to oscillate between those two beliefs about myself and this lifestyle. Some days I’m so amazed that I am jumping between three national parks in one week, and others where I would give anything for a shower. It was the latter mindset that led us to accept free showers from a homeless services center in Greenlake, Seattle. Waiting in the intake room unsure if I should pretend to be homeless even though I have everything in the world except an easily accessible shower was one of those vanlife-specific situations I never expected to get in to.

Some other recent showers have included an Oregon YMCA ($2 to use the locker room showers after 7pm), a community bathroom that was supposed to be $1/minute but the quarter intake machine was broken so it was only $0.25/minute(!), and a dingy convenient store outside of Death Valley National Park (also only $2). Many truck stops have showers, but we’ve managed up avoid those since they tend to cost $8-$12 a pop. Winter living is less sweaty, but shower options are often seasonally closed, so finding a spot after we’d already pushed it a day too long has led us on some interesting detours.

The most interesting detour to-date (not shower related) was returning to Port Angeles, WA for a jury duty summons. Luckily we were still in the Pacific Northwest and didn’t have to fully drive across the country to meet my civic duty. I did, however, ask my sister-in-law to forge my signature in the “yes I will attend jury duty” form. We were in Oregon, and instead of taking the most direct route, we drove up the Oregon and Washington coasts via Highway 101, which is considered one of the most beautiful road trips in the US. We didn’t have the time to take a tour of the Tillamook Creamery, but I finally saw the coastal part of the Olympic National Park. If you’re curious, I had to go into court one day as part of the jury pool, but I never made it into the jury box. 

Yes, having to back track was mildly frustrating, but like I said, I am so chill and flexible now. Maybe to a default, because we’re forcing all of our relations to be flexible with us. If you were able to meet up with me with less than 24-hours notice, thank you! And if you’re someone who I said I would meet up with in January and then never reached out, I’m sorry! Can I blame the jury duty?

Special extra thanks to anyone who let us use their shower, laundry, and/or driveway, especially if you are someone who only knows us tangentially. Cameron and I tend to think of ourselves as courteous and unimposing rule followers, but we’ve had to get over that to some extent. We’ve slept in a friend’s parents’ yard (we had never previously met her parents), in the parking lots of a few overcrowded apartment complexes (but only when we knew someone in the complex), and in a hard-to-come-by spot in the center of the very urban Capital Hill, Seattle. 

Similarly, we’ve been in many social situations than Cameron is normally uncomfortable with, but he’s been handling it like a champ. When I pointed that out to him, he theorized that living in a van has forced him into the unknown enough that now social uncertainties seem relatively minor. I think it might also be that he’s sick of just talking to me because I tend to zone out when he tells stories (sorry Cam!). Maybe it’s the van, or maybe it’s just normal aging, but Cameron has started taking center stage in social settings, and I’m happy taking a step back. 

For me, that’s partially because I’m not sure how to relate to people anymore. My day-to-day typically starts with a rabbit licking my face, driving to a scenic parking spot, working for five hours, and then deciding where to head for the next night – probably not the most relatable life style. In the rare times I’ve met someone else who seems to be living in a van, I’m too self conscious to have a meaningful conversation with them. 

Despite having an Ikon pass and a blog, I’m not enough of a ski bum/influencer to relate to the other young well-off vanlifers, and I want to keep it that way! But not only am I living an unusual life, but I don’t know what to ask people about their more mundane lifestyles. I will happily take suggestions on suitable questions to ask people, especially for folks who are homebodies and/or have kids. I know this is a personal flaw. In fact, I’m often quite envious of people who have seemingly unchanging schedules.

But that’s not us, so what’s next? We’ve seen everything on the list (except the East Coast towns, but I’m ok making our final decision without visiting those) and likely will likely try to spend some extended time in the final few. As I write this, we are heading to Taos for a family ski weekend and a  round 2 assessment. We’ll ski our way back up to Utah (because we have upcoming dentist appointments) and then decide on next steps. 

Vanlife can be exhausting, especially since we try to maximize seeing as much as possible as we travel. (This photo taken in Hood River, OR.)

Got to get a Cameron sleeping photo, too (this taken near Klamath Falls, OR).

And just to round out our little trio, Pancake has started to jump up on the bed in the middle of the night.

I’ve tried to explain this before, but we have a bench seat over the toilet, a drop down table, and a tuck-away shower curtain all sharing the same space.

We try to keep tidy, but it’s hard. We’ve been keeping a towel on the floor to keep the floors cleaner, but winter also means a lot more wet muck and jackets piling up. 

More of the mess: the toilet paper still doesn’t have a permanent place, nor do our shoes, and Pancake has slowly been tearing apart a Sisters, OR tourism magazine.

Despite the restraints, we keep up our creative cooking habits. We attempted homemade flatbread pizzas outside of Lava Beds National Monument.

Photo from Lava Bed National Monument (Golden Dome Cave).

The working situation is still the same: special  views of napping bunny and our ZZ plant.

Many dump stations are closed for winter, which is why we ended up at this remote WA state park (Cape Disappointment). 

With less dump stations, we have less options for in-van showering (because we need full water and an empty gray tank) which is why we ended up at this homeless center in Seattle. I’m getting a hands-on appreciation of public services that serve a great purpose!

Another public shower situation. They’re rarely nice, but always appreciated.

We’re staying plenty warm in the van, even with many nights at sub-freezing temperatures. We also now have snow chains, just in case. 

We’ve been making good use of our Ikon passes. We’ve skied in 4 states already. This photo is from Crystal Mountain in WA.

 

Here’s one from Palisade Tahoe, CA. We also skied Mammoth Mountain, CA; Mount Bachelor, OR; a few spots in UT; and we’re on our way to Taos, NM.

We also did some backcountry skiing in a few National Parks: Lassen Volcanic NP (pictured) and Olympic NP.

Needless to say, we’ve gotten plenty of out of our $80 annual America the Beautiful pass. This photo taken at a protected natural area on the Oregon coast.

Pancake spent a little bit of time on this beach. We let her outside whenever it’s reasonable. 

Here she is at a park near Edmonds, WA. 

We need to keep her enriched, otherwise she gets herself in trouble. 

Part of her enrichment is meeting new friends, like her in-law, Zoe, who she hung out with a more than expected because of my jury duty summons. 

Proof that I had to be in court. 

We’re legal residents of Port Angeles, WA, so I was hanging out at the Clallam County Courthouse. 

We were previously in WA for the holidays, including my office holiday party. It’s hard to get fancy when you live in a van, but I think we did pretty well.

Since it was the first longer visit in Washington since moving into the Vanjie, we gave a lot of van tours. 

Cameron also stepped out of his comfort zone – he did karaoke!