Wonders of the West

We are so fortunate to be living out here in the high desert, in Pioneertown in the Pipes Canyon area, and to be living in the most amazing rental house while our house building is completed. The house sits in this amazing desert valley area, surrounded by Joshua Trees and a natural landscape of desert plants stretching out as far as you can see. There are neighbors, but they aren't close. The house is full of natural light. Ceiling fans and the occasional swamp cooler run keep the house cool even at this hottest time of the year. Inside the house it is shaded all the time, so it stays cool. And we have a back porch that is always shaded, welcoming you to sit outside, especially in the evenings as the sun starts setting. Out here in the high desert the sunsets are amazing. 

Life feels so much closer to nature and the environment, the elements, out here in the high desert. You tend to want to go to bed early and 6:30 am feels like sleeping in. It is so quiet. Most of the time you do not hear anything but the birds. Can I tell you how much I love that? How rare it is to find that in this day and age in the US? Even out in the mountains and the forests on the east coast I could often still hear traffic far away in the distance from some highway. But that is one of the beauties of the West, right? Its the last place of wide open spaces here in our beautiful country. You may know this, but you don't really feel it until you actually come here and spend time moving around these big, beautiful, desolate states - Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana parts of Colorado and California. 

As a life time east-coast resident, this has been such a beautiful new world out here. There is so, so much to explore. We lived in Utah for two years and barely scratched the surface of seeing the parks and wild lands there. I look forward to seeing all of it, spending the rest of my life seeing everything out here in Utah, Nevada and California and Arizona and other states. It is so funny that I was such the east coast person and now I find myself in this whole other world. I do love the east coast - so much beauty in those mid-Atlantic states and up into New England. I adore the landscapes of my home in Pennsylvania, and still have small dreams of a small farmhouse and farm out in the country or a cabin up in those gorgeous woods, but I can't really say I miss it back there. 

People are always asking me if I miss living in Washington, or miss the east coast, and without hesitation I can say no. I do not. I guess its because there is so much to see out here. I am too busy exploring and being in the now to miss my past.