Our life in the slow lane continues to change. After spending most of the last two years in Mexico or in Europe, we are going to return to making Spokane, Washington USA as our primary residence.
Janice has already told everyone in this blog about the bungalow we have bought and her project to make it our home.
My guess that starting this fall we will spend April 1-November 1 in Spokane and then five months somewhere south away from the cold, northern winter. Unless there is a change of heart over this coming winter, it will be our last one in Mazatlan. We love Mazatlan and the wonderful friends we have made here. By the end of this winter Joel will have spent 4 1/2 years living in Mazatlan and Janice over 6 1/2 years as she came ahead and trail blazed while Joel was still working. We are anxious to check some of the other destinations that others have chosen for their snowbird lives. We would love to check out Arizona where we have friends that have wintered in Yuma, Lake Havasu, Phoenix, Tucson and Bisbee. We also would like to check out the west coast of Florida and Biloxi, Mississippi. Who knows, maybe even the Palm Springs area. If anyone has a suggestion, we will be glad to hear it.
Janice had been in Spokane since early May getting our new home ready. Joel and Janice drove up to Spokane and then Joel flew back to Mazatlan to stay out of the way of the remodel project, as that is not where he is gifted. (If truth be told, he was still needing more Mazatlan time) His contribution is the bookkeeping and transfer of needed funds. Luckily, at this stage of our lives we paid cash as somehow acquiring a mortgage at this stage of our lives did not sound pleasant.
The biggest change will for Joel to get into an American mind set. Joel loves the slow pace of life where a car is not required and eating out is affordable. Currently he can go to Pau Pau, his favorite hangout and nurse a couple of liter bottles of beer for the afternoon and be fed for around $6.00 that includes tip. Eating a full rack of ribs with salad, potato and coleslaw is $7. In the U.S. there are restaurants and bars that charge over $4-$5 for a 12 ounce bottle of beer, $5 - $10 for a glass of wine and $15-$25 for a dinner. Although our income is okay, if we want to escape the cold winters, we are going to have a budget in Spokane that avoids the regular eating out or getting a cerveza or vino that is easily affordable in Mazatlan. We will just enjoy more entertaining at home.
Both Janice and Joel are going to start re-entering Spokane life. Joel might volunteer at the local "Cop Shop" and the library. Janice is looking at volunteering at the local Civic Theaters. Also continuing setting up our home and oil painting. We are going to have a house warming on July 7 and we will celebrate Janice's birthday at the same time. On July 14th Joel will run the Missoula Marathon. Janice and our two grandsons, Jayden and Jaxson will come along to cheer him along for the 26.2 miles. We will also see Jackie, Jelani, Jordyn and Javin while in the Seattle area.In September we are going on a cruise along with Janice's brothers and their wives. We will go the inside passage of Alaska with a trip to Denali and then fly from Fairbanks to Seattle. Kenny is helping us with our gardening, lawn mowing and some other jobs helping him earn money this summer.
I am sure we will update this as our summer in Spokane continues and plans evolve.
Lucky to be in the states, 4 litre box of wine in Canada is 40 dollars at the liquor store!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's enough to forget about wine and beer and stick with water. You understand why it's hard to leave Mazatlan where it is so affordable.
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