It’s finally here. A few more days of work, a lot of packing and planning yet to go, but it’s so close we can taste it! As we move into the final phase of preparation to leave our jobs and travel, we’ve been reflecting on what we will miss most about our bay area life, as well as what we are looking forward to about travel and the anticipated challenges.

What we will miss the most about California? Number one is definitely the wonderful friends we have made here. Some have become more like family.

High on the list also is having close (relatively speaking) access to Yosemite, easily one of the most beautiful places on the planet. We feel so fortunate to have spent so much time there!

Of course, we will miss Tahoe, San Francisco, and Oakland as well, but those are places we will return to frequently with easy flights from Seattle and many friends we’ll stay connected with.

We have been consistently motivated to squeeze every last drop out of our time in California because we knew that we would move away. What a gift this knowledge has been! It helped us to pursue many incredible experiences. Climbing in Yosemite, Tuolumne, and Lover’s Leap…

Skiing Tahoe… (Or sitting around in the sun in Tahoe, which is what we actually end up doing most of the time…Shhhh).

Summit and snowboard descent of Mount Shasta…

Kayak camping at Tomales Bay…

Backpacking in the high Sierra…

Beautiful, boozy days in Napa…

and many, many fun night nights out in the city.

Im also fairly certain that we will – at times – miss the creature comforts of our current lifestyle. That reassuring knowledge that we can meet most of our basic needs at almost any time. Cooking in our own kitchen. Having a comfortable bed to come home to. The list goes on. At the same time, the allure of adventure on the road ahead makes it easy to leave these comforts behind.

Many challenges lie ahead that we cannot anticipate, and hopefully overcoming these challenges will allow us to grow. After all, a ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for… right?

For now, we will spent our remaining days in the bay packing up, confirming visas, getting rid of most of our belongings, panicking about the current political climate, and saying goodbye to dear friends. Then we’ll spend about two weeks in Tahoe before driving back to Seattle to say goodbye to our Northwest family and friends. At the end of February, we’ll be off to Indonesia! Excitement and gratitude are at an all time high.