At the end of July, we spent 10 days living and working out of a VRBO in Olympia, Washington. We needed to get out of our house for awhile and decided to pick somewhere we could easily drive to… that also had reciprocal rentals with our boat club. Honestly, it wasn’t much different than life at home – we just did it somewhere else. We celebrated Melissa’s birthday with a meal out (!), we went out on a boat three times, and the rest of the fam explored parks while I “worked from home” for all days but one. We also had the opportunity to hang with three of my old Amazon co-workers and some of their families while down there. In a strange twist of life, I’d seen no Amazon co-workers in Seattle at that point. Still haven’t, I guess.

Olympia is a town of about 50k, while Seattle-proper is approaching 800k (3.4 million in metro area). The difference, especially during COVID closures, was stark. I can see how people make a home there – green parks, proximity to water, cheaper real estate, and a whole host of other reasons. I will admit to growing weary of Seattle as it tries to mature from a small city to a medium one; I also know a place like Olympia is too small for us. Boating in the south Sound is pretty great, though. Lots of open water and privacy while battling minimal waves from tides or other boats. Also on the upside, Dom got to see the buildings that house our state government… during normal times. A good change of scenery.

It was an odd week+. Not sure it was ever gonna feel like anything but. In the end, it was nice to get away from our cage for awhile.