Here's where we've been living since January 2012. (Top-Entry) (Bottom-view of downtown Houston from our 16th floor deck)
When we returned to Houston in May of 2011 we had every intention of going back to the Bahamas that following winter. But, as so often happens, fate had a little different idea of what we were going to do for the next year and a half. After spending the summer living and working at our home in Colorado we returned to Kingwood toward the end of September and shortly after our arrival received a very serious offer to buy our Kingwood home of over 20 years. Having had the place on the market for over 5 years with never a valid offer, we were ecstatic. The buyers insisted that we close on or before November 15 even though that gave us less than 30 days after the final contract was signed. Despite our recognition of what a physical challenge this was going to be we kept "our eye on the prize". I won't detail the incredibly rough road we trod toward closing but we did it! After spending every waking hour packing, discarding, fixing up and moving "stuff" to our large storage room on the SECOND FLOOR of our office building in Humble ( I estimate around 400 trips up and down 18 steps ---I did lose about 20 pounds but injured my knee (now fully resolved) in the process) we did succeed to close--although the entire issue was in doubt up to the last day (NOT a pleasant experience)---on November 15th.
Oh yeah---I forgot to mention that we had no place to live, so part of our time was spent exploring possibilities. For some time we had toyed with the idea of moving "down town" and had even put a contract on a place near down town Houston several years earlier (when we thought we had a contract on the Kingwood home---turned out the "buyer" was a total nut case) Sooo--we headed for down town and started looking at homes for sale and rent.
We had easily decided that we wanted to do something different than remaining in Kingwood where we had lived for almost 40 years---we love the community, our friends, our church---but we knew we wanted to do something different. Soooo---Down town we went, in search of a new life. We decided to explore the down town scene--the theater, concerts, restaurants, parks, museums--for a year and then see where we were. One of the first places we stopped (we were just driving by and noticed an "Open House" sign in front) was The Royalton, high rise. We were mostly just curious but once inside we were sold. We had thought we would try to find one of the many 3 story town homes that have been built here over the last 10 years but once we saw the high rise way of life we quickly changed our minds. We did continue to investigate other possibilities but eventually decided to rent, for a year, a nice (small) 2 bedroom on the 16th floor. It's in the Northeast corner with a great view of the downtown skyline (or approximately the 1/2 that isn't blocked by the office building next door). It's right on Buffalo Bayou and the park area that surrounds it.
The building has all the amenities we could ever want or need and ---the best part---I don't have to maintain them! They even clean the 2 gas grills in our "back yard" that we use frequently--they're always spotless---huge gym, nice pool, party room and a couple of inexpensive but nice hotel rooms for guests. (As there is a coffee and soft drink bar on the 1st floor, we haven't made a pot of coffee since we moved in.)
We have enjoyed every minute of our downtown experience (is it down town or downtown???)and have taken full advantage of all the things we came for.
One of the first things I did once we knew where we were going to live was to call my old partners at Miller, Scamardi and Carrabba (office exactly 6 minutes away) to see if they had an extra office to rent ---I would need a place to escape to---Not only did they have an office for me but I ended up becoming "Of Counsel" to the firm and have been extremely busy helping them work up some of their cases. It just worked out perfectly and I couldn't be more pleased with the situation and especially the camaraderie that I had missed for the last 7 years officing out of my home and at our building in Humble. So, we have enjoyed this new experience beyond words (and have even been able to work on increasing the cruising kitty a bit)--BUT -- it's time to move on---and that takes me to the title of this post---The New Journey:
The new journey begins this coming February when we set sail for the Bahamas, and particularly, the Exumas, once again. Actually, I'll be leaving the law firm (again) just prior to Christmas, then on to Kris and Paul's in Colorado Springs for Christmas, then return and prepare to move (again) out of the condo--put all the furniture (again) in storage and head on over to Florida, to the boat, where we will prepare and provision for a Feb 1 departure for the Fla. Keys, and then over to the Bahamas. We plan to be gone for several months-after which we will move into our town home in Colorado for the summer. After that?? Who knows?! We'll know by the end of this next trip whether we'll keep the boat, in Fla? or bring it back to Houston? Hopefully we will have decided by then where we want to "settle down" and can make more definite plans. We've thought about selling Assisted Living and just chartering more frequently on a larger boat that can more readily accomodate friends and family guests/crew and that doesn't involve the maintenance/insurance/storm worries/berthing that is involved in boat ownership. It would be a tough decision and we've put it off to see how we feel after this next cruise. We have truly come to love our little sloop.
So---that's the plan. And hopefully our health, the weather and the uncertainties in this crazy world will allow us to continue to pursue our dream/s. We hope you'll follow along with us by visiting this site as we prepare and embark. Remember to visit the SPOT link at the top of the page so you can see exactly where we are at any given time, superimposed over a Google Earth map. (There's nothing there right now but it will become active again when we depart). You can also "Join" this site by clicking on the box up in the same area on the page.Life is Good!!
The building has all the amenities we could ever want or need and ---the best part---I don't have to maintain them! They even clean the 2 gas grills in our "back yard" that we use frequently--they're always spotless---huge gym, nice pool, party room and a couple of inexpensive but nice hotel rooms for guests. (As there is a coffee and soft drink bar on the 1st floor, we haven't made a pot of coffee since we moved in.)
We have enjoyed every minute of our downtown experience (is it down town or downtown???)and have taken full advantage of all the things we came for.
One of the first things I did once we knew where we were going to live was to call my old partners at Miller, Scamardi and Carrabba (office exactly 6 minutes away) to see if they had an extra office to rent ---I would need a place to escape to---Not only did they have an office for me but I ended up becoming "Of Counsel" to the firm and have been extremely busy helping them work up some of their cases. It just worked out perfectly and I couldn't be more pleased with the situation and especially the camaraderie that I had missed for the last 7 years officing out of my home and at our building in Humble. So, we have enjoyed this new experience beyond words (and have even been able to work on increasing the cruising kitty a bit)--BUT -- it's time to move on---and that takes me to the title of this post---The New Journey:
The new journey begins this coming February when we set sail for the Bahamas, and particularly, the Exumas, once again. Actually, I'll be leaving the law firm (again) just prior to Christmas, then on to Kris and Paul's in Colorado Springs for Christmas, then return and prepare to move (again) out of the condo--put all the furniture (again) in storage and head on over to Florida, to the boat, where we will prepare and provision for a Feb 1 departure for the Fla. Keys, and then over to the Bahamas. We plan to be gone for several months-after which we will move into our town home in Colorado for the summer. After that?? Who knows?! We'll know by the end of this next trip whether we'll keep the boat, in Fla? or bring it back to Houston? Hopefully we will have decided by then where we want to "settle down" and can make more definite plans. We've thought about selling Assisted Living and just chartering more frequently on a larger boat that can more readily accomodate friends and family guests/crew and that doesn't involve the maintenance/insurance/storm worries/berthing that is involved in boat ownership. It would be a tough decision and we've put it off to see how we feel after this next cruise. We have truly come to love our little sloop.
So---that's the plan. And hopefully our health, the weather and the uncertainties in this crazy world will allow us to continue to pursue our dream/s. We hope you'll follow along with us by visiting this site as we prepare and embark. Remember to visit the SPOT link at the top of the page so you can see exactly where we are at any given time, superimposed over a Google Earth map. (There's nothing there right now but it will become active again when we depart). You can also "Join" this site by clicking on the box up in the same area on the page.Life is Good!!
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