Well, it's true. My Lovely Bride and I are now living in the magnificent redwood forests of West Sonoma County, California. It's along story, and you can visit the Affordable Paradise Update Page for all the details. The link is herewith (as they say). And just in case it doesn't publish the way it's supposed to (wouldn't surprise me with this Blog), it is: http://www.affordablehawaiiliving.com/update-33.html.
It was a long, tough decision and please know that our hearts are still in Hawaii and always will be. I am still going to support my mission to help people find affordable living in Hawaii, this Blog will be maintained and of course, Affordable Paradise is still available and a Fifth Edition is on the horizon, although at this point it seems that it will be in eBook format.
Your question, comments, suggestions are always welcome!
Stay tuned!
Skip
3 comments:
Dear Skip,
I am too old to be surprised by anything and wish you great new things in beautiful Russian River country. I have thought of you many times since long ago when I talked with you before promoting "Affordable Paradise" on my website. I lived and worked in Hawaii for many years and am like a silly boy dreaming about a lost love from far away in Everett, Washington.
I was born here, in Washington State, and longed for it's beautiful mountains, blue water and white water river..... But never like I long for Hawaii. Occasional trips back are great, but I've always found myself wanting to return. Though Nostalgia has a sweet side I wouldn't wish so much of it on you. I wish you everything good in Northern California.
I decided about 3 weeks ago to buy the latest version of you book and to review it on a blog page of my own promoting it. Both my Lovely Sweetheart and I have read it and I am about to set up a blog on a sub-directory of of my 16 year old site, www.imagine-hawaii.com . The site will feature many books about Hawaii and blah, blah, blah ; all in the spirit of Aloha.
Aloha Nui
Stephen Tuell
Aloha, Stephen!
Mahalo for your post, and what a pleasant surprise to hear from you again!
Since you can't seem to tear yourself away from Washington State but are still yearning to be in Hawai'i, how about a place in both places? Rent the one you're not in. Or find somebody who would do a 6-month-at-a-time house swap between both places. Or hey, just do it and move to Hawai'i!
I perused your Web site for a while this morning, and I do appreciate the promised attention directed at Affordable Paradise. One important detail I think needs to be put out there is that the focus of Affordable Paradise is on The Big Island and not on any of the other Islands.
The reason is simple: If I were to write a book on affordable living in California, it would be directed to those who yearn to live in California but have read all the stats telling how expensive it is. So in that book I wouldn't even bother to talk about Beverly Hills or San Francisco. So in my book on how to live affordable in Hawai'i, I don't talk about Honolulu or Lahaina, either. Or any place else on the other Islands where nothing is affordable by regular working folks.
We are now living in one of the lowest-cost areas in California, where you can actually buy a livable house for $100K, just like on the Big Island. Actually, there are a lot of comparable factors between The BI and the Russian River area of Sonoma County, costs being just one of them. There's alot of aloha here, great community spirit, and even a laid-back and quiet lifestyle. Instead of the ocean beaches, we have river beaches. Well, in the summer we have them!
My point, which got sidetracked, is that even though we're in this low-cost area, it was still cheaper to live in Hawai'i.
Anyway, back to Affordable Paradise, I wrote it expressly to diffuse the data people glean from all the charts, graphs and statistics that demonstrate the high cost of everything in Hawai'i. The simply do not apply to the Big Island, and even when the BI's population is factored into their numbers, that population is so small by comparison that is hardly matters.
I'm happy to see you're still keeping your Hawai'i Web site alive. It has lots of great info and links, and people out there looking for more info from different perspectives appreciate all they can get!
I'll keep checking back for your Blog. Maybe you could send a note when it's up?
Aloha Nui!
Skip
Attention, Visitors! I don't know how this happened, but all of a sudden it seems the posts here have begun anew. If you would like to visit the hundreds of past postings, please click on "Old Posts" at the bottom of this page!
Mahalo!
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