Years ago I had planned to write a travel blog, but things got in the way and although the domain still sits out there, I never did really bring it to life. But this blog has endured, so I include my travel posts here.

Back in May, I embarked on remodeling the kitchen and a bath in the Portland house. The initial intent was to get this big old house into condition to sell one of these days. I started a couple years ago with a new roof and gutters. It wasn’t a luxury item. The existing roof was 35 years old. Then last fall there was the complete reconstruction from roof up of the three rather large chimneys that were literally crumbling before our eyes. That was an expensive venture. This spring we installed a whole house generator. That is a luxury item, but when you have been without power for seven days straight during a winter ice storm, unable to get out of your neighborhood, it feels more like a necessity.

In our discussions of moving down south we realized we needed to update the kitchen and one of the three bathrooms if we were going to sell. We have lived through so many remodeling projects, which is not fun, and now that we theoretically have other houses to go to, I decided we would go down to Ojai for six weeks. Best laid plans and all.

In the process of picking out tile and fixtures for the Portland bath, I also picked out tile and fixtures for our Ojai bath. It’s a teeny little en-suite in desperate need of a shower redo. I had already planned out my birthday road trip down to Ojai so I sourced a contractor to get that bathroom shower tiled while we were traveling. Ha ha. In my dreams apparently.

As soon as the spring guests left the Ojai house, May 1st, I sent the contractor in to demo the shower. Easy peasy right? Well… they first Dexterized (as I like to call it) the path to the bathroom. Plastic from floor to ceiling. But then of course, they needed to remove everything in the room including the vanity to make things easier. And since they were removing the vanity, they may as well redo the backsplash tile too, right? And how about removing the pony wall between shower and vanity and just making it glass? And then walls needed to be repaired and repainted. Two days before we were to get to the Ojai house, preferably with a finished shower++, the contractor called to say they were running behind. The “tile guy” had to finish another job, and by the way, I hadn’t ordered enough floor tile, which I still don’t understand… oh yeah, a box of tile arrived broken. Remodeling projects are not for the faint of heart.

So back to being Nomads. Our previously 12 day road trip turned into 24 days with 10 of those days floating around pet friendly LA Airbnbs.

Although we really wanted to get to Ojai, we had a lot of fun roaming California.

Our first stop, Lassen Volcanic National Park and a cute log cabin in nearby Shingletown.

Then we commenced our unexpected LA portion of our trip. The first Airbnb in the Hollywood Hills was an adorable bungalow with a gorgeous garden but THE most uncomfortable beds. We splurged on the second rental, which had a pool and was owned by a famous cinematographer. Gotta love LA!

We finally did make it to Ojai where we continued to deal with contractors for a few days. We were able to use our new shower exactly once (after glass install) and before handing it over to the summer renter.

By the time we returned to Portland, the kitchen and bath were virtually done with just a couple punch list items remaining.

I went very neutral with our palette with resale always in the back of my mind. Currently we’re actually not planning to sell, but who knows what tomorrow will bring.