A year ago, after living in Hawaii for 16 years, my husband and I made the difficult decision to return to the mainland US. There were some practical reasons (business and family considerations), but the strongest driving factor in the decision was our intuition. As much as we loved Hawaii, our "guts" were telling us it was time to go.

Trusting in that decision was an important step. Next, the big question of where to go! I'm a writer and artist, and my husband ( @tarack ) is an internet marketer and investor, so we have a lot of flexibility. All we need is some studio space for me and a fast internet connection for him.

Although the whole world beckoned, wanting to be closer to my elderly parents limited our target to the mainland US. Within that huge territory, we most wanted to be somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, preferably near but not in Seattle, WA, or Portland, OR.

That left a lot of options, and it wasn't possible for us to fly to the mainland and look around before leaving Hawaii. Fortunately, my sister, who lives in northern Idaho, offered us her guest room as a temporary base from which to explore.

We sold most of our stuff and crammed the rest (some furniture, my sewing machine, and a lot of fabric and art supplies!) into a couple of shipping crates, coerced two anxious kitties into their travel kennels, and got on a plane.

That first stage of the move was so hectic and stressful, it was nice to relax for a bit after arriving in Idaho.

We used that time to make a detailed list of everything we'd appreciated about our Hawaii home and community. We created and held in our minds a vision of finding a new home where we would love to live and where we would experience the same appreciation. We made an equally detailed list of all the specific qualities and features we were looking for in both home and community, including an active chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild for me, speedy and reliable internet service, good healthfood stores and a farmer's market and, most important, a pet-friendly landlord.

Our first target -- based on conversations with people we knew and a lot of internet research -- was the Skagit Valley area north of Seattle. We gassed up the car and headed west for the 8 hour drive to the town of Mt. Vernon. Mt. Vernon offered everything on our list! People we talked to who knew the area raved about it! We were antsy with excitement…

Mt. Vernon is a nice little town. The area is pretty. It ticked off all the boxes on our next-hometown wish list. And while we spent several days there looking around, we'd both known right away this wasn't it. Our brains and checklists were saying, "sure, this could work," and our guts were telling us, "nope, not here."

I can't tell you specifically what caused that feeling, just that we felt tired and stressed the whole time we were there, and were snippy and short-tempered with each other, too. Even a side trip to the La Conner Quilt Museum didn't do much to lift my spirits. We decided to cut our trip short and head south to Portland.

It was going to be a 5 or 6-hour drive. Looking at the map, Olympia, Washington, seemed like a good place for a halfway-there pit stop.

As we cleared Seattle-Tacoma traffic and headed further south on I-5 we started to see signs for Olympia exits. I was driving, and almost didn't get off the highway. "I don't need a rest stop yet," I thought, "I'm good for another hour." But something inside prodded me to stick with the plan, so when exit 105 came up I took it, certain that if I didn't it would be a mistake.

Two minutes later we came up from an underpass and boom, there was the State Capitol building directly in front of us. What an uplifting sight! We drove through downtown on Capital Way, and said to each other, "this looks like a really nice town!"

We strolled along the harbor waterfront for a few minutes, until it began to drizzle, then explored the farmer's market (open all winter!), and stopped in a café for a hot mocha.

Everyone we saw looked relaxed and happy, and those we spoke to were cheerful and friendly and told us that, yes, Olympia is a great place to live.

We got back in the car to find a gas station. Rounding a corner, we drove past a large mural that proclaimed "we heart Olympia!". More important, we both realized that the hour we spent in Olympia that trip was the first time in four days that we, too, felt relaxed and happy and excited about the future. Our gut instinct was telling us: "this is the place."

Looking for the right house to rent was a whole other road trip and I won't drag you through the details, other than to say that the first handful of places we looked at were discouraging in various ways. We held to our vision of what we were looking for, and allowed our guts to guide us to keep looking when we were tempted to compromise. And sure enough, we found the perfect house in a lovely neighborhood, and moved in just before New Year.

Sure, there are friends that we miss back in Hawaii. We've said goodbye to palm trees ...

… and embraced the beauty of mossy woods and spring blossoms.

We couldn't be happier to now call ourselves "Olympians," and have no regrets about making the big move.

Having a clear vision of our desired next home and holding to it, then trusting in and allowing intuition to guide us, made a long and stressful transition easier and led us to a new home and town that we love to live in, just as we asked for.

{all photos by the author}

follow me: @venusdehilo