A happy personal announcement...

[leeatmg]

Thought I'd share this with the gang here, since it's official as of today.

My wife has accepted a position with a new company and tendered her resignation today. Since I work from home, I am mobile, so we had been considering a move for some time and the right opportunity happened to come up.

As of sometime in mid-June (so the kids can finish the school year) the new home state of the Wild Life Refuge, and her captain and captainess (as well as the three little mates) is...

Arizona! (the Phoenix area, somewhere in the SE metro, likely Gilbert/Chandler/Mesa.)

Yes - year round boating is in my future. Can't wait!

 

[itsdgm]

Congrats on that. Wow from MN to AZ. That will be a bit of an adjustment. Safe to say that you can probably leave the snow plow and shovels behind

 

[Julian]

Congrats! I was in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago....beautiful area!

 

[Boat Crazy]

Congratulations for your whole family.

 

[leeatmg]

Thanks, @Julian and @itsdgm...I have family there, so we visit at least once a year and we do like it down there. Both of us are midwesterners born and raised, but I lived in TX and NM for a few years each and grew to love it in the southwest. Wife and I met while I was living in NM, and I moved to MN after we got married. Very happy to have an opportunity to head back to the warm weather. Once you move away from the cold, I don't think you ever learn to like it again. This winter hasn't helped, and probably was a little bit of a push. I admit I was skeptical about the boating opportunities in the Phoenix area, but have had some private conversations with some folks on the "other board" about boating and feel better about the decision. The lakes in MN are awesome (hard to argue with a lake that has four boat up restaurants with live music most nights and less than 30 minutes from your house) but the season is just so, so short here.

Have to sell the (almost new) snowblower, though. Sounds like more boat toys to me!

 

[farrelltravis]

Congrats! Hope it all goes well! I am sure the warmer weather will be appreciated!

 

[farrelltravis]

Lee, by the way - I graduated from Bemidji State Univeristy. I did my classes online from Oklahoma though. Would like to visit MN sometime. I have never been there. I have been to Phoenix though. Phoenix is pretty dang neat! Not much mowing of lawns goes on around there!

 

[leeatmg]

Lee, by the way - I graduated from Bemidji State Univeristy. I did my classes online from Oklahoma though. Would like to visit MN sometime. I have never been there. I have been to Phoenix though. Phoenix is pretty dang neat! Not much mowing of lawns goes on around there!

I do like it here very much, though make sure you visit here during summer (i.e., between July 1st and July 20th.)

 

[PEARCE]

That's awesome! Good luck with the transition. I guess y'all finally get to thaw out and stay that way year around.

 

[farrelltravis]

19 days of summer!! Gotta love it! I bet Phoenix is going to be a real treat for you for about a month. Then, I bet you might start to think it is too hot.

 

[jawsf16]

Lee,

I will be interested to hear how you like the area and the boating. That is on my short list of places to move when I retire from the Air Force. I lived there for training out at Luke, but don't know much about the SE side. It seems the best place for boating though in the area.

 

[leeatmg]

It looks like there are several very beautiful lakes east of Phoenix, all national parks. The closest is 45 mins to an hour away. Very scenic area. I'm used to midwestern lakes, which mostly have homes along the coasts and a few commercial ventures (restaurants, etc.) so it will be an adjustment to drive farther and for the lake to be all scenery and no homes. Not that homes are an issue; on our home lake (Lake Minnetonka) it's a lot of fun tooling around looking at homes all day (some of them are $20 million +) and waterborne bar-hopping.

I work from home, so I am blessed to be able to work from the boat a day or two a week during the season (we had a wet slip here.) That may be harder due to the travel times, or I may just need to learn to plan better. We shall see. And of course, the JB code requires that anyone traveling to that area once I'm settled in is certainly welcome to a day out, weather permitting...

 

[Bruce]

Congrats, that is quite a move!

 

[leeatmg]

Thanks @Bruce ! It's something we've been thinking about for a long time, and we are fortunate this opportunity came along before our kids got too old. We would not be doing this a few years from now.

 

[txav8r]

Lee, this happened fast! Seems like yesterday you were just talking about the offer. So she turned in her notice today? Congrats! You will enjoy less snow...but start buying shorts, sunscreen, auto window tint now! You will be able to forget the snow...but the sun will make its presents known! Congrats again and be following the move!

 

[leeatmg]

Lee, this happened fast! Seems like yesterday you were just talking about the offer. So she turned in her notice today? Congrats! You will enjoy less snow...but start buying shorts, sunscreen, auto window tint now! You will be able to forget the snow...but the sun will make its presents known! Congrats again and be following the move!

Thanks, Mel...yes, we've been considering the move since just after Christmas, and not actually moving until June. My wife will commute every other week to Phoenix and work from here the opposite weeks until school is out. Hopefully our home will sell during that timeframe and we can just head out.

We had to be careful because she works for a company with offices in many states and if word had gotten out there would have been consequences...thankfully, it went well for all involved. She works for a large construction firm and that industry is hyper-competitive. She is going to a competitor of theirs, albeit one that is a friendly competitor, but still... It's a smaller company, so there will be fewer high profile projects to be proud of (they have built some cool things, like Coors Field in Denver and the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles) but it's an opportunity for a better balance - less work, more time at home, and more outdoor time to boot. The winters here...suck. No other word for it.

 

[fairpilot]

Congrats I was hoping Florida I wish you all the luck. Arizona is very nice

 

[leeatmg]

Congrats I was hoping Florida I wish you all the luck. Arizona is very nice

Florida is very nice too. To be honest, if I had my pick my first choice would be the Emerald Coast. 'Twas not to be. Arizona is a good second choice.

 

[Magic]

Very excited for you in your move! Let me know how I can be of help!

Lived here all my life and although our lakes don't have many boat up restaurants, we do have virgin shoreline, and oh yeah, boating season runs from about February through late January....... =)

 

[HawkTX]

Congrats!!!