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Our Tiny Living Story - Part 1
Tosha Tingey • May 10, 2019
Our Journey to Tiny Living
Jon and I have lived in Utah while we were dating and through over a year of our marriage. We had just had our baby girl and apparently that wasn’t a big enough change because we were feeling antsy for something more. We both felt like there was something that we were supposed to be doing but couldn’t quite put a finger on it. As the weeks and months wore on the anxious feelings got worse.
Jon was working a 9-5 job that included some travel and I was working weird hours at the hospital. During one of Jon’s lunch breaks he surprised me by coming home and taking Addie and me to grab lunch and go for a drive. With our lunch in sacks on our laps, Jon turned to me and asked, “Up or down?” I chose down and off he drove.
A few minutes later we arrived at Utah lake. This had become a favorite spot of ours to take Finnick on a walk and let him play in the water. We parked the car and faced the large reflective waters.
We sat in silence for some time then Jon asked, “What are we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know.” I replied, “but we are supposed to be doing something.”
For the thousandth time we talked about just packing up and leaving this town and traveling the country. As we watched the wide open waters it seemed almost possible to do the impossible.
With a long sigh the reality weighed back on us. We both had good stable jobs. We lived close to family. We had a decent apartment, if you dismiss the upstairs neighbors playing piano at 5:30am. It just didn’t seem to make any sense to throw all of that away.
“I wish we could do something like that.” Jon said as he pointed to a tiny house parked in the campground. “I’m going to go talk to them.”
“What? You can’t just go knock on some random stranger’s door and ask to see their house.”
But I am so glad he did. We ended up meeting Stacy who was lives in a tiny house with her husband and 3 sons. She raved about tiny living and how much they loved it. I never thought tiny living was doable with a family but she showed us that it wasn’t just doable, it was extremely enjoyable.
As we drove back home there was a palpable change in our spirits. It wasn’t just a feeling of hope, but it was also a sense of direction.
Within just a few weeks we met with a few other tiny house families, met a contractor, designed our own home, and applied for a loan, and told our parents. Everything fell into place and we were excited to start this new adventure.
Our Tiny Living Story - Part Two
I was walking to my car after work when I got the text. “We didn’t get the loan.” I was shocked, confused, and discouraged. I felt like everything was pointing us in this direction and now it all fell apart. For the next couple of weeks, I was in a funk. I felt like we were right back to where we started but now I was even more confused and discouraged.
Before heading to work one day, Jon told me he had a surprise that would cheer me up when I got home. Upon my return, he sat me down in front of the computer and told me that I couldn’t say anything until he was done. He then proceeded to show me a slideshow. I SO wish I had it saved but I can't find it. It was very thoughtfully done.
As I sat through the slideshow, the whole time I was thinking how impossible and crazy this all was and how this would never happen. But Jon was so excited and put so much effort into his PowerPoint, that I didn’t think I could crush his sweet little spirit so quickly, so instead I said I would think about it.
When you're on a cruise it can be difficult to experience the island or country you are in when you only have a few hours. The other challenge we had was finding an excursion that our entire family could join. And by entire family I mean my parents, my sister's family with four kids, and our family! So when we found Chukka Caribbean's excursion that included Zip-lining, River Tubing, ATV ride, lunch, and a bird aviary - it was the plan for a perfect day!
If you’ve ever gone to Rocky Mountain National Park, you most likely came through Estes Park. It’s pretty well known but from now on when we go to the National Park we will be going to Granby. Granby is on the western side of Rocky Mountain National Park. We found an AMAZING campground to stay at that has so many amenities and the area all around is packed with fun things to do!
I always want to be real with anyone reading this blog about full-time travel, tiny living, Airstream life… all of the above. So I want to share some of our hardest moments that had us either wanting to quit or had us seriously questioning, “what are we even doing?” So here we go…
Glacier National Park is one of those National Parks that you hear about and just KNOW that it is going to be amazing. And it was. Right upon entering the park it felt more like home and less like a tourist attraction. The park itself is huge but upon arrival, it feels like you’re entering a little town with an ice cream shop and café, boat rentals, and a small visitor center. After going to the visitor center we headed to get our kayak inspected. The inspections are free and pretty basic. You will have to rinse it off if it’s wet or dirty but that’s about it. If you aren't bringing your own gear you can rent for a good price right across the street from the lake. Life jackets are required to be worn by children and adults must have them in the boat with them or worn. After that, we went right to the dock next to the Village Inn and set sail! The pictures can show just how gorgeous this place was better than I could ever describe.
Pike’s Place Market place is the longest-running farmer’s market in America! The hype and the buzz of the atmosphere is palpable. You have flowers lining one side and the most unique crafts, food, art, jewelry, anything you can think of on the other! On the lower level, you’ll find shops dedicated to vintage prints, toy cars, magic shops, and more unique products! And of course, the famous fish throwing vendor will not leave you disappointed. I usually get anxiety in large crowds and people trying to sell me stuff. But the vibe here was so family-friendly. The crowds felt less annoying and more like I just found the after party of Seattle. Just a short stairway away is the somehow popular and extremely gross, gum wall. This alleyway is just covered in gum on the walls and it looks really cool, just don’t think about it too much.
As with just about anything in life, you can only prepare so much until you are actually living it. We have been living in a 150 sq ft Airstream for the past 3 months and here are 3 things we love and 3 things we don’t.
1. Self-Cleaning Vacuum We have a little hidden cubby where we keep our Deebot (googly eyes not included). This almost didn’t happen and I am SO glad it did. I learned within one day how dirty our floors get. It’s awesome to run the little robot vacuum while we are gone or asleep or packing up and have it do all the work.
Pacific City RV Resort had so many amenities and the biggest, most private campsites we've ever had! It's across the street from the beach and lives in the beautiful small coastal town of Pacific City, Oregon.
The Thousand Trails campground, Russian River was just a half way stop near Santa Rosa, CA and we were pleasantly surprised with what this RV campground had to offer!
The Yosemite Lakes campground was actually the one that got us interested in a Thousand Trails to begin with. This campground is chuck full of amenities in the campground itself, and it’s 10 min away from the Yosemite National Park entrance. And I’m apologizing in advance, we were enjoying it so much that we forgot to take pictures until we left! So I only have a few but hopefully it’s better than nothing.