LESS IS MORE, AND OTHER THINGS PEOPLE HAVE FORGOTTEN

Here are a few pictures from my favorite house in Paradise Cove on Vashon Island. What I loved about this place was its simplicity. It was originally built as a boat storage building, and the current owner's grandfather converted it into a vacation house by building in simple bunk beds, a basic kitchen, and a small toilet. That was over 60 years ago and not much has changed. Just the smell of the old wood inside made me feel relaxed. It smelled like history and tradition. The owners, to their testament, have left everything alone inside over the years while some of their neighbors have built bigger, more modern homes. They kindly let me snap a few photos of their lovely home. They noted that people get out of control when it comes to the size of their vacation homes and I tend to agree. Most houses on Vashon are seasonal and palatial, which works well for this sentence, but is really a huge waste of resources.

A FITTING NAME: PARADISE COVE, VASHON ISLAND

Some of the best discoveries are accidents. Julie and I took the ferry over to explore Vashon Island today. It's weird having an island the size of Manhattan a stones throw away from Tacoma that we've never visited. Due to its isolation (there are no bridges to the island) Vashon has maintained its rural character even as neighboring Seattle and Tacoma bust at the seams. For part of our adventure, Julie and I explored Camp Sealth, an amazing 400 acre property owned by Campfire USA. While we were there we spotted a small beachfront community to the north. It took some doing to discern which rural roads would take us down to the beach. What we eventually discovered was Paradise Cove, a community of about 30 mostly modest homes with only foot access to each from a communal parking lot. It feels like it's in the middle of nowhere, but it's only 10 miles from our house in Tacoma. I'm told that most of the houses here never go on the market. Instead they are handed down from generation to generation.