By Stephen Buller Where do a Michigan farm girl and a Detroit city boy go to start a family? For my parents, the answer was Vashon. I was a baby on the go, born in New Hampshire, moved to a Decatur, Michigan farm shortly thereafter, and made my way to Vashon by the time I…
My name is Rose. I woke up to a glowing light and many, many brothers and sisters. I ate, drank and slept, and then suddenly I was in a box. The box opened, and I was on Vashon. It’s great, except for the dogs, cats, raccoons, coyotes, eagles, and hawks. And the cold. And the…
By Pam (aka Gates) Johnson I’d always dreamed of living on a farm, but resigned myself to a life in Portland, just like everyone else in my family. That all changed when I got married. I was 21 years and two weeks old, and had been married for one weekend when we packed up everything…
By Nichole Banducci Saying that Vashon feels like home has so much more meaning than we could have realized. Our family first visited the Island back in June of 2018. The trip was a part of a “top secret” future home search, disguised as a family vacation. Our older kids were going to college in…
By March Twisdale When we moved from West Seattle to Vashon Island, it was after a two-year search. We were looking for a rural environment with an eclectic homeschooling community, but every rural community in the region was almost exclusively religion-inspired. Concern that our children would be disconnected from both schooled kids and homeschooling families…
Vashon was a complete mystery to me. Born and raised in the Seattle area, I had never heard of Vashon until I was sent over to the Island on assignment while working as a cable technician. I remember thinking, “Go where?” It was 2006, the day after a huge windstorm. The power was out all…
I lived in Ashland, Oregon for 2½ years. I liked Ashland very much; artsy, all the theater, pretty scenery, beautiful Lithia Park, good customer service at retail stores and restaurants. And it had a gay bar: “Cooks Tavern.” Unique for a town of only 16,000. But, living in a small town as a single gay…
My wife Karen and I wanted to start a hobby farm. We both grew up in West Seattle and were high school sweethearts. Both of our parent’s homes had views of Vashon Island. Our friends Mark and Joyce Vornbrock had recently purchased 10 acres on Vashon Island. Mark suggested we look at land on the…
Our journey to Vashon began over 30 years ago when I lost my job as part of a RIF (reduction in force). This was shortly after the Rodney King riots in Southern California. At the time, my wife Michelle and I came to the conclusion that Southern California no longer was a good place to…