I am the wife of the same husband for more than 4 decades, mother to daughter and son – and grandma to two darling grand daughters and a grandson. I was born, raised and lived in metropolitan Portland, Oregon until we moved our family to a small town in southern Illinois. After 7 1/2 years we moved back to Oregon. A few years later we were empty-nesters and my husband and I moved to Sacramento, California where I began working as a Tour Planner/Manager/Tour Guide.
In 2014 we started planning a new “Grand Adventure.” We quit our jobs, rented out our Portland home, sold most of our stuff, and stored only ten boxes of assorted clothing, books, bath towels and kitchen items plus photos, taxes, Christmas decorations and other keepsakes. We started out on a journey in early 2015 to slowly travel the world. After 14 months traveling through 20 countries we fell in love with Chiang Mai, Thailand and was considering making it our home for an extended stay until our kids scheduled a call which made the biggest difference in the world. They invited us to come “home” for Thanksgiving to meet our first grandchild!
For 5 years we lived “normal” lives in Portland in order to be close to our growing family and I worked as a local tour guide. I loved showing off my beautiful corner of the world to visitors.
So much changed with the Covid 19 virus, and the unemployment, lawlessness, chaos and protests in Portland. I just wanted to escape.
That door opened in September 2021 when my darling granddaughters (and their parents) moved to Spokane, so we left Portland and followed them. We started out opening just a virtual mailbox and a storage unit and then traveled around Mexico for four months.
When we returned, we decided we needed a “home base” and purchased and furnished a condo. Then we learned that a third grandchild was expected, and our grandson was born.
Lately, we’ve been working towards making our home a short-term rental, managed by Vacasa, while we travel.
From whatsoever place I find myself, I maintain this blog in order to Meet You in the Morning: to inspire, inform and entertain!
Meet You In The Morning 
What a beautiful and interesting blog! I can’t wait to read more. Thank you so much for the nice comment!
elisa
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Hi Elisa!
Thanks for stopping by. Come by any time. I’m following your blog also.
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Great Blog Merrill!
You might consider applying to join ToursByLocals.com. I actually happened across your page in the middle of searching for a tour guide in Sacramento. I manage recruitment for TBL and would be happy to hear from you any time!
Best of luck in all your adventures!
Colin
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Hi Merrill & Steve,
I’m officially following you now! So glad to have crossed paths in Portugal. How are the Scottish dogs? Happy travels! Martha
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Hi Merrill
I just dropped you an email; We plan on moving to Chiang Mai next summer when our lease expires so would like to chat further. Meanwhile I’ll follow and read some more posts
Best
Rob and Diane
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Wow. This is the second blog I have found this morning where a couple has sold their house and possessions and gone travelling! Exactly my sort of people. We did the same, except we bought a yacht and sailed it to Greece! We don’t have a house. I’ve travelled all my life and consider myself a bit of a nomad. Have you ever been to Greece? We love it. Been to 42 islands so far. I look forward to reading more of your adventures.
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Hi GeorgieMoon! Yes, I’m glad the Internet allows us to locate people traveling like us. I’ve learned so much from reading their blogs and feel like some of them are friends even though they we’ve never personally met!
We have been on cruises with ports of call in Greece, but don’t really know Greece. I’d love to experience it better – and sailing sounds like an ideal way to do it!
We’ve loved the Mediterranean countries of Croatia, Italy, Spain – and Portugal. Loved Thailand today.
I’m glad you’re following – and I’ll be followwing you too! Happy travels!
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Great blog! We are formally from Portland, Oregon. Lived there for 6 years in Beaverton. Our paths or friends we know may have crossed. Loved Oregon.
We are now in Boquete, Panama. Our home base to explore South America and the Carribean. Once that is complete we plan on being home based in Spain or Portugal to explore Europe.
Will follow your blog!
Cheers,
John and Susan
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