Farewell Troy, Hello Seattle!

We've spent four and a half years in Troy, and now it's time to leave. We're going somewhere unthinkable, somewhere unknowable, somewhere that no ROC alumni has gone before... Seattle!

I'm a little bit sad to leave Troy, it's been a home that's grown on me the longer I've been here. Troy's a tough, charming little city with RPI, an artsy downtown, and access to the mountains of upstate New York. It can be snowy and gray, hot and humid, colorful and brisk, or muddy and sunny. It's a place where we have a lot of memories, with a lot of interesting people, and a lot of fun ideas. We've run, biked, and walked many of these streets. We've tried most of the vegan food. We've used it as a home base to explore the many mountains and forests found in any direction. I can only hope those things can be said about Seattle in another four and a half years.

Things will be different at first in Seattle. A new apartment. A new neighborhood. A new city. A new dog! But a lot of the things will be similar. We have friends in Seattle, it'll have vegan restaurants, there's mountains and forests nearby. Ariana will have a new job, but I'll be working remotely from our apartment still. We plan to explore the big mountains of the Cascades, the rain forests of Olympic National Park, Canada, and all the little things in the city itself. I expect it'll be challenging to climb those big mountains and live somewhere new, but I hope to make it rewarding and develop my outdoors skills and my career. First we have to get there, and we'll be driving across the country. This time we'll stop at 3 national parks along the way, and hopefully miss the winter storms. Seattle here we come!!!