Why We Moved to Sandpoint, Idaho After Growing Up East-Coasters for 30 Years

After being born and raised in central Pennsylvania for the first 30 years of our lives, we decided in 2017 that we were going to move to Sandpoint, Idaho. Today, I”m going to dive into all the reasons why we made this big move, how we made it happen, and the pros and cons to moving cross country. But before I’m able to share why we moved to Sandpoint, I think I first have to explain how we even got to that point to begin with.

Let me paint the picture for you…

Jon and I were still in the early years of our marriage. After our wedding in the fall of 2012, we decided it was finally time to fulfill our long-time goal of moving out of Pennsylvania. But where do we go? Jon had always wanted to move south. After vacationing to South Carolina with friends and family for years, he had grown an affinity for the south. On the other hand, you had me. I always knew I didn’t want to stay in Pennsylvania forever, but my mind was all over the place. I had considered moving south as well, but also Boston, Chicago, and even Alaska. All I knew is that I was going to move away someday, and I don’t think I really cared where to.

We moved west…sort of.

Just a few days after our one-month wedding anniversary, we were packed up and on the road heading west…but not to Idaho. We decided to join Jon’s parents in Custer, South Dakota after they moved there to open a beautiful Bed and Breakfast and to enjoy the “retirement” life. At this point in my life, Chelsea Mowery Photography didn’t even exist. Instead, I was fresh out of college with a degree as an X-ray Tech. Still taking pictures of people…just their insides, instead. Haha!

Less than six months after moving to the mid-west, we decided that it just wasn’t for us in this stage of our lives. We still consider the Black Hills of South Dakota our second home, and visit Jon’s parents as often as we can. Before we knew it, we were packed up (once again) and on the road to…none other than South Carolina. This was February of 2014. A mighty fine month to be in the south!

No jobs. Just ambition…and Jesus.

We had no jobs lined up and no idea how we were going to be making a $2,000 per month rent payment (which was a heck of a lot in 2014), but we were committed!

We both hit the ground running to find work. Jon was blessed to find a partner to start up a construction business with who later sold his share, making Jon the sole owner. As for me, I realized that X-ray and working in a hospital just wasn’t my passion and wanted to pursue starting a photography business. Jon was immediately onboard and has been my biggest source of support and encouragement ever since. I picked up a part-time job at a local camera store near Charlotte, NC, which is where I ended up meeting my very first photography client. That sweet woman and her family were the first people to trust me with capturing their family’s memories…and Chelsea Mowery Photography was born.

Big ideas.

We called South Carolina “home” for three years and the Lord blessed us both with thriving businesses. Then in 2016, we started toying around with the idea of traveling. We didn’t talk just vacationing. We were talking full-time travel. Could we even do something like that? What would it look like? How could we make it possible? We needed a way to make a living while being mobile. But how?

At the time, before AI editing software was even a thought, I pursued a career as a Private Photo Editor for Wedding Photographers. Again, prayers were answered (very quickly I might add), and I had successfully converted my photography business into a full-time Private Photo Editing business while Jon scaled down his construction business to a more manageable, mobile-friendly level.

And we were off!

January 12, 2017 will be a date that we will not easily forget. We road off into the complete unknown with our 30ft travel trailer in tow with no idea where we would end up that night. We were officially full-time RVers. It was such a surreal feeling.

Fast forward four months. We had discovered “Workamping” (working on farms in exchange for free hookups for our camper), and we were on our way to north Idaho to help out a retired couple in keeping up with the demands of their small hobby garden and farm for the summer.

In May of 2017, we arrive in Sandpoint, Idaho. As we crossed over the long bridge, we were immediately captivated by the wide-sweeping sights of the beautiful blue Lake Pend Oreille. I’m pretty sure our jaws hung open the entire time we spent driving across the almost 2-mile bridge. It was quite something.

We spent our summer here in Sandpoint. We found a church we loved. We went hiking. We saw the sights, and even made a trip to Glacier National Park where we tent camped for the weekend. At the time, I don’t think we realized the lasting impression that Sandpoint would leave on us until after we had left to head back to the east coast for the winter months.

Sandpoint or bust.

While spending our winter in the Lowcountry, we found ourselves longing to be back in Idaho. But oddly enough, we were actually very torn between two VERY different places: Sandpoint, Idaho and Greenville, South Carolina. How did we make the decision? Well, we did what any other sane person would do…we made a list of important factors. Jon and I made our own individual lists in order of importance, then we took those numbers and created a weighted system and compared those results for each location. Totally normal behavior, right? Haha!

Unfortunately, this weighted system didn’t seem to make our decision any more clear. The results pretty much came in equal. Where one place lacked, the other would win out. And between 10 different categories, it seemed they each won about half. It looked like we were going to actually have to make the decision completely on our own. Whomp!

Why we moved to Sandpoint.

To be honest, there was no one particular factor that made our decision 100% clear. In a lot of ways, we simply just chose Sandpoint. But if I had to narrow it down, our reasons problem came down to the following:

1. Idaho and the PNW were brand new to us

Sandpoint was just completely different from any place we’ve ever lived prior. Especially when it came to weather, north Idaho summers are incredibly amazing. With low humidity, it was going to be a very nice change from the ridiculously hot and humid summers on the east coast. Having lived in South Carolina for 3 years, I was really beginning to miss the snow and having a white Christmas like we experienced growing up in Pennsylvania.

In a sense, we already knew what it was like to live in South Carolina. So moving to Greenville wouldn’t have really been that big of a change for us. It may sounds cliche, but the mountains were calling us. Spring here is one of the most beautiful things you can experience in this country (in my opinion). Bright green grass in the valley is contrasted by snow-capped mountains in a 360 degree panoramic view from April through June (and sometimes July). Aqua-colored mountain lakes are plentiful, options for recreation are endless, and wildlife galore make Sandpoint a truly special place to live.

2. We found a church that we loved

While working that summer in Idaho, I mentioned we had found a church that we loved. Well, that definitely played a role in the final decision to move to Sandpoint. And at the time, we had never been made to feel so welcomed so quickly when getting plugged in to a brand new church family. It definitely made an impact on us.

3. We already had friends

Because we had gotten connected with a church so quickly, we also established a pretty substantial group of friends during our three-month stay in Sandpoint. It seems crazy to think how fast we had created a life there, and I think that played heavily into our decision, even if it wasn’t a conscious one.

We definitely weren’t concerned about making friends quickly in Greenville, but the fact that we already had established friends in Sandpoint was a huge win.

Is Sandpoint our forever home?

Probably not. Haha!

I know that might sound crazy to some…or many. But as you may have noticed, that’s kind of our M.O. We like to switch things up from time-to-time. In fact, since moving to our first “Idahome” in June of 2018, we have actually owned three different properties in Sandpoint, Porthill, and now Naples.

You see, we just don’t ever stay in one place for too long. Not because we’re dissatisfied, but because we just enjoy new challenges and adventures. With Jon being a builder, it’s just natural for us to view properties as investment opportunities rather than a forever home.

With all that said, we continue to feel torn as ever between Idaho and the Lowcountry.

We often talk about moving back and what that would look like. But for now, the Lord has us planted here, and we’re definitely trying our best to be as content with that as possible. There’s always a fine balance between contentment and having dreams for the future. It can be very easy to lose sight of things if you focus too much on the things you want but don’t have.

Thankfully, God is gracious to us even in our shortcomings, and we are continuously learning and growing in our walk with Him.

If you made it this far, thank you for being a part of this story. If you have any questions about making your own move to Sandpoint a reality, I’d love to hear from you!