April & Jim are both retired, but not from life or achievements that still await them. In 2014, both of them graduated together with honors from Hancock College: she in Viticulture and Enology; he in business & accounting to name just a couple of his 6 degrees. Also in that year, their larger family decided to sell their historic150 year old Family ranch & vineyards outside of Tracy, California on Delta Island. April spearheaded exchanges on 4 new similar properties. Now some would buy these properties close to where they live. Not April. She decided to purchase various properties up & down the Pacific Northwest Coast: Bond Ranch Retreat, Sequim, WA, 15 minutes east; Mt. Pleasant Garden Ranch Cottage & Main Ranch House; the Duck Pond at Freshwater Bay & Elwha River Mouth, Port Angeles, WA,15 minutes west; & Casi Cielo Tuscan Vineyard in Forest Grove, OR, just 30 due west of Portland, & what gems each of them are !
April, an award winning former Nationally Certified Interior Designer from Los Angeles, California; & Jim, a former social worker & fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity, from Seattle, Washington; both met while working on the1995 Habitat for Humanity Jimmy Carter Work Project in Watts California when April lived in Compton. They were inseparable after that & married in 2001, 2 days before 9/11.
While searching for exchange properties, April fell in love with the Olympic Peninsula & the Rain Shadow around Sequim. Although both have lived in large cities most of their lives, about10 years ago they decided to leave the hustle & bustle of city life & move to the country. They moved to the Santa Rita Hills, which is known for their Pinot Noirs, in the Santa Ynez Valley, just 45 minutes north of Santa Barbara, California. But now they intend to move permanently to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington where the Mt. Pleasant Garden View Ranch Cottage & Main Ranch House are now. Back to Jim's roots, a simpler life & ever changing seasons & down to earth neighbors.