From the Tundra to Paradise

The view from our Chicago House

Blog 1 Chicago to San Francisco to Hilo, Hawaii 

In August 2006 I accepted an executive position responsible for mergers and acquisitions for a company headquartered in the Bay Area of San Francisco.  We were living outside Chicago at the time, and I was Vice President Corporate Development and Investor Relations at the Alberto-Culver Company ($4 billion in sales).  The new position seemed challenging and the package included a corporate relocation so we accepted.  Plus we had always both wanted to live in Northern California.

The Chicago House Packed for the Move

So after some weekend commuting, during Thanksgiving weekend in 2006 we drove across country with our pets, and shortly thereafter our possessions were moved into our newly purchased house overlooking Mount Diablo. 

Less than 18 months later in February 2008, the company hit a bumpy patch and my position was eliminated, luckily with a reasonably generous severance package.

About eight months after that we closed on a house in Hilo on the Big Island, and on January 5, 2009 we arrived for good with our dog, Valentine, and our cat, Kiwi, in tow.  It took 6 more weeks for our goods to arrive and since then we have been settling in. Life is good on the Big Island.