I realize yet again how fortunate I am to live in such a beautiful place.

It was a little over 10 years ago when I discovered the 10 acres of land where I’d build my home. I’d been doing wine tasting tours with my helicopter during cherry season, ferrying couples from a winery in Quincy to one in Malaga. Along the way, I took note of the road the winery was on. I liked its remoteness and the way it was so sparsely developed. I had friends in Quincy who owned land on the road and I called them to ask who their realtor was. To my surprise, they told me they’d decided to sell. I landed my helicopter out there for a closer look and decided I wanted to buy.

This picture dates back to June 10, 2012. I’m parked about where my driveway apron is today; my house would be built between the helicopter and the spot I shot the photo from.

I was still married at the time, but that didn’t last much longer. I showed the property to my future wasband when he came to Washington to discuss our upcoming divorce. He didn’t see the potential I saw — which was really not surprising. He was determined to end the marriage. That turned out to be a very good thing. I know from experience that if I had to compromise with him, I never would have built the home I really wanted — the home I live in now.

I started construction on May 20, 2014. I was living in my old fifth wheel trailer, the Mobile Mansion, on the site and made daily time-lapses that I combined into a movie — the construction folks still show it at home shows. As the general contractor, I learned a ton about building and did a lot of the work myself — I wired the whole place, laid down the flooring, and worked with friends to install doors and fixtures. Although I’m allowed to have two homes on my property, I knew this would be the one I lived in for a while, so I included everything I wanted: granite countertops, custom cabinets, and a soaking tub with views of the valley below. With plenty of large windows, decks on two sides, a 4-car garage, a large RV garage, a shop area, and the privacy I can’t live without, it was my dream home. I moved in in spring 2015.

This shot from June 9, 2017 shows my home from the road. I call it the Aerie because of the way it’s nestled on a shelf overlooking the Wenatchee Valley.

This shot from May 20, 2016 shows the side of my house facing the view of the valley. My living space is above the car garage, which is completely invisible from the road. The covered deck on this side of the house is where I hang out on cool afternoons and evenings. The cliffs behind my house, on the other side of the road, are home to bighorn sheep that occasionally come down and graze in the neighborhood.

I can’t quite express how much I love living here. I’ve always been a view person and I don’t think I could ask — or ever get — a better view than this one. Day or night, no matter what the weather is, there’s always something amazing to see outside my windows. I share ton of photos on Twitter — so many that I expect people to start complaining. Today is especially awesome, with my 10 acres full of lupine and other wildflowers waving wildly in the wind as the sun rose, revealing snow-capped peaks to the west.

I shot this photo this morning when I took my pups out for their morning pee. The sun’s first light was just touching the tops of the lupine and illuminating the hillsides down in Wenatchee.

I thought of the Navajo prayer, Walking in Beauty. It begins:

In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again

Although the Navajo concept of walking in beauty goes far beyond the aesthetics of a nice view, I believe that finding and appreciating beauty in the things around us is the first step to achieving emotional and spiritual peace. I look out the window and I see the river, mountains, orchards, and sky and I feel overwhelmed sometimes by just how beautiful it all is. Even at night, when it turns into a sea of lights, it’s awe inspiring. How can I not just sit down and take it all in and let it calm my inner mind?

And I get to see this every day, every time I look out my windows.

I think that moving here and being able to build the home I really wanted was probably the best thing I’ve ever done for myself. The peace, privacy, and beauty of this place feeds me a simple diet of joy that makes the challenges of life part of my own formula for happiness.