Tennessee graduate Blakely Spoor traded the bustling lights of Music City for a remote island that didn't even have a grocery store. After graduating, she decided to leave Nashville to live full-time in her family's cabin on a remote Washington island.
She moved to a remote area in Washington's San Juan Islands.
In Business Insider, Spoor wrote about her experience on the remote island. She writes, "My family's 40-year-old cabin was built in just two weeks and was never meant to be lived in full time. It has single-pane glass windows that creak with every gust of wind, and the rotting deck grows even more rotted with each rainy season that passes. It's a far cry from my high-rise existence in Nashville, but it has its benefits."
For one, she has a house with a view. She also has plenty of beaches to enjoy and gets to embrace seeing the wildlife from her window. The remote island has plenty.
Remote Island Living
She explained, "The beaches, scattered with sun-worn driftwood, stretch on for miles, with scarcely another person in sight. While sitting at my kitchen table, I watch seals bobbing in the waves, shorebirds diving for their dinner, eagles scanning the land down below, and geese flapping their strong wings as they take off."
However, there's trade-offs as well. For one, the remote island doesn't have a grocery store or gas station and is way out in the distance.
She writes, "Trips to the mainland can be made only via a small water taxi, which operates a handful of times throughout the week. Thankfully, modernity has started to catch up, with the frequency of the island taxi runs increasing and even enabling local grocery delivery through Instacart. Here, I've found a sense of community that I never knew before. I've discovered a lifestyle that's filled with adventure, joy, and the kind of self-confidence that only comes from learning resourcefulness."
However, she doesn't regret moving to a remote island despite being only 23.
She explained, "Though it took some time to adjust — I'm a sucker for buying an expensive specialty latte at a coffee shop — I eventually found my groove, and I'm the happiest I've ever been."
