The Two Hummingbirds

Here we are! Are we here!? Are you there!? Great to meet you and thank you for checking out our adventures!

Hummingbirds swinging in their nest

Two strongly independent characters on their own life journeys happen to meet during a serendipitous ride-share from Seattle down to Burning Man in 2011. From there ... well, we'll paint the picture a bit more clearly with this website.

 

The impetus of our grand adventure began with another adventure. A grueling 10 mile hike deep into the untouched wilds of Waimanu Valley on the big Island of Hawaii finally allowed us time to reflect on our relationship and our future life. We both had enacted the story of so many; grow up, go to school, get a job - then what? What did we want now?

We swung in a hammock together for hours watching the sun go down over our exquisitely vacant black sand beach and came up with our guiding principles, or, our "Water World Direction", which we've been focusing our efforts on ever since. In the spirit of sharing more about us, here's what we came up with:

Structural
  • the elegance of lean living through a minimal but adequate set of high quality "things" in order to support daily life
  • living near abundant and "moving" water with Frank Lloyd Wright's design philosophies in mind
  • horticulture infused throughout
  • live within a close proximity to sparsely frequented beaches
  • thriving within a mildly seasonal environment leaning more tropical than temperate
  • securing and maintaining remote sources of tech income to aide us on this journey evolving into something more sustainable over time
  • securing and saving funds sufficient to travel 3 or 4 times per year
  • close proximity to mid-sized town within a two hour range of a larger city and airport for travel and income generation purposes
Social
  • having our roots in the local community and create or share our space with others in some sort of meaningful way
  • being physically active out of necessity with community interactions driving said need
  • positioning ourselves within a high life expectancy area with health minded communities flourishing
Personal
  • learning, mental stimulation, and the ability to "create" is essential
  • the ability to travel, create, and share beautiful designs and photos for Dina
  • having a broad orchestration role of some sort in our local community for Eric

After composing these principles we spent the next 2 years making incremental steps towards our new life. Paying off student debt was the most critical preparation.  Followed by moving in together then adding a roommate and heading to the industrial end of town. A massive reduction of the stuff of living followed. Epically expensive furniture, heaps of computers, and exceptionally form fitting clothing, all had to go.

And now we are off to explore the world!

Dina in front of the cavern filled
mountains in Vang Vieng, Laos

Dina

Meet Dina!

Hi, I’m Dina. Never really got a nickname, Dina always seemed short enough. I bring the design and photo love to this story.

A UX designer by trade, I love to watch how people shape environments and environments shape people.

The way I like to travel is unlike a lot of the bloggers out there so I am curious to see if it resonates with you. I enjoy feeling like I am living in a place. This usually takes at least 3 days to a few weeks to even get a minor taste of. I find myself more drawn to relaxing and watching how people go about their lives around me than checking off every sight in the guide book.

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Eric overlooking Zion

National Park, Utah, USA

auth_Eric

Meet Eric!

Hi, Eric here. I've spent a good deal of my life enjoying the feeling of my own rhythm that I might pluck from the ever changing cacophonous soundscape that envelopes us all each and every day.

Yes, I have indeed been informed that I may sometimes be a bit opaque, but that's what writing is all about! It's for me to do the diligence necessary to observe from a few different angles, synthesize in a broader context, and then put forth something that might strike the fancy of you, the discerning reader.

I see the world through the interplay of stories and characters given my florid past of knights in plate armor charging one another on horseback, surviving a man-eating plant, being featured on the cover of a magazine entirely surrounded by bronze, various types of kinetic art performance under my belt, chasing my playa nymph under the flames of a roving steel octopus, and building software for a top-rated multinational software company.

Shakespeare's well known derivative, "[a]ll the world's a stage" sums up a great deal of our journey. Looking forward to sharing our stories and characters with you. Your own thoughts and feedback are always welcome!

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