Let’s rewind to 1985 when my Dad first step foot into a tiny, sleepy, windy town called Hood River, Oregon. He’s a windsurfer, so, he went wherever it was windiest and well, the Gorge is WINDY. He made other wind loving friends and eventually brought my Mom here.

Fast forward to 1998, my parents had a 6 year old (me) and a two year old (Evan) and decided it was time for the first family Summer in Hood River. I started in art and gymnastics camps where I started making friends and this place quickly started feeling like a second home.

Every Summer of our childhoods were spent here. Each year, we rented a different home or condo. I remember ever since I was little my parents dreaming and talking of having a home here. I wouldn’t be able to count the amount of conversations if I tried. Every year over and over they said, “we should have a house here” “we wish we had a house here” “why haven’t we bought a house here”. As time went on, we became more and more connected to this place and all the friends who make it so special.

I remember at age 12 or 13 is when I really started to feel like this place was home. I had become close with kids my age and started meeting friends I am still close with and love to this day (hi Marlowe, Connor, Jay, Kelly). I cried for weeks each year when Summer in Hood River ended. Hood River was a constant topic of conversation in our household. Year after year, my parents gave Evan and I options for summer activities. Options like, camp, Europe, staying home with our friends or, going to Hood River. Hood River won. Every. Time.

Our friends families became family friends, my Dad opened a second business here (he owned a windsurfing business for his whole career) and we continued to spend our entire Summers here. The conversation of having a home here became more and more common but then dissipated slightly as Evan and I grew up, went to college and were able to spend less and less time here. Still though, not a year has passed (besides the Summer I interned at Harpers Bazaar) that we all haven’t visited our favorite place.

Hood River is a town that has gotten increasingly more and more popular since we’ve been coming here. A year before quarantine, my parents finally decided to look at an empty lot- one of the very last in town with a view. After hours and hours of discussion during which Evan and I kept reminding my parents that this had been their lifelong dream , they decided to buy that last remaining empty lot- just in case.

They flip flopped a few times, let’s build something, actually no. Let’s build, well, no, ok… let’s build.

It wasn’t until quarantine and Evan deciding to move his life West, after renting house after house to spend time together but never having a place that felt like home. My parents really wanted a family home in Hood River where we all could easily gather and invite other family members and friends to share our favorite place. So they started planning.

It’s been almost 2 years now of planning, designing, ideas, excitement, disagreements and everything in between. Up until today we’ve kept this exciting news private, only sharing with those closest to us.

But, today I’m so excited to share that in the Fall of 2021, my parents broke ground on their dream of a lifetime, a house above the Columbia River in our favorite place in the world.

For the last 2 years, I have been helping my parents with every aspect of the design of this house. I am so excited to be here this week, all four of us, not just to celebrate my Mom on Mother’s Day but to be placing electrical, plumbing, finalizing window placement, selecting counters, exterior and interior finishes and making innumerable final house decisions.

It’s a pretty cool thing as a grown woman to watch your parents get to live out a dream they’ve had since before Evan and I existed. After 50 years of hard work, a business and legal career for my Mom and the building and selling of two businesses for my dad, they get to do something that for so long, was only talk.

We can’t wait for many family gatherings and memories here and I’m so excited to start to bring you on this journey with us!

Mom & Dad, I love you, I’m so proud of you and I can’t wait for what’s to come!

xx Ali

BIG NEWS! We're Building A House!