Christine and Brian:

My husband and I have been married for 8.5 years and moved to the PNW 2.5 years ago.

I grew up on the East Coast and had been in restaurant and hotel management for 11 years. My husband had grown up here. He had moved to NE for a time and had been living there for 2 years when we met. We had an interesting beginning because I had been raised in a household of very strong and independent women (my father died when I was 4months old)...and he was from an area where women are a bit more dependent and less vocal....and boy am I vocal. We worked our way through all that and he came to understand that I would be a partner...not a dependent and that I would never accept sole responsibility for the “women’s work” in our lives. We’ve been together for awhile now...so I guess things are working just fine for us.

After getting married and starting a family, we realized that real estate in an area where we would want to raise children was simply out of our reach unless I went back into full time management...and even then we would not be tremendously comfortable financially. On top of that...if I had gone back to work full time...our kids would’ve been raised by others (hotel/restaurant management is known for long hours). Because we had small children, we didn't want to move somewhere where we had no support system...and Brian’s family was in Oregon...so we started looking at our options here....and presto...here we are! The house we bought was about 1/3 the cost of the same house in New England...and there are true neighborhoods here which have become rare in NE because most households have both parents working and their kids are gone from 7am to 6pm or 7pm at some sort of day-care arrangement. We live in an area now with many stay-at-home parents and lots of children for our kids to play with.

The one major hurdle for me upon moving here was how far we now live from anywhere. It’s why I bought WM and is explained further in the questions that I’ve answered below.

FEATURED OWNERS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

How long have you been a member of WorldMark? Where have you visited?
I’ve been an owner since June of 2004. Been to Windsor(1), Seattle (2), Seaside(2), Gleneden(1), Leavenworth(3) I've sent family/friends to Victoria, Seaside, Depot Bay, Leavenworth, Angel's Camp, Eagle's Crest, & the Running Y. (not bad for 2 years)

What is your favorite WorldMark resort? What do you like about it?
Lordy, that’s a tough one. Unlike so many other companies like Marriott...our WM’s are very different from one another. So far I’ve loved all of them for different reasons.

What things do you like to do when visiting this resort?
I love exposing my kids to new environments. Whether that’s the Bavarian village at Leavenworth, or the city of Seattle...or just taking them to the beach...I love being able to expose them to places that are “out of the norm” for them.

Would you share some of your favorite vacation web links and/or photos from this resort and the surrounding area?
I have a personal page on a website that I will occasionally post new pictures on for my family in New England to look at. The link to that page is : HERE"S My Picture Link

Tell us about the people you travel with - are they family? friends? co-workers? If you have children, what are their travel preferences?
I travel with my husband and two boys (4 & 7) and we have invited our in-laws (my husbands family) to travel with us. My kids love absolutely anywhere that has a pool...so they're easy to please. On our two yearly trips over the summer...my mother is invited to explore this part of the country when she flies out to visit for 2 weeks. 1 week of that time is spent in WM and allows us to show her our “neighborhood”. Of course...she’s starting to explore on her own since buying WM. Her first trip was to Windsor and her next is to Depoe Bay in November. We’ve also sent a number of people on 1-5 night trips through BT and IS...and gifted my in-laws with a stay in Victoria. We’ve racked up 60 nights in 2 years...just over half have been ours...the rest utilized by others.

What is your most exciting vacation memory?
I wouldn't call any of our trips so far exciting exactly. The closest I could get would probably be our first trip to Seaside...when we realized just how relaxing taking a vacation could be. Fully loaded condo, 2 bedrooms, saved on eating out, right on the beach, whole town just outside our doorstep....WOW.... nothing like vacationing in a motel. Nothing tremendously exciting otherwise...just the usual neat stuff. Things like realizing how many tide-pools there are on the coast to explore with your kids, watching their faces light up at Beni-Hana’s in Seattle when the chef made onion volcanoes...

Have you ever had some kind of "vacation disaster" threaten to ruin your trip? Tell us your story!
Not a true disaster...but I bet my husband still considers it a trip from h-e-double hockey sticks. We had planned a trip to Seattle for 3 nights and my husband got sick (high fever and miserable). It was just a cold when we left but was a raging flu during our stay...and he was a trooper...(which is amazing for someone who is normally very whiny when sick...LOL)

What activities do you and your family enjoy besides vacationing? (i.e. camping, walking, painting, etc)
We love spending time at our local pool in the summer. It has a lazy river, Olympic section with diving board, shallow kids area and water slide....it make the summers here very pleasant. We’ve just gotten to the point that the kids are understanding the fun in board games...and Monopoly is a new thing. The winters are harder here for all of us...which is when we really appreciate being WM owners.

Do you have a hobby? What is it and what makes it special to you?
I have a couple. I love to read. It’s one of my favorite pastimes. I love to hike...just don’t have access to a lot of places that are interesting for that in the immediate area (I got spoiled when I lived in NE). I like to ski...but it’s always been a bit too expensive for me to seriously consider as a regular hobby. Scuba was a HUGE passion for awhile...but I stopped for a bit when the kids were smaller and am now not located near anyplace that’s tremendously conducive to diving...I absolutely can't wait to dive on our first trip to Cabo in 2008. I also love to cook...someday after I hit the lottery, I’ll open a restaurant.

Other than a WorldMark destination, what is your favorite place to visit for rest and relaxation?
New England...specifically Massachusetts. It’s home for me...and full of safety and warmth and comfort.

If you could choose to live anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?
Tough one. If money were no object...then I’d pick Maui. It offers the best of everything I love: beaches, diving, snorkeling, hiking, scenery, yearly whale migrations, great food (lots of sushi)...yep...in a heartbeat. If I was just getting a place to live and then found myself short on travel funds...I’d pick NH...so that family would be close. I lived there for 6 years and loved it.

How did you choose to become a WorldMark owner? Or, why did you choose WorldMark over other timeshare companies?
Well...when we moved out here (Hermiston, OR), it was a HUGE change for me. It’s great for the kids...there are neighborhoods here in a way that have become mostly non-existent in much of NE because both parents work and the kids are in daycare. On the downside...I used to be 25 minutes from Providence, RI; an hour from Boston, I could be at the beach with kids or for a dive in 45 minutes, in the white mountains of NH in 2.5 hours...NY in 4, at Foxwoods in an hour, visit the Newport, RI mansions (35 minutes away), go to Cape Cod, Plymouth Plantation, Sturbridge Village, and more...all in easy day trips. Now I’m 3 hours from absolutely anywhere. It was “We buy a TS or I cant survive here.” (laughing) So I did some research and found WM. We went to a presentation...and it was the first TS my husband actually seemed interested in...and it ended horribly. I sent an email to Gene Hensley complaining about our treatment when we didn't buy on the spot and we were sent a 3-night stay at Seaside. That was it...I fell in love....with the resort, the concept, the whole nine yards.

What do you enjoy most about being a WorldMark owner?
Our commitment to travel and our ability to travel comfortably without huge expenses....instead of needing to spend a fair amount for cramped motel stays.

What do you like best about this WMO website community you have helped create?
The sense of community. I cant get over how thoughtful people are...and not just in “type”. The people in here truly seem to reach out and help each other whenever possible.

What suggestions do you have to enhance it?
Really...I love this place and think that people can find out what they need to regardless...but it will be nice when the main website is complete...when all the resort info etc is done.

Do you have ideas for contests and giveaways that we could possibly incorporate in the future?
I think it would be nice to have a photo contest for the front page of the main website. Have people submit their “best” pictures for featuring on the front page...and then rotate in some of the runners up as well. I don’t know what you could offer for prizes...but I think people would enter just knowing that their pictures might be featured.

Christine and Brian