Our Story

I didn’t always love where I grew up.

I was raised in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York, an undeniably beautiful place, and one that people travel to experience, but I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time. I knew I was fortunate. I knew it was special. I just never felt connected to it.

From a young age, I imagined leaving. I wanted something different, something bigger, something beyond what I knew.

And I did. I spent the next several years building a life away from home. First, in Virginia during college, and then in Memphis, Tennessee after graduating. But life never quite goes the way you think it will.

After a series of unfortunate events, an opportunity opened up for me to move back home. The unexpected happened, I said yes, and returned to the mountains.

What I didn’t expect was how different it would feel the second time around.

There’s a major shift that happens when you live in the mindset of “choosing” to be somewhere versus feeling “stuck” there. What once felt small or limiting began to feel grounding. Over time, coming home became less about returning, and more about belonging.

These past few years back in the Adirondacks have been some of the most restorative and formative of my life.

Somewhere along the way, I found myself repeating a simple phrase: “I live where people vacation.”

It started as a reminder on the hard days, but it slowly became a shift in perspective. Because here, in Upstate New York, there is something people travel for.

I Live Where People Vacation was created from that realization. An invitation to reframe the everyday. To look at familiar places with fresh eyes. To recognize that what feels ordinary to us might be extraordinary.

It’s for the people who stay. The ones who experience every season, know every back road, and choose to call a place home.

And while this story begins in the Adirondacks, the message reaches far beyond them. Whether you live in a coastal town, a mountain community, a major city, or anywhere others dream of visiting, there is beauty in the place you know best.

Because where we live isn’t just where people visit. It’s home.

A love letter to the place that raised me, and the place I chose to come back to, this is I Live Where People Vacation.

Noah