About Us: The Family Behind Essential Spokane Guide
Thanks for visiting Essential Spokane Guide. I would like to tell you about us, why we love living in Spokane, and how we came to create this web site. My name is Randy Buskirk, and I, with a lot of help from my wife and son, am owner and webmaster of Essential Spokane Guide .
I am not originally from Spokane. I grew up in an Air Force family, so I've lived in several different states when I was young. I moved from the San Francisco Bay Area in 1981, when the company I worked for started an office here in Spokane. I worked there for a total of 32 years, and while the founders were still alive, it was the best place I've ever worked. The last 9 years, after the founders had passed away, was a roller coaster ride emotionally. I saw a lot of talented people get let go while the new CEO and CFO got huge bonuses. They sold off most of the valuable parts of the company and moved the rest of the operation to China and Malaysia. I hung on until 2009 when my job was finally moved to China. I saw this as an opportunity to do something new and fun so EssentialSpokaneGuide.com was born. I've had to learn a lot about web design and the internet in a short period of time and I am still on steep learning curve. It's been a lot of fun though because doing this web site has allowed me to use some skills that I learned in college but have never really had a chance to use like photography.
My wife, on the other hand, was born and raised in Japan, but came here through a unique set of circumstances to attend school at Eastern Washington University. She wanted to attend school at the University of Washington but her application seemed to disappear into a black hole. Time was running out so she went to plan B, which was to attend Eastern Washington University in Cheney. They had accepted her right away so she made plans to go there instead. It wasn't until after she started school at EWU that she received a letter from UW that explained that her letter had gone to Iran by mistake but had eventually made it to UW, several weeks late but her application had been accepted. You could say it was fate, or divine providence that brought us together from such far flung places. I prefer to think it was all part of God's plan.
Spokane has been a great place to raise a family, especially if you love the outdoors. There are so many things to do and places to see all within a days drive. For instance, we love to drive north from Spokane to Banff Provincial Park in Canada, and enjoy the beautiful Canadian Rockies. Also within a days drive to the east, is Yellowstone National Park in Montana, which I think everyone should experience at least once in their life. To the west, over the Cascade Mountain Range is Seattle and the Puget Sound region. We love to visit Seattle to catch a Mariners game or do some shopping.
Working on Essential Spokane Guide has been a labor of love for me. Keep in mind that I am not a "marketing professional" or an expert web designer. I am just a regular guy, who wants to share my experiences of living and working in Spokane with others.
My goal is to create a site with more of a personal feel, that's different than the run of the mill "Chamber of Commerce" site, or the sites that are designed specifically to make money, but don't offer much in the way of useful content. In Essential Spokane Guide, I want to highlight and share with everyone the great things I personally love about living in the great Northwest.
Please feel free to use the contact page to let us know what you think about Essential Spokane Guide, or if you have suggestions about we can the site better. Also, click on our sponsors ads if you see one that interests you. It costs you nothing, but it helps us cover the cost of maintaining this web site. I hope you enjoy your visit.
Kind regards,
Randy Buskirk
