New Saturday Routine

One thing we found to our liking is the abundance of fresh fruits and veggies - there happen to be more than 4 farmers markets throughout the city during the week. We have made it a point to make the "Saturday Market" part of our routine. We hear it costs more and it's crodwed but it's cool - we're not sure how it costs more seeing that stuff is pretty cheap! Regardless, there are farmers, cooks, coffee makers/roasters (Blu Bottle Coffee - more on that in another post), bakers, cheese makers, butchers... Suzanne found this really good Panir Cheese that comes from a dairy in Marin county which is the county right over the Golden Gate - more on that during your visit we're sure, as it's become a staple in our fridge. Oh yes, and the fresh yogurt - another new staple that comes in the local dairies very own returnable container. Of course, after we fill our bag with fresh groceries we have to go explore so this day we wandered to "Fog City Diner", this place has personality, then onto "Coit Tower" by sidewalk (stairwalk) and "North Beach" the Italian neighborhood.

Tip! If you want to see a photo that's in the viewer just click it!

Road trip to the border

Now that our family is in driving distance we took the first step (hint, hint). The Smith's were relocating to Ventura, CA where they were completing the acquisition of a practice and we, of course, got drug into the move. We figured we were half way to Uncle Tim's (San Diego), it was Thanksgiving and the car need to stretch it's tires a bit!

So Jed and I packed the rental box truck and I followed him down on Tuesday night. We unloaded, then beached combed and checked out fruit stands for a while on Wednesday until Katrianna "convinced" us we needed to go to "In-n-Out" (I was a little worried for a while that she wasn't going to buy in on it being better than McDonalds - see previous post - but it worked), so of course you don't want to upset a little kid. Nevertheless, Suzanne and Kim endured some serious traffic on Wed which turned a 7 hour ride into a 12 hour event and finally met up with us at bedtime. We had a T-day breakfast that included fresh organic oranges that Bob bought the day before for $.30 a pound, some fresh pastries from the local Tea Leaf and Coffee Bean and some "Joe" as well. Then we set off to see Tim who had prepared a ham and turkey, which we literally ate for 4 days. While there we saw Imperial Beach (a cool pier), the Hotel Del Coronado and took a road trip to the Anza-Borrego State Park, the desert that was 80 degrees in November!

While we were there we found out 2 things: first the cacti bloom in March and it's an awesome event, and they have more then 500 miles of trails designed for "Bajaing" - yes, we're going back. We signed up for an email that announces the beginning of the bloom, and we're going to camp out with Tim - the master camper!

First Stop

When we finished the long drive from Seattle, after a stop to see our friend Craig in Portland and Uncle Tom in Eugene, we were the proud new subletters of a 1 bedroom apartment "North of the Panhandle" in San Francisco.

Let the search begin

5 Years, 4 months and 1 week later the car returns to "America"



This was made using Animoto.com, it's a video making website that offers free 30 second videos that you make by uploading pictures, audio (if you want) and text. As you can see pretty cool and in this case appropriate.

The time has come

At this point it's not really news but we're packin up and heading south in search of a new home.

We plan to keep the Blog current but, like in the case of this post, it's dated for the correct time to maintain some chronological integrity. In actuality, with all the mayhem it wasn't typed until a month later. But we know some of you lead busy lives and don't visit very often, so for your sake the posts are in order. For the rest of you, our appologies and thanks for your emails asking when we're going to update the blog.

So the story is we headed to the "Bay Area", San Francisco proper to be exact. Why? Honestly, it feels right! Just maybe it will encourage some of you to get out more and come see your friends in the "Big City". Or maybe you'll come for the fruits and vegtables, the numerous resturants, muesums, coffee houses, sun light, the weather, "In -n- Out"... In addition to the above, the "sustainability" idea that surrounds urban living is really appealing. So here we go - San Fran or bust!

The Sales Job

Come on Suz let's go to California, there's some stuff I gotta show ya!
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All kidding aside when we got down there we drug the Smith's out for an adventure, as most of this stuff was in their backyard - within 45 minutes of their home in Marin county.

Triple Crown

Surely Alaskans are unique among Americans this year. In what other state will citizens collect the triple crown of a resource rebate, the Permanent Fund dividend and the federal economic stimulus payment?