Making every weekend an adventure

Ok, so it's my turn for a post.  If you can't tell by the poor grammar and spelling mistakes....it's Jeff.  Anyway....one of the things we really focused on with this move is "making every weekend an adventure".  One of my colleagues moved his family here and spent every weekend making sure to explore the area.  That sounded great to us, so we decided to steal the idea and really take advantage of our time here.  We had originally planned on spending the weekend in Arnold CA, out by Calaveras Big Trees State Park which is a huge Sequoia grove...well, the "Rim Fire" really f'd up those plans and we had to cancel due to air quality issues.  So what do you do during a long weekend with no plans?  Well, here is what we did:

Saturday

We hit Gilroy Gardens which is kind of like a Bay Area version of "Storyland" in New Hampshire but with nicer landscaping and food options.  Needless to say, the little one LOVES this place and pretty much kooked out until she was so tired we were a walking meltdown.  Good times.  After that we hit the Gilroy shopping outlets for some retail therapy.....which was great, score one for Jeff on the clearance rack.

Sunday

Ridiculous day on Sunday.  We went to Muir Woods, which is a redwood grove and "old growth" forest.  So cool.  Like, you can't even imagine how cool it is if you've never been there.  We go there right when it opened and got to walk around the park before the masses arrived.  Picture below, doesn't even do it justice

We left there and headed to the Marin Headlands and got a chance to see the Golden Gate bridge from the North Side and check out the amazing fog blowing into the Bay.  Again, pictures don't do it justice.

And yes....by the time we left here, we were toast.  T-O-A-S-T

Monday

On the third day the rested.  We had aggressive plans to got to Half Moon Bay with friends but all parties decided it was better to punt and relax.  Around 1pm after being so stir crazy we did go out for a little walk at the Almaden Quicksilver Trail which was very cool and a great view of the Almaden Hills.  No pictures though....I'd had enough of the camera.

So there you have it, we recovered from having to reschedule our plans and make up an ad hoc plan for the long weekend.  This weekend we'll probably hit the beach (it's supposed to be HOT) and futz around the house a bit....

More soon!

The vacation that never ends

I feel like we are on vacation. But we can’t go home. It has been all of 4 days since we arrived in the Bay area, and while we are all doing well, we are in this weird state of limbo while we wait to move into our new home.

I will backtrack a bit.... Leaving on Saturday was hard. Really hard. A lot of tears. But we made it to CA in one piece- even with what felt like 32 bags (all underweight, by the way!!). 

We got to our temporary condo and crashed. Sunday we went to visit the house. Now, for those of you who don’t know, Jeff rented this house without me seeing it. There was a considerable amount of stress on both our parts to see if I would find the place acceptable! It is a good house- great location, plenty of space. But it is outdated and pretty beat up. Wandering through, I was reminded of the condition of my Boston apartments- really old kitchen cabinets, sketchy bathtub, questionable appliances. The plan is a good steam clean and a coat of paint. Add in our stuff, some rugs, and some personality, and I think it will work just fine.

Jeff headed off to work on the bus on Monday morning, leaving E and I to entertain ourselves on a rainy day. We have done just fine finding things to do- there is plenty around here to keep us busy for months. As we explore, I am realizing how different life here is from our very small little town of Norfolk. Four lane roads through residential areas, strip malls and plazas pop up everywhere, teeny tiny little yards and one story homes, palm trees, etc, etc, etc. We are basically living in urban sprawl after spending years in the suburbs. On the upside, everything is really close!

Our cars and belongings will supposedly arrive sometime next week- ending this vacation with no end. The longer we are here, the less foreign everything seems, so hopefully having a real home base will ease the transition even more. Of course, once the stuff arrives, it becomes VERY real that we aren’t going back to our beautiful house with the big beautiful yard. Sigh.... the fun continues!!