Welcome to the North Bay Area

I realize that I’m just not very good at blogging consistently. I love writing, and I need an outlet for it. Blogging has always seemed to work best, but blogging has changed so much since it became popular. It used to be more of just an online journal that your friends read, and maybe a few random people that happened to find you. Now it’s all about SEO and content and making money off of ads and getting followers or whatnot. I kind of wish we could just return to the way blogging used to be, before there was so much pressure and back when it used to just be a place to get all of your thoughts out. It won’t go back to that, I’m sure, but at any rate, I still need a creative outlet. So here I am, trying to catch up.

So let’s start with the latest news. If you follow me on social media at all, you’re probably aware that we have relocated. Yes, again. Goodbye, southwest Florida and hello to the north Bay Area of California! We live just a bit north of San Francisco now. It’s quite a change in both climate and culture. But honestly, one of the things that I have found the most fascinating about living here so far is the aversion that people who don’t live in California seem to have to California. You wouldn’t believe how many “well, that’s California” or “welcome to California” comments we have gotten when we talk about anything regarding living here. Yes, taxes, gas, and housing cost more here. They just do. But if you can get past that, it’s not a bad place to live and everything else really doesn’t cost that much more. There are more breweries here, which we love. I love the climate. So far the majority of the time has been sweatshirt, fall-like weather, which is my favorite kind of weather. I also like it that it’s easier to get around here. The other day I was able to walk a short distance and take a quick ride on the light rail to get to the downtown area, which is full of fun shops, bars, restaurants, and bookstores. But honestly, I’m pretty adaptable to living almost anywhere. Everywhere has its own pros and cons, including California, Arizona, Florida, Indiana, or any other state or country for that matter. 

Our move here was… interesting. We knew it was a possibility, but when it became a sure thing, it needed to happen super fast. So we had to pack everything up and book movers, plane tickets, and auto transport in about two weeks time before making it out to California. The trip itself was a bit crazy, since the timing coincided with a trip I had booked to London already. It was our dog’s first time to fly (he’s small, so he was in a vented bag under the seat). We had three flights to get to our destination. We flew to California on a Saturday, and the next day I went back to the airport and flew to London! I’ll try to write a blog about that trip next. Moving these three times now has been a learning experience about what it’s like to pick up and basically leave everything behind. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s also an experience that could help anyone grow and be good to learn from. And discovering what it’s like to live in different parts of the country can definitely give you a sense of awareness that not a lot of Americans really have.

So here we are, new location, new things to explore, and new things to blog about, right? I guess we’ll see. I have a couple of ideas of things to write about, so let’s keep this thing going. Onward and upward. Let’s see what’s next!