Map of the Journey

Last Monday night as we were driving back to Mill Valley, just after finding "our spot" and confirming by phone with the owner, a very wonderful thing happened on the Richmond Bridge. I was on the phone with Dave (son living in SF) asking him to watch for the lease that would be mailed to his address, and handing Bert the $5.00 toll for the bridge. Bert waved away the toll. The lady in the toll booth just told him the driver in the car ahead of us paid our toll. Wow! They had seen our license plate? I'm guessing, "Yes".
I've been thinking about that incident for the past few days. Apart from the fact that everybody we meet is just so sincerely nice and friendly, I think that maybe people don't drive clear across this country with a Thule on their top. The days of covered wagon travel are over - these days people fly and ship their car. So, I decided to map all the daily stops and neat places we visited to see what the journey looks like on a map. If you click the link under the title, you'll be able to access my Google map, too.

Naked Ladies along the highways

They are everywhere. They stick up in little clusters in the driest of highway medians and also in lovely landscaped yards. I finally asked the owner of an apartment we were looking at what they were - she had a beautiful garden and I guessed she might know - and she told me they are a bulb that spreads by seeds and just pops up. There are no visible green leaves, just the tall stalks with intense pink flowers. We looked up on Google, of course, "naked lady" and these are an Amaryllis Belladonna, with every part poisonous. They are from South Africa and seem to like it here. They look like an Amaryllis.

Feeling Good

I can relate today to that little golden buddha that is sitting on the balcony of our temp apartment in Mill Valley - We found our spot yesterday evening! We have yet to sign the lease which was mailed by the owner - he lives in Mendocino - but we think the deal is done. It's one of those little houses in the Berkeley Hills, actually in a village called Kensington. (Sarah, it's very near Solano Ave.) There's a view of the GG Bridge and SF, a tiny back terrace, new baths, kitchen and a master suite big enough for our desks, too. And best of all two additional bedrooms for guests we hope will visit. I'll send a pic and the address as soon as we sign the lease.... I'm superstitious that way. It took us one week of 24-7 house hunting. We were on Craigslist constantly and I even had an iPhone app that sent updates during the day. With the help of technology - the GPS - the iPhone - Craigslist - this was an amazing experience of modern day connectivity. Just had to get that tech-toot in there.

Mill Valley

It's been a week since we got to Mill Valley and the temp sub-let apartment. We are using Craigslist and hunting everywhere for our "spot". Last night after another weary day we found this deer pair in our backyard near the BBQ and behind the redwoods. They wandered across the main street awhile later. We think we've found a section of Oakland called Montclair that we like. Lots of cliff-hanging houses with amazing bay views. It's a good thing it doesn't snow here-the streets would be murderous.