Leaving The City

After being in the city for all of two weeks we were faced with our first weekend during which we had nothing that had to be done. So naturally we left town for the day and headed south for the historic beachtown of Santa Cruz (for those of you who loved either of the Corey's you might remember it from The Lost Boys).


We decided to get in our semi-registered car and head down the Pacific Coast on Route 1 towards Santa Cruz. Along the way Jeff found a new sport to take up - sail surfing (see picture below). He should be an expert by the next blog update.


When we got to Santa Cruz we went to the 100 year old beach boardwalk and made plans to come back and ride the rides. In the meantime Jeff won a stuffed monkey in the toss-a-wiffle-ball-in-a-basket game. We enjoyed lounging on a blanket on the beach for awhile but didn't see a water sunset as the Santa Cruz beach is one of the few places on the coast in Northern California that doesn't face west.


In other news Jeff began taking public transportation to work this past week with mixed results. He's considering taking the bus and train still but instead of taking a shuttle bus riding his bike the three miles from the train station to work. Does anyone reading this know someone who takes a bus, train and bicycle as part of his or her commute? Well, you might soon.

Settling In Some More

The final tally is in...and the Jeff and Renee gas-guzzling entourage of a Budget Truck, car and car carrier and a truck full of wedding gifts (oh, and all of our existing possessions) managed to suck up a grand total of 356 gallons of gasoline from Washington, DC to San Francisco. The final miles per gallon tally was about 10.3. We won't post the actual amount spent on gasoline but you can do the rough calculations. Essentially current gasoline prices can't be blamed on price-gouging or increased demand from China and India or environmental standards or even Al Gore. You can blame the two of us for sucking our country's resources dry.

In more uplifting news we managed to not break a single item on our whole trip. That is one fact we are especially proud of.

We posted a couple more pictures of our apartment below, because who hasn't been dying to know what our bathroom looks like?

There's also a picture of the building where Jeff works. His job is with a research firm called Knowledge Networks which is headquartered in Menlo Park, California but also has offices in 6 other cities. His position is working as a Research Analyst with the Government and Academic Group of the company. What that means is that government and academic clients hire Knowledge Networks to conduct surveys for them on the topic that they are interested in. The Research Analyst then assists in tabulating and analyzing survey data and assisting with the over implementation of the research. Here's a link for the actual position. A number of the employees in the group have backgrounds in survey research while others have backgrounds in the social sciences.

Anyone still with us?


The downside of the job is the commute - roughly an hour each way as Menlo Park is about 30 miles south of San Francisco. Jeff has become a fan of NPR in the last week and as a first-time automobile commuter has learned that he always needs to have something to eat and/or drink with him in the car. Trying out public transportation to and from work is next on the docket so hold on to your seats while you anxiously await that blog update.

The outside of our building. It's along side a busy road but we have an inner unit so it's actually rather quiet. The view, however, leaves something to be desired.

Our bathroom. No, there isn't a mirror above the sink. It's a bit weird.

Knowledge Networks, Menlo Park, California

Settling In

For anyone still looking at this we are settling into our new apartment and neighborhood in San Francisco. We have some pictures below of our nearing-completion apartment. If you’re wondering if it’s really as small as the pictures show…it is. But it’s a cozy place and we feel we’ve done a great job putting it together so far (let’s stop pretending– this is Jeff saying that Renee’s done a great job putting it together).

As you can see from some of the pictures below you may wonder if we’re actually just hiding all of our boxes while taking pictures of the other room. The kid who helped move us in and his Dad laughed at us as well when we thought we could fit everything. However, we proved them both wrong and have managed to create a good living space.

We’ve gone running a few times and have discovered a couple of routes (mostly along the water with spectacular views) that minimize the time spent up and down the famous hills. We definitely find ourselves more winded running here than we did in Washington, DC.

We didn’t even realize that right around the corner from our building there is a great neighborhood with lots of coffee shops (including one we already claim as our own that we’re writing from at the moment) and other independent shops. Renee is in heaven because there are organic food markets, vintage clothing and book stores, and a few antique shops. Not to mention, the nail salon that offers a 20 dollar mani/pedi combo that Jeff spotted on his way home from work.

Speaking of work, Jeff is officially a member of the professional work force again. He even has a business card. Renee registered for classes and met a few people at school so we now have some “friends” or people whose faces we recognize and names we know.

We enjoyed some quality time at the California DMV this morning and while we’re not completely done we both safely passed our written driving tests without studying (yes, we really had to take one). After the DMV we experienced Golden Gate Park for the first time and went to the Japanese Tea Garden and the Rose Garden – both were very beautiful.

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Renee is thoroughly enjoying her new All-Clad

Living Room

Kitchen

Eating area

View of the city from the Bay Bridge while arriving

We had to do the obligatory trip down Lombard Street during our first week.

Renee outside Alliant University where she will be starting school in August

Jeff enjoying a slice of pizza for one of his first San Francisco meals.

Photos from the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park

A bonzi tree, Amy DePotty's favorite plant

A rose from the Rose Garden in Golden Gate Park

San Francisco

Is anyone still looking at this? Well if you are, we made it!

We arrived Saturday afternoon and moved in all evening. The biggest hiccup was having to drive through San Francisco with the Budget truck (and car in tow) after the first location wouldn't let me leave only the car carrier. However with the help of a teenager in the building we moved all of our stuff in Saturday night by 11pm.

Since then we've been unpacking and trying to give our apartment some shape. When we were done putting all of the boxes in we didn't think we'd fit everything. However it looks like we'll only need to get rid of a shelf and a coffee table (and maybe a stereo...oh, and maybe a couple of mirrors - more than we realized) in order to call it a living space.

Monday and Tuesday were spent, among other things, going to Renee's school, getting new Social Security cards (to reflect our new last name), grocery shopping, and a variety of other little tasks that have managed to take up 2 days. Jeff starts his job on Wednesday as well.

We'll put more moving in pictures (and maybe some road trip pictures as well) up soon and will put occasional updates on here to let everyone know what we're doing in The City.

Western States

While most other days of the trip could have been considered sightseeing days, Friday was definitely a travel day. We traveled about 700 miles from Blackfoot, Idaho through Utah to Reno, Nevada, about 12 miles west of California and about 220 miles from San Francisco. As you can see from the pictures below the highlights were relatively few.

The children (cats) were again wonderful travelers and we've been amazed at how well they've held up the whole trip. For the second night in a row by the time we got to our hotel room and got the litter box set up one immediately started using it while the other was patiently waiting right next to it ready to hop right in.

We need to make it to our leasing office by 4pm Saturday in order to get our keys - if we don't make it there in time we can't get in our apartment until Monday. So if there's another update tomorrow it's a bad sign - it means we're stuck in a motel outside San Francisco with all of our possessions still in the truck.

Also, Jeff will be starting his job on Wednesday so we have a little more time to get settled. We'll post pictures of the new place when we can.

3,000 miles worth of bugs

Nevada sunset

Renee with the Great Salt Lake in the background

Bonnie and Tiger only get along when they're sleeping

Reno, Nevada

We gambled away all of $1.50 at this lovely gas station casino

White Utah Dessert

Beach of the Great Salt Lake

A shot from our fly-by viewing of Salt Lake City

Yellowstone

Thursday, July 10

If anyone would care to leave comments on our blog we have now changed the settings so that you should be able to easily do so. Thank you to Cristin for alerting us of our incompetency.

Before continuing to travel on Thursday we found out that Jeff was told by his future boss that he could start his new job a little later than the originally planned start date of Monday (July 14). As a result Thursday was a bit more of a leisurely day than originally thought and as a result we got to spend almost all of the day in Cody, Wyoming or in Yellowstone.

We started the day with a run in Cody, Wyoming. Judging by the looks we got from some of the locals they may not see all that many runners through the town. We then packed up and walked around town for a little bit. On the way out of town we visited the Buffalo Bill Dam which provided some great views of the area.

We coaxed our truck up the hills and a little past noon made it to Yellowstone National Park, the first national park in the country. We went in from the East entrance and through the day made a three quarters circle around the lower loop. The first part of our drive provided excellent shots of Yellowstone Lake, which we learned is the largest freshwater lake over higher than 7,000 feet in North America (the actual elevation is 7,732).

We then drove about 16 miles through the Hayden Valley, which is one of the areas where wildlife is most prominent. Early during our stay in the park Renee was upset when we were unable to pull over to the side of the road to view buffalo due to the size of our vehicle. An hour later when we passed another viewing of buffalo and I asked if we should stop Renee said, “Nah, they’re just buffalo.” All day long we were hoping for a bear viewing but we learned they’re most likely to be seen in the early morning or later in the evening.

Later we saw more of what are called Yellowstone’s hydrothermal features on the west side of the park, including hot springs, fumaroles, mudpots and geysers. Our Yellowstone stay concluded with a viewing of Old Faithful (of course) and we headed out of the park toward Montana and Idaho. We ended up staying overnight in Blackfoot, Idaho.

Thursday’s Quotes

“We’re not as good at the state capital game as we used to be in 5th grade.” (Jeff)

(After entering Idaho) “Where are all the potatoes?” (Renee)

“If you seek a bison, look about you.” (Renee)

(Renee talking to Tiger after he jumps on her lap and becomes generally needy in Yellowstone) “Buddy, you’re ruining mommy’s viewing pleasure.”

(After getting tacos at Taco John’s) “This is more grease than I bargained for at 11am.” (Jeff)

Random Observations

The Family Dollar store in Cody, Wyoming sells bear spray. What is that? (We have since learned that bear spray is essentially pepper spray. It doesn’t exactly work the same as, say, bug spray.)

For those of you who remember not going to JC Penney to order merchandise and instead going to a JC Penney Catalog Store to do so, rest assured that those stores in fact still exist. At least one does in Cody.

In Cody there’s a composting toilet system that’s waterless. It’s a little weird but apparently very environmentally friendly.

Commercials for butchers in Idaho show in rather graphic detail ground beef going from a hanging slab of cattle to a nice round hamburger patty. Maybe that helps sell beef in Idaho. We frankly found it disgusting.

Tiger (the fat one) and Bonnie (the less fat one) enjoying the Rocky Mountains outside of Cody.

Tiger and Bonnie enjoying Yellowstone Park.

The above 4 pictures are in Cody, Wyoming.

The above 3 pictures are from atop the Buffalo Bill Dam.

Yellowstone! (More details on the above pictures to come.)

Wyoming

Wednesday, July 9

Wednesday started in the Black Hill Mountains and ended in the land of Buffalo Bill. We enjoyed sightseeing along the route and a favorite detour was visiting Devil's Tower. Devil's Tower, also known as Bear Lodge, is a large stone structure (volcanic neck) that rises 1,267 feet in the air (see pictures below). It was formed by intrusions of igneous rock and is considered sacred ground for many American Indians. The Native American author M. Scott Momaday mused, "There are things in nature that engender an awful quiet in the hear of man..." and Devil's Tower is one. Renee enjoyed some quiet reflection time while the kid in Jeff wanted to stay there all day and jump around the rocks but the critters in the car (who we should say have been excellent traveling companions so far) would have been none too happy with that.

Wyoming is an amazing sight to see. We were overwhelmed by the richness of the landscape from the rolling prairies to the soaring mountains. We saw many oil refiners, more cattle than we've ever seen and very, very long coal-carrying trains. Wyoming can also a bit scary at night when driving on a two lane road. We spent a couple hundred miles on the the interstate and near Buffalo, Wyoming got on Route 14 to heard towards Cody, WY where we stayed last night. The first part of Route 14 was gorgeous - in about 15 miles we climbed about 4,000 feet through the Big Horn Mountains. The truck didn't seem to like us for it but made it in the end. Hopefully it behaves similarly when we head to Yellowstone later today.

We also discovered we're not the first people to spend 90 seconds looking at a map of Yellowstone, see that Cody is the closest town to the East and say, "Oh, we'll just stay at Cody." It took pulling into about 6 motels (which is none too easy with the truck) to find a place that had room and would accept cats that was less than $200. In the spirit of Dave Lubbers when the Super 8 told me their price I told the kind man that I had to go check with my wife. I didn't check with my wife. I left.

We also discovered that the truck has kind of turned into our child as we're finding ourselves taking an increasing number of pictures of it with scenery in the background. Maybe if the cats would sit still we'd take more pictures of them.

Jeff and his truck

Prairie Dog near Devil's Tower

Renee doing the pencil pose at Devil's Tower

Our baby (the speck on the left is Renee)

Renee: "I think I'm going to like Wyoming"

Lots and lots of cattle

Renee didn't want to stop here