The Adventure Begins

Hi everyone. So I have succumbed to blogging. This way you can all experience me and Tim’s assimilation into our new country, I mean city. Yes, it feels as though we really did move to Hong Kong instead of San Francisco living in what is known as Little Chinatown in San Francisco – the Inner Richmond neighborhood. I was wondering why most of the apartment managers were Chinese when we were looking for apartments and now I know why.

We found the greatest apartment in Inner Richmond. It’s a 30-minute bus ride into downtown San Francisco for me getting to my internship and a 30-minute drive for Tim to go up North to Novato for work. Inner Richmond is right below the Golden Gate Bridge. Tim gets to cross that bridge everyday for his commute. People come from different countries, states, and cities to see the Golden Gate Bridge and it is just a part of Tim’s everyday routine crossing it and paying the $5 toll.

Just steps away from our flat, is everything our hearts could desire. We will never go hungry and the fact that our place doesn’t have a washer/dryer and dishwasher has not been a problem. Our first week we ate out for every meal. We could probably do this for the next month and not hit the same place because there are so many restaurants in our neighborhood. Most are Asian, since we’re in Little Chinatown, but further down the street (Clement) gentrification sets in and the whitey restaurants start popping up.

The Drive
To go back a little on the move, we left Seattle on Friday, June 8th. We went through our walk throughs for our apartments and Tim survived his. My walk through took all of a congenial 5 minutes with 15 minutes of chatting about our move and drive down to San Francisco with my apartment manager Debra. What a nice women. Tim’s was 10 minutes of sheer hell with the demon Carlene. She just couldn’t be nice with her last moments with Tim. She went through her checklist of things that Tim had to do to be free. And did I mention that Tim spent over 8 hours cleaning his apartment that he had a nonrefundable deposit on (he had to go through Carlene’s list of things to do or else she would cast her evil spell of judgment and condescension on him for not completing “the list”) and I spent maybe 1 hour cleaning my refundable deposit apartment. Granted I was never there and my girlfriend Jennifer and my mother probably stayed here longer than I ever did, but still the point is that Tim’s apartment manager, Carlene, is an evil person who subjected Tim to………CLEANING.

This was not a good way to start the road trip to San Francisco. Tim was stressed and I was tired because in my obsessive compulsiveness. I couldn’t sleep the nights coming up to the move because I kept thinking I was forgetting something. Which we did! So at least I’m obsessive compulsive for a reason. We forgot to pack up a whole cabinet that we ended up hauling in the Mini. That Mini was packed with our luggage, a couple of plants, and now some pots and pans.

It was strange leaving and giving up our apartments. No car (I sold my beautiful Volvo), no apartment, just a bunch of key chains with no keys. It was a funny feeling – I was in a responsibility free zone with a bunch of empty key chains.

Day 1 (213 miles, Seattle – Cannon Beach). We leave for the Oregon Coast. Tod, my bestest friend, sends us off as he takes the last bunch of stuff from us. We punch in the address of our destination into Tim’s new best friend, his Blackberry 8800 and we’re really off! We go all the way to Lacey (Olympia, WA 58 miles from Seattle) to have lunch with my girlfriend and her daughter. Need to say our last good-byes. *Sniffle* Now we’re really off – this time for Cannon Beach, OR.

The road trip was nearly two weeks ago so all I can remember is that Astoria was sparse. I thought it would be a little quainter but it was more rundown that I expected. The Goonies and Kindergarten Cop fame has not helped with its economic prosperity apparently. But again, my observations are based on a snap decision on the city by the 40 mph drive by. I mean no offense to all you Goonies fan(atic)s.

We stayed in Cannon Beach our first night. It was cute and we got to see Haystack Rock. What is Haystack Rock you ask? It’s a big rock jutting from the ocean. I still have not come to appreciate this beauty and I don’t know why it was different from the other rocks jutting from the ocean, but it was a big deal for Tim and very close to where we were staying. We got to walk on the beach before dinner to see Haystack Rock. It wasn’t too cold and there were even some people in shorts. Not a Hawaii beach, but still it was nice to walk on the beach…in my shoes. Being from Hawaii it seems so wrong to wear shoes on the beach, but when in Rome do as the Romans or else you’ll freeze your toes off.

Side note: I notice that I have a weird discoloration on my palms and in between my middle fingers. Tim thinks it’s from the cleaning solutions I was using, but I think it’s something else like a vitamin deficiency or worse yet some kind of debilitating disease. Whatever, I’ll wait and see if it’s still around tomorrow.

Day 2 (285 miles + weather handicap, Cannon Beach – Gold Beach) It’s pouring rain. I don’t think it stopped at all for the whole day, which was too bad because we drove along the Oregon Coast the whole time. We would love to do the drive again without going through sheets of rain and also thick fog to see the beautiful Oregon coast. It was an interesting drive through the windy roads of 101. We made it all the way until 11:00 a.m. until we had our first fight about…I can’t remember but I remember eating ice cream at the Tillamook Cheese Visitor’s Center. We were both tired, it was raining, and tensions were high. Hey, what’s a road trip without a fight. I remember the fight now, it was about folding the map. Yeah, we were tired. When you start fighting about how to fold the map, it’s time for a nap even if it’s only 11 a.m.

We make it through the rain to Gold Beach. We stay at a motel-ish place. It was probably the nicest place in the “city”. We had a view, and it was a nice place to sleep.

Side note: I still notice the discoloration on my palms and in between my fingers. I’m thinking maybe it’s a change in my diet. The only big change was that I wasn’t eating my usual peanut butter and jam toast with green tea. Am I that sensitive that a small change in my diet has caused a weird deficiency in my diet causing the discoloration? I can’t think of anything else that has changed, it’s that or….a rare weird skin disease. Whatever, I’ll wait until the next day and see if it’s still there.

Day 3 (281 miles + super duper windy road handicap, Gold Beach - Mendocino) Thank goodness the sun came out. Otherwise Tim and I would have killed each other. Two control freaks on a road trip does not a fun road trip make. But I’m mellowing out in my sunset years so I didn’t kill Tim with my stink eye (pidgin term for all you non-Hawaii people). Not that you could actually kill someone with a stink eye but I think you get the gist.

Stink eye n. a facial expression of doubt, distrust, or dislike; a dirty look; skunk eye, the hairy eyeball.

We finally get to enjoy the Oregon Cost and even get to drive through a tree! Not in an accident drive through a tree. If Tim’s mom is reading this don’t freak out. Tim was a very good driver. It was one of those trees that has a big hole in the middle by the roots so you can drive through it. Tim even videotaped it. Yes, driving through a tree. Five dollars to drive through a tree. It made Tim happy.

The drive to Mendocino was perfect for the Mini Cooper and Tim. It was windy road after windy road. I thought I was going to have dreams about the drive but I didn’t. We got to see the California coast now and it was lusher than Oregon. I kept thinking of scenes from Blue Lagoon. Actually I never saw the movie but there were these little lagoons along the way and if there wasn’t a major road next to it it would have looked like paradise.

We get to Mendocino (population 761) in one piece and stayed at the cutest inn. They shot an episode of Murder She Wrote there. It looked very Murder She Wrote. Cute gardens all over and if it weren’t for the cold piercing wind, I would have loved to walk around a little more around the inn. It was very old fashioned inside and out. It would be the perfect place for afternoon tea. I think there was even red velvet furniture in the lobby. It was a place where doilies vacationed. I loved it!

We had a fancy-smancy dinner and if those piercing winds weren’t so…piercing it would have been a lovely walk to our restaurant. We were just happy that someplace was opened on a Sunday night. Mendocino is very, very small. Let’s say quaint.

Side note: still have the discoloration on my hands. It’s starting to bother me because if it were a weird reaction to cleaning solution it would be gone by now. Maybe it is the peanut butter and jam and green tea. Or maybe it’s worse. Maybe it’s some sort of rare hand discoloration disease. Whatever, I’ll see what happens tomorrow. Maybe it will go away. It seems to be fading a little.

Day 4 (151 miles + windy road handicap, Mendocino – San Francisco). Time was a ticking on our last day. We didn’t have cell phone coverage for most of the drive down the coast so we were a little worried that the movers had called earlier to tell us exactly when they would be arriving at our place. We had a breakfast included with our hotel reservations that started at 7 a.m. and there was no way I was giving that up. We got in there at exactly 7 a.m. with no one else except for Cindy our waitress. That lady was chipper and it was obvious she loved her job…because she told us several times. It was a pretty good breakfast and we again had a gorgeous view.

Tim was nervous about the drive and how it would take so we wolfed down our food, or Tim just ate his meal as usual, and we took off for our new home – San Francisco! Tim was right to be nervous. There were more windy roads to get to the main highway. Thank goodness Tim and the Mini had all those practice runs before. We made it to city by noon. Tim and the Mini made good time in the Indy 151.

Side note: still have weird color hands. We’re at our apartment now and after taking a shower I look at my lotion. It’s a new lotion that I pulled out for the trip. It was a little more compact for me to carry around and the name of it is….SUMMER GLOW. It takes me a while, but then being the smart person that I am it clicks. That damn lotion was a tanner! I read the back and low and behold the damn thing was a tanner and I was supposed to wash my hands after using it. I guess it’s not cancer, a weird skin disease, and or a vitamin deficiency because I’m not eating my usual breakfast of peanut butter and jam toast with green tea. I will survive.

Little Chinatown
What a great neighborhood! Did I already mention that? I’ve been told that it’s more “real” than the famous Chinatown because the real immigrants live in Inner Richmond whereas all the tourists are in Chinatown. And it’s true! It feels like we’re in another country. Most of the merchant’s first language is NOT English and there is Dim Sum place after Dim Sum place on Clement Street. I love it. It’s a little hectic but everyone is so nice and it’s like being in a big city but not. It’s a Chinese Ballard! I couldn’t have asked for anything more perfect.

Californians are friendly. Tim and I are still trying to get used to this. Seattleites were…polite but never all that friendly. But here, I can strike up a conversation with anyone and they are genuinely friendly back. I talked to people at work and they agreed, people in San Francisco are nice. Interesting. Is it the weather? Whatever it is Tim and I love it. It’s a refreshing change from Seattle.

Settling In
We still have about 10 boxes or so to go. We are down to the little things that need to be shoved in a cabinet, although we don’t have cabinets, so that means buying more storage stuff. I really don’t understand why we have so much stuff. And why do I have so much shoes and 4 packages of cotton swabs?! Damn Costco and my love of shoes. Around the corner from my internship is a Shoe Pavilion. I have not stepped in yet, I came real close today. Sandals are 60% off!

But I digress, most of the flat is done but we still have to decorate and make it more a home. It is large place and the hardwood floors somehow make it feel larger. It’s great. I love it. I love being in the apartment. It’s a place you can come home from work and relax. It’s so relaxing Tim is falling asleep at 8:30 p.m. He is basically coming home, eating, showering and then he’s out. Partly because he’s busy using parts of his brain he hasn’t had to use before at work but also because the flat is so…comfortable.

Life is good. I’m happy, we’re happy. I take my California driver’s test on July 2nd and then it will be official. I will be a California resident. I never ever would have thunk it but there you go and I think I’m going to like it! Oh dear, what has become of me. Instead of getting older and crustier I’m getting positive and happy. Who would have thunk that?!

More pictures to come.