Sticking around

Added on: 11/01/2012 11:11 am

A short update. After some research of San Francisco (the city we have fallen in love with) and surrounding areas like Daly City, East Bay, San Rafael and Hercules, we have decided to stick around in Davis.

San Francisco is very expensive where housing is concerned. What we are looking for: a Single-Family Home, is almost impossible in San Francisco. We live in a kind of Single-Family Home now in Davis, in fact, it is a large 3 br, 1,5 ba, large kitchen and large living room, extra laundry room, semi-detached house. We have a front, side and backyard with the most amazing circus of all kinds of birds* and squirrels, and we would have to give that up in San Francisco.

* Most prominent birds in our garden: Anna’s Hummingbird, Scrub Jay, House Finch, Mourning Dove, Robin, Cedar Waxwing, American Goldfinch, Dark-Eyed Junco, Red-breasted Nuthatch (they sound like Zebra Finches!), Mockingbird, White-crowned Sparrow, Downy Woodpecker, Hermit Thrush, Northern Flicker
In Davis, additional: Turkey Vulture

There is more: biking in Davis, Sacramento and surrounding areas is ‘a piece of cake’ with lots of possibilities, because it is flat around here, and that too is a different piece of cake in San Francisco and surrounding areas.

We checked out Hercules: it’s a lovely place, and biking is possible, but it is very limited and there are a lot of elevations. It turns out Davis is very safe too; we heard that places like Richmond, that is close to Hercules, do have crime. The house we checked out in Hercules had an elaborate security system. In Davis, no such thing is needed, because like I told a long time ago, Davis is like a little city in a friendly, safe bubble. Even people in Davis describe it like that, without suggesting something like that to them; they are using the word ‘bubble’ themselves too.

The only thing I really do miss is some thunder and lightning here. Of course, sea wind like you have in San Francisco is wonderful too (and we had that in The Netherlands, Scheveningen). But we only live 1.5 hours away from San Francisco, and we have decided to visit it very regularly, for the wonderful sea (wind), the spectacular views and the delicious vegan food restaurants (in Davis you can eat vegan too and it’s good!). The summers in Davis are pretty warm. In the daytime that is perfectly all right, but the nights are a little too warm. I still have to figure that one out because I don’t sleep very well with a little noisy blowing air conditioning at night.

Davis has still more benefits: all important shops like Grocery Outlet, Co-Op, Costco, Target etc. very nearby. It seems like we are in the heart of everything right here. Davis Picknick Day, to mention one of the magical things around here, is symbolic for the true heart of Davis, and now I have seen and researched other areas in NorCal, I again have to acknowledge the fact that Davis was the best choice and still is. Jeroen totally agrees with it, and it was I in fact, that got the idea of maybe moving again, before looking deeper into it, that is.

I now fully and deeply realize the choice for Davis was a very smart one.

Jeroen has been offered a job as a programmer and he has accepted. Still, if we would have thought that living in Hercules was the thing to do, we would have done it, and then Jeroen would have traveled by car, because he said he wouldn’t mind at all. I still teach in a German School in Sacramento and it is a very nice job and I enjoy it.

I actually get a kick driving myself in the evening, with the radio on, another travel experience and I love travel as much as I love birds, maybe a strange comparison, but still. Maybe the comparison isn’t that strange, because birds and travel are in fact about the same: having wings, moving and enjoying beauty.

There is one thing: if we would win the Lottery (like we have before , the Green Card Lottery) and would have a considerable amount of money to spend, we would be looking for a new place again, probably the Golden Gate area in San Francisco, because there you have Single-Family Homes with gardens, and there is a recreation park too, where you can bike and hike.

Photos ~ all shot by me