For some reason, it felt surreal being in San Francisco! We’d been looking forward to this area for so long, and so we hung around for a few weeks. Everywhere from San Jose to Windsor.

So many great spots to explore, and so much variety.

We did the city as tourists: Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39 and Pier 45, The Ferry Building, Lombard Street, Ghiardelli Square, Alcatraz

We enjoyed the natural beauty as hikers: Marin Headlands, Point Reyes, Dipsea Trail to Stinson Beach, Armstrong Woods

We put on our academic and tech hats: Stanford, Berkeley, Tech Museum, Google, AutoDesk

And we had some pretty normal work/school days hanging out at our home in Windsor. Don and I walked miles around the neighborhood talking business and life. We went to the Farmers Market on Sunday morning. The kids rode to the quaint downtown on their Penny Board for yummy Paletas or Gelato. Don and I enjoyed the beer garden near the town square. Isaac and Gabe shot hundreds of baskets outside on the hoop or went to the neighborhood park for monkey bars or tag.

It was quite a full month of life and memories for sure!

It’s About the People

The neatest memories, though were with or because of people. We hung out a ton with the Halls who were also in the area. We visited their RV park, had their kids for a sleepover, hit a couple National Parks and other tourist spots together. It’s just so easy for our kids to hang out – learning and enjoying life. I love that they will be able to remember San Francisco as friends!

And some cool “serendipitous” events: A stranger found us online and asked if we’d like to housesit for her while they traveled to the East Coast. Kate opened her home to us for almost two weeks, making dinner for us the night that they flew out and then hiking and having a game night when they returned. So kind and generous! We were really grateful to meet them, and their neighborhood was a perfect place to settle in for a bit.

It gets even better – while we were there, Don was walking around downtown after a meeting and recognized a mom across the street! Sure enough, it was Kelly Olson, the sister of a college cross-country buddy of his. Her family lived in town, and her daughter was actually best friends with the girl whose home we were living in! We got to hang out with them a couple times while we were there, and both times were a blast!

Lastly, while in town, we met up with a gentleman whom we had met in Montana in August. He was biking across country for his son, in order to raise money for continued research for a cure for diabetes. He and Don had been following each other on Facebook. So, when he came into town on business, we met up with him for dinner. Really neat to share adventure stories!

When we left the area, we left “wanting more.” There were still so many places we wanted to visit and just enjoy as “locals” and a couple friends we didn’t get to see in time, so we’ll just have to come back for more another time!