Our First Hike Out West

Today we went to the Black Diamond Mines in Antioch, CA. We walked around for a bit but were unable to explore the mines because we had Hazel with us. The hills are beautiful right now.  With such an amazing view we weren’t too upset about not being able to go underground. We’re told that the grass on the hills will soon turn brown which is a big bummer for us.  We often will both see a gorgeous view while we’re out driving, hiking, or riding our bikes and we’ll turn to each other and say “Oh my gosh, this is beautiful!” But I suppose it will go away and just be something to look forward to in the spring.

First California Weekend

We’re driving ourselves crazy as we wait for our new carpet to be installed. We still have all our belongings in the garage so we’re trying to do as many things as we can outside the house to keep our minds off the inside. So we headed to Napa Valley for the day, about an hour’s drive from our very empty home. Andrew had been to Napa before so I had seen pictures and knew what to expect, but it still was a little odd coming from the area we live (how busy and hectic it is) to just how calm and country-like Napa feels. Also surprising is that the area harvests a great deal of olives in addition to just grapes.  Lucky for me, this meant stopping and sampling some great olive oils. We visited one winery, V.Sattui, and walked around the grounds. While in Napa we also went to an Earth Day festival. We listened to music in the park and visited booths to learn about sustainable living. Afterward, we walked around downtown and did some shopping at Oxbow Public Market.  We’re excited to bring my mom, a wine-lover, to Napa when she comes to visit.

We've Arrived!

Finishing the road trip couldn’t have been easier. We had some time to burn before meeting the landlord at the house we are renting, so we made some pit stops before pulling into the new place. I had to stop and get a bowl of soup at Pea Soup Andersen’s  after seeing Hef and my girls in ‘The Girls Next Door’ eat there. Then it was on to the Casa de Fruta in Hollister. This is the place to be if you want fresh produce or anything, for that matter, made of fruit. And finally, since we were traveling through Gilroy, “The Garlic Capital of the World,” we had to stop at a roadside market and check out the goods. With a snack-filled car, we were ready to drive the last handful of miles to our new home. Upon arriving, we quickly knew something was amiss. The carpet in the house needs replaced and will be in the coming week. For now, we have our boxes waiting to be unpacked in the garage. The next several days will be a waiting game as we look forward to new, clean carpet.

Road Trip!

We have now been on the road for three full days and have just five short hours left of the drive. Believe it or not, the drive has been a breeze. No pulling each other’s hair out or anything! Even Hazel has been a trooper. Usually she’s a little whiny in the car, but for some reason we haven’t heard a peep from her on this trip. On day one we made it to San Antonio, Texas. Day two was spent driving to Willcox, Arizona, and today we’re stopping in Santa Clarita, California (north of LA).

We wanted to fit in as many roadside attractions as possible but there just hasn’t been much to see on this journey. This is the (very dry) view we’ve had the last couple of days:

We stop several times a day to walk Hazel. Lucky for me, my husband understands my love for tacky gift shops so that has been the site for most of Hazel’s walks. In Dragoon, Arizona, we succumbed to the billboards calling us to see “The Thing.” This has to be the oddest roadside attraction Andy and I have ever seen. We also briefly stopped in the south entrance of Joshua Tree National Park then decided that, at 102 degrees, we didn’t want to risk Hazel getting overheated. We missed our exit to our next attraction, the Cabazon Dinosaurs at the end of our I-10 journey. If you’ve seen Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, this is where Pee Wee and Simone watched the sunrise in the mouth of a T.Rex. Sadly, we knew we would have to backtrack too far, so we continued on to Santa Clarita. Tonight we’ll find some dinner and get some rest before the big day tomorrow!

Moving Day

The big day has arrived. Andy has been in meetings in San Jose/Cupertino for a few days and is flying back to drive with Hazel and me to our new home. This might not make total sense for him to fly across the country just to turn around and make the long drive back, but we decided we wanted to make the journey together (and driving 40 hours with just Hazel as my co-pilot seemed impossible). Speaking of the pup, here she is getting ready:

And I can’t leave Destin without sharing some pictures of the time we’ve spent here:

 Hazel's First Birthday 	Hazel's Second Birthday
Galati Girls (Marissa, Jacqueline, Lindsay, Mary)	30a Beach
Florida Wildlife	Our first flight together with Andrew as an official pilot
Andrew & Donald deep sea fishing

The Big Reveal

Andrew and I will be moving to California in just 11 days. He is taking a job where he will be traveling (much!) less and will be working in the hub of his field. While this means big pluses like him collaborating with lots of like-minded people in the Silicon Valley and us being able to spend more time together, it also is a little sad that we are leaving an area that has begun to feel like home to us. Fortunately, we are no strangers to the moving process and we’ve gotten pretty good at it.

Our journey since high school graduation:

So in the next couple weeks, we will be packing our belongings and making the trek across the country. Andrew, Hazel, and I will take three or four days to drive 40 hours to our new home just outside San Jose, California. The journey will be a long one but we’re excited for the California chapter in our lives. We know it probably won’t be forever, so we plan to see and do as much as possible during our time along the Pacific. And who knows? In a couple years maybe we’ll be renaming this blog to “The Georgia Chapter” or “The Texas Chapter” or even “The Tahiti Chapter” (What? A girl can dream, can’t she?!).

Original map found here.