The Neighborhood

The neighborhood is nice, quiet... peaceful. It's consistently 7 to 10 degrees warmer than San Francisco and since Mill Valley is in – well – a valley, the northern California weather (fog) is kept at bay. We're only 10 minutes from the bridge and 15 minutes from San Francisco's Marina district, and 5 minutes from Sausalito to the south and Corte Madera to the north.

There is plenty of convenient shopping very near by with a Whole Foods Market two blocks away, a Safeway 5 blocks away and a decent mall in Corte Madera. Elizabeth has pointed out to me the conspicuous absence in the immediate area of a Target, Marshall's, Petco or Costco. Got to head up to Novato for one of those (17 miles).

I love the biggest room "in" our house – the deck:

More pictures of the place will follow. It will have to wait until we get a little more organized and at least remove the residue from the move.

As for the deer – seems like there are plenty. Usually seen at dusk or dawn, the ones in the picture at the head of this post were seen at about noon. These were startled early in the morning as I was taking out the trash (there were three of them).








If you head away from Miller Ave (the main road, where the Whole Foods, Safeway, restaurants are) there is a good 1.8 mile walking loop that winds though some of the nicer homes of Homestead Valley.








The loop also winds through Stolte Grove, a small stand of redwoods.


Finally, the public pool at the Homestead Valley community center. Not bad for a public pool...

Moving Day

Amazing that it all (all that was left, that is) fit into that 14 foot U-Haul. Well, all but a few spillover items + Nancy, who rode in the lead vehicle. Turns out that the 14-footer was a wise choice, if just barely.

Los Angeles did it's best to remove second thoughts by keeping the temperature at or above 95 degrees most of the day. Charlie and Frank provided an incredible amount of help and it ended up taking less time and effort than I had guessed that it would.

Years of driving a Miata didn't adequately prepare me for navigating a U-Haul van out of L.A. then the winding, narrow roads of Marin County. Fortunately Charlie rode shotgun with me for the long drive up the 5.

Here's a last look at 1521 Oak Grove, just before we pulled out and headed north.










Arriving in Mill Valley after 7PM felt a little late to me, as the light was fading. My friend Del (stronger and harder working than any two people) met us there and the four of us managed to get the truck unloaded and into the house in just about an hour!

I was worried most about Nancy. Once we removed her last refuge (the bed, under which she hides) she wandered around in a semi daze looking for anywhere to hide.

However she handled the long, hot drive up the 5 extremely well and seems to be adjusting to her new surroundings much better than I expected.

Does this cat look like she's having difficulty "adjusting" to anything?