Closing Down California Living

The hounds sacked out while I cleaned around them

Tuesday - June 30, 2015

Well, that's it for our beautiful perch on the hill.  This afternoon I walked the hounds on the fire road above Sausalito, soaked in the glorious view of Angel Island and Richardson Bay one last time, spied the UC Berkeley Carillon across the bay, and locked the doors behind me.  Time to move on - and I am pretty much exhausted!  It has truly been weeks of preparation and organization for this move - our 22nd! - with much weeding out and recycling before the packers came last week.  In California, MUCH can be recycled or deposited for safe disposal and I took full advantage.  The move itself was a challenge due to our location high above town on a steep and narrow road.  One truck got stuck getting out of our parking pad and then had a flat tire from the exertion and contortions.  The next day, our boxes and furniture had to be shuttled down the hill and across to Mill Valley where they were then transferred to the transcontinental truck.

Since the apartment emptied out on Friday, we have been in temporary housing in 2 lovely Air B&Bs for five nights.  Enjoying new lovely Marin locales.  Trying to rest.  We also took advantage of our last few days by enjoying wonderful outings to Sonoma, Point Reyes, and Half Moon Bay as well as final visits to favorite restaurants.  Leaving behind the amazing vistas, weather, and food of Marin is going to be pretty, p-r-e-t-t-y hard.  Will I find another destination to match the peace and beauty to match Point Reyes?  Will pizza ever taste so good?  Yes, we are excited to return to Northern Virginia but we will miss much about the beautiful Bay Area!

Monday it was down to dirty details.  Two full days of scrubbing and cleaning, mopping and dusting, and trying to leave our rental in white glove condition.  Let's just say that I am ready for a (coast to coast) vacation!

Leftover cancer drugs safely disposed of in CA! 

So farewell, California.  Thanks for two years of sunshine, Megan-time (!) and good health.  Thanks for that unequalled restorative, calming, ever-changing view from our perch on the hill.  Hurricane Gulch was very good to us.  I will fall asleep at night remembering the whitecaps and the wind, hearing the Golden Gate foghorn and the barking of sea lions, seeing the wave of fog spilling over Wolfpack Ridge and the outline of Angel Island against a moonlit sky.  A feast for the senses that will continue to soothe me in my memory.

Tomorrow we hit the road heading east!