Move Recap

Pictures Here!

For those of you who have or have not heard this: I moved to San Francisco. Drove out Dec 3-6. Trip out went well. I drove through Memphis, Little Rock, OK city,Albuquerque, Flagstaff, etc. The drive went very well, the uhaul did just fine. Only ran the auto transport trailer into a gas station pump once. Didn't get charged, yet, for that or the broken mirror.

Dogs were pretty cooperative until day 4 on the road. Lady kept nudging me with her nose and wanting me to play with her. She actually got in my lap and flopped on her back (Lap is reserved just for Ari) Ari was a little put-out. Ari would sleep in my lap for an hour or two in the mornings, then stay on the floor between the two bucket seats. Lady didn't want to share "shotgun" until 1\2 way through day 2 : ) Just like kids. We'd stop 1/3 of the way through each day and spend 20-30min at a rest area frolicking around that seemed to make-do for the dogs.

The cats were okay. Dolly hid and SuzyQ sat on the dashboard of the car most of the time. Cats were in the car on the auto transport trailer. However, the last two mornings in the hotel rooms the cats (mostly Dolly) hid because they didn't want to go back in the car : ( 30+ min of tearing apart a hotel room was not in the schedule!! The last day driving in CA I had to bring the cats into the already cramped truck cab because it was getting too warm in the car. The dogs were not happy that they had to share their small space.

Snakes were fine except for the one night. I woke up suddenly at 3am thinking, I left the snakes in the truck. In OK with temps below freezing. I raced out expecting to find dead frozen snakes. Arch was balled up and not moving, not good. Sangria was moving but and icicle. So I put Arch in front of the heater and Sangria, in her pillowcase, on my stomach until she warmed up. Next morning Arch was alive, Yeah!

Got to SF wed eve at 9:30 PST. Freaked out because the roads Nathan told me to turn on were one way, the wrong way. There is no place to pull over with a truck and trailer. I finally found a spot and he came and rescued me. Turns out I was 4 blocks from my apt. We unloaded my car and took the"rig" to a parking lot in the Presidio. I was exhausted and didn't know to check the street cleaning times and of course the next morning I got a$40 ticket for not moving my car! Grrrr..

My apartment is GREAT! It's a studio with a sleeping loft. I'm going to use the loft for an office since it's only full sized with a ladder not stairs (ie no dogs). The main room is aprox 12x15. It has a breakfast nook which is good sized and a small kitchen with gas stove and antique iron sink. The bath is fine but just a shower stall. Lots of windows and light!! I'm right next to a high school which means more street parking then usual. And green space for doggie "restrooms". We are 3 blocks from Golden Gate park and 18 blocks from the ocean (1mile).There are little restaurants, coffee shops, Laundromats, bus lines, and grocery stores all with in walking distance.

Dogs like the park and we found a dog walking group in the mornings.Dogs LOVE the beach. Lady is now OCD for birds. She can really stretch out and race after them for quite a while. The are not afraid of the waves like on Lake MI. SF is great for dogs. Off-leash most everywhere. We went to a place this weekend called Fort Funston. Dog people told me about it but online it said they were trying to curb the off-leash issue. I got there and there were dogs Everywhere! Everyone there had an off-leash dog or more. Saw one Asian guy with 4 bull dogs.There were trails, dunes, cliffs, and the beach. Total there were hundreds of dogs in this park. Very cool.

Talks with Leapfrog are going well but it's a little slow this time of year. I'm pretty board not working : ) Plus work is a good way to get info about the city and people to do things with. Food is great here. Awesome Mexican place in the Mission. I never liked avocados until here. They are yummy. Good Thai place, pizza parlor, several east African places, crepes are common. Haven't found an Indian place as good as Masala. Lots more places I want to visit : )

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