We're doing map study, both at work and on the streets here in the area, and we are gradually becoming familiar with some of our immediate surroundings. Running into several familiar businesses makes it far less disorienting when you are in new surroundings. It does seems as though the Starbucks around here are much harder to access than in Colorado, but I believe that is a testimony to the general 'tightness' of everything around town. It's not only the streets that are crammed, so are all the strip-malls, corner businesses, and parking lots. It's crowded here.
We tried to drive north to hook up with our good friend Pam who was in the area for a visit but fell about 20 miles short of the destination when it became apparent that the traffic congestion would prevent us from accomplishing our goal in a reasonable amount of time. Ah well, we'll plan it better next time and get to visit properly some day.
We did find our way to North Beach and worked our way back home through some pretty cool areas of the city. After dark, we stopped alongside a beach access and walked out to listen to the ocean. We were still in our work clothes so we didn't get to go very far into the sand but it was still a pleasant few minutes while we stopped and watched the surf and felt the cool breeze coming on shore. About an hour later we were back home and is rained off and on for a while.
We learned that the really cool, automated, variable speed, programmable vent fans we have in the kitchen and bathroom have counter-intuitive switches on them. The fans ("Fan-tastic" vents) are supposed to sense rain and close down on their own. This is easily overriden by the 'Rain Sensor' switch adjacent to the fan itself. It has a two position switch, red and black. Somehow I figured red must mean 'on' and black would be 'off' but noooooo! We did get a little wet in there during a late night rain shower:) It's all part of the learning curve.
Yesterday Robin potted a couple of herbs, mint and basil. The basil will make great caprese and the mint .. well .. it's an essential ingredient in Mojito's, no?
The Solara is at the shop, and the repairs will take a couple of weeks. The insurance company provided a Jetta for us to use in the meantime and it will get us around just fine now that I've figured out how to lower the seat (only took 4 days) so my head doesn't touch the headliner all the time. It has a turn signal lever on it, but I think I might be the first person to ever use it. It seems that freeway/turnpike driving is a lot like a video game and folks are far too concerned with their next 'Frogger" like lane-hop to take time to locate and throw that annoying lever. I'll get used to it I suppose.
Robin and I will be getting our own Driver's Licenses here shortly and then we will register vehicles as soon as we have the tax-law limitations satisfied.
We asked for and received permission to pick a few avacados from the nearby trees in the campground (they are everywhere!). We'll just have to be careful, as they are high in cholestrol and fat, and we like them ... a lot ... and they're free .. and abundant .. and tasty :)
It's a beautiful day here. Think we'll go explore a little bit more.
Oh .. and be sure to get out and vote. It really matters.
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