Some Observations About San Francisco

In no particular order:

- there are dogs EVERYWHERE! On the bus, in trains, grocery stores, offices, my chiropractors office, in almost every apartment, drug stores, malls, bike baskets, baby carriages, everywhere. It's a bit much sometimes! Luckily I'm neither allergic nor scared or dogs, but for people who are SF must be a difficult city to be in.

- People wash their cars all.the.time. There's a do-it-yourself carwash next to my office and it's always busy. On the weekends gas stations set up car washes and there are lines around the block. I don't get it! There's no salt on the roads even! Benoit says maybe it's because it doesn't rain much here? I don't know.

- There's a heavy Spanish influence here (street names, for example) and I'm butchering them. I've finally learned how to say "Embarcadero" though (it's the big street that runs along the bay to the north of the city)!

- Having a stick + hills = I close my eyes and go to a happy place when Benoit drives up the big ones. I have gotten over my complete panic of hill starts because the brakes hold the car if the angle is big enough, but it's still stressful in general for me. Fun for Benoit though!

- It's pretty warm here, for me (which is saying something!), and yet I see loads of people wearing big puffy down coats. It's 50F people, not 15! It's really amusing to me still.

- Most people drive the speed limit on the highway. The vast majority of people aren't in a rush - it's stressing me out.

- There's compost collection everywhere! It's great!

- Our new licenses will have our height and weight. Heh. I'm not impressed, CA.

- There are so many very distinct neighborhoods here. I'm having trouble keeping everything straight! And sometimes the city feels very small while other times it's so big and overwhelming. I bet any new city is like that.

- So many homeless people. So many. It smells like pee in most places. Yes, we live on the forefront of gentrification in our neighborhood, but there's lots of homeless people everywhere in the city. Most are crazy and harmless, but it's still a huge problem.

- I know I've thought many more thoughts but of course I didn't write them down. I'll add as I think of more.

New Job + Moving = crazy!

We have almost moved everything into our new apartment! I started a new job! It's been a really crazy past few days!

Wednesday we went out for my birthday after my first day for burgers here.
Thursday we went to the Acadamy of Sciences for a night event with some of my new co-workers. We also packed our car up in order to leave our temporary apartment the next morning.
Friday morning Benoit dropped me off at work, parked the car in our new garage, and we stayed at The Mosser Hotel. We ate here, which was good but not great.

This morning we got a call from Door to Door at 7:15 saying they'd be delivering the pod at 7:30 even though it wasn't supposed to come until 8 at the earliest. Good thing we were 1 block away and almost ready to leave the hotel! The next adventure was trying to figure out how to get the pod to the back alley as 5th St was blocked off for construction. Benoit figured it out while narrowly missing a street fight and after some confusion with the security in the building we moved everything in! It only took us about 1.5 hours too! Too bad some of our furniture has to go right back out the door....

Tomorrow we'll be doing the mandatory "we just moved" trip to IKEA! I hope to watch the Superbowl but I don't think it's on Benoit's priority list (don't tell him I'm telling you that!). Hopefully we'll be more settled sooner than later!

1st dinner in Mint Plaza! Mushroom omelette with spicy SP fries.

Weekend Recap 1/26-1/27

We had a beautiful weekend here in SF and spent most of it outside. It was Benoit's first real end of the week for a few months and I'll get to have mine soon too!

I forgot to mention that on Friday it was also the day Benoit received his green card and is officially a permanent resident (for 2 years...)!!! Horray! After we signed our lease on Friday and went to happy hour at Yelp, we took the bus home and stopped at Fat Angel for dinner. We didn't have a stellar experience and probably won't be back.

Saturday we walked from our apartment (Pine and Scott) to the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero for the famed farmers market. Here's a look at our approximate route:



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The farmers market was very big and much busier than we were expecting. It was a little overwhelming so we didn't buy much but we know that once we're all moved and settled it will be easier to get back to meal planning and shopping! We took the bus home from Union Square, popped a bottle of sparkling rose, and went to bed early.

In front of AT&T Park! Go Giants! (maybe I need some green pants too....)

Sunday started with croissants from La Boulange, which is just a few blocks from our current location. We headed out again, but this time North and West to the Presidio. Our walk took us through Pacific Heights, which is the most expensive and glamorous neighborhood in SF. 

The view South from Scott & Jackson 

Benoit says, "I love hills!"

The view North from Scott & Jackson.

The curvy part on the left is actually a driveway....

Maybe when we win the lottery or slots we'll live here... 

The bay, GG bridge is to the left, out of the photo. 

One entrance to the Presidio.

At Inspiration Point - Alcatraz is over my R shoulder.

The video is the view from Inspiration Point. Next time we'll take the real camera and not just use my phone...

We stopped in Inner Richmond at Blue Danube for lunch/a snack, then took the bus home from there. We had leftovers for dinner, then watched "Le Grande Bleu," one of Benoit's favorite movies. 

Monday took Benoit back to work while I worked on transferring the car/car insurance/renters insurance to CA. I also went to the post office to buy more stamps and learned that postage went up, yet again, on Sunday (or so the USPS woman told me). Be careful if you're not using forever stamps! And it's now $1.10 to mail international - used to be $1.05, post card or letter. 

Today I was asked to start a 2 week trial tomorrow at a job I've been fighting for for a while now, so happy birthday to me!  :) Now I'm terrified but it's really perfect for me so hopefully it works out! 

We'll be packing up Thursday night to leave this apartment Friday morning, park the car in our new garage, and then we'll be in a hotel for Friday night. Saturday, we have our pod being delivered so we'll unloading that!! I don't really remember what's in there except our bed and my winter clothes (which I don't even need any more!!!). It will be an adventure! We'll be sure to take lots of pictures and we'll email out the new address soon (perfect for all those late birthday cards ;) ). 

View East from my walk home from Trader Joes. This is Masonic & Euclid Ave.

Has it really been 1 week!?

Greetings from sunny San Fran! It's "early" Saturday morning and I wanted to write this yesterday but it didn't happen. Yesterday was our 1 week in SF anniversary! It was also a lot of other things, including:

• The end of Benoit's first week at Yelp
• The day we drained our savings
• The day we signed our lease!!!
• The day I went to happy hour at Yelp and met Benoit's coworkers and saw his desk and the founder/CEO, Jeremy
• The day it was sunny and warm after being rainy and cool for 2 days.

Benoit has completed his first (short) week at Yelp, and he's really liking it. He "pushed" a bug fix to the live website on his second day which is uncommon, but he's very modest about it. He works with 6 others on the i18n (shorthand for internationalization) team and has organized his first meeting for Monday. Everyone that I met is very nice, the office is beautiful, and as we all know the product is great! 

The other big news from yesterday is that we signed a lease on a studio apartment in SOMA! Hooray! Also hence why we drained our savings! It's ok though, don't worry Mom, we're fine! We'll be living here, and while it's not perfect (not in a neighborhood, not very close to green space) we felt the positives outweighed the negatives. We also got lucky and had someone fighting for us to get approved, so we jumped on it. We're so excited to finally have our own space again!!! And if we hate it, we'll figure something out! :) We move in next week on the 2nd!

This weekend we might do some more exploring, find a farmers market, see some sights, and relax. Highlights of the past week included: seeing Natraj on Saturday, brunch on Monday at Brenda's with Joe, Anami, and Travis, delicious dinner at Saha's on Wednesday with Polina and Tom, and being able to cook again! :) We've done a lot of walking, purchased Clipper cards (Charlie card) and have taken the bus, but haven't taken the car out of the garage once! 

It's been a whirlwind week and sorry we didn't take any photos. Next week should be quieter once everything for the move is scheduled and organized. We hope everyone survived the cold snap in Boston!

ps - go niners!! :)

Road trip: It's a wrap!

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After 10 days on the road, we arrived! Here are some fun facts about our trip:

• Total distance: 4,049 mi (6516 km)
• Total time: 67 hours and 30 minutes
• Average speed: 60 mi/h (97 km/h)
• Average gas mileage: 32.9 MPG (7,15 L/100 km)
• Shortest day (time): 3 hours and 14 minutes between Nashville and Memphis
• Longest day (time): 10 hours and 46 minutes between Gaithersburg and Nashville
• Shortest day (distance): 214 mi (344 km) between Nashville and Memphis
• Longest day (distance): 689 mi (1109 km) between Gaithersburg and Nashville
• Slowest day: 48 mi/h (77 km/h) between Salida and Moab
• Fastest day: 69 mi/h (111 km/h) between Salt Lake City and Reno
• Green day: 39.2 MPG (6,00 L/100 km) between Reno and San Francisco (downhill!)
• Gas guzzler day: 27 MPG (8,71 L/100 km) between Oklahoma City and Amarillo (combination of high speed limits and strong headwinds)
• Cracker Barrel day: too much to count between Gaithersburg and Nashville
• Coldest temperature: -14 F (-26 C) in Colorado, somewhere between the Monarch Pass and Gunnison
• Warmest temperature: 70 F (21 C) in Tennessee
• Total number of bags of chips: 3 (small ones, we cheated)

We really enjoyed the trip, especially seeing all the different landscapes in the US, and have met only nice people! We had many food experiences, most of them great and I would like to thank Yelp for that :) Now onto some new adventures.

Day 10: Last day on the road!

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• Distance : 381 km (237 mi)
• Distance totale (distance so far): 6532 km (4,059 mi)
• Temps de route (driving time) : 3 heures et 39 minutes
• Vitesse moyenne (average speed) : 105 km/h (65 mi/h)
• Consommation (gas mileage) : 6,00 L/100 km (39.2 MPG)
• Nombre de sacs de chips (# of bags of chips) : 1
• Température maximale (highest temperature) : 19 C (66 F)

We had breakfast with Betsy and Dan and went on our way at 10 am. The first obstacle after the border was to cross the Sierra Nevada. It was snowy, maybe the most snow we've seen on this trip, but the road was clear.

We've waited a long time to see this road sign.

We didn't really stop until we arrived at San Francisco's gate.

The Golden Gate.

We spent some moments walking around, taking some pictures of the bay and of our trusty car, that brought us all the way across country.

Finally, we crossed the bridge and went to our temporary place. We went grocery shopping and enjoyed a homemade cooked meal: roast chicken with Brussels sprouts and sweet potato.

Day 9: The real report

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• Distance : 858 km (533 mi)
• Distance totale (distance so far): 6151 km (3,822 mi)
• Temps de route (driving time) : 7 heures et 43 minutes
• Vitesse moyenne (average speed) : 111 km/h (69 mi/h)
• Consommation (gas mileage) : 7,49 L/100 km (31.4 MPG)
• Nombre de sacs de chips (# of bags of chips) : 0
• Température minimale (lowest temperature) : -17 C (2 F)

We've finally arrived in San Francisco and have been very busy, too busy to blog. Now we have a little time and here is the report for our ninth day, from Salt Lake City to Reno.

We started the day with thick fog, just enough to prevent us to see the depressing landscape, ie the salt flats. We went by the Bonneville Speedway and continued on our way to Nevada.

Pretty much the only sight of Utah we got.

Here is a salt flat, we believe.

After this, the fog cleared away right before we entered Nevada. The views were nice, plains with occasional snowy mountains.

Here is Nevada!

Nevada landscape.

For lunch, we stopped in the little town of Winnemucca, where we went to a Basque restaurant, the Martin Hotel. The building is listed in the National register of historic places. Tables are set up family-style. We had some delicious food: Fried sweetbreads and chorizo, with fantastic mash potatoes (just don't tell us how much butter was in them).

Chorizo (spicy!) with mash and homemade country gravy.

We finally arrived in Reno, where we met our friends Betsy and Dan, and their lively dog Wader. We went on a walk (which was more for us than the dog) and then went out to Reno for dinner and some casino action. Susan put a dollar in a slot machine. She could have won $450,000 but ended up losing a dollar. Maybe she'll be more lucky next time!

Day 9: From Salt Lake City to Reno

Today was an uneventful day driving from Salt Lake City to Reno. We had lots of fog in the beginning but it eventually cleared up and we had nice weather in Nevada.

We are spending the night with Betsy and Dan so we don't really have time for the blog. Tomorrow we'll drive to San Francisco. We are both a little bit sad to finish the trip but are also really looking forward to settling down.

Day 8: Stats

• Distance : 510 km (317 mi)
• Distance totale (distance so far): 5293 km (3,289 mi)
• Temps de route (driving time) : 6 heures et 53 minutes
• Vitesse moyenne (average speed) : 84 km/h (53 mi/h)
• Consommation (gas mileage) : 6,74 L/100 km (34.9 MPG)
• Nombre de sacs de chips (# of bags of chips) : 0
• Température minimale (lowest temperature) : -14 C (7 F)

Day 8: Mindblowement in Utah

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This morning, both Susan and I woke up early. Susan went to walk on the treadmill while watching the second episode of Downtown Abbey. After that we had breakfast and drove out, direction Canyonlands National Park. Their website described quite scary road conditions so we were unsure whether we could actually go around in the car. We had no problem to arrive at the visitor center, and the ranger actually told us that all the paved roads were fine.

So off we went! We started with Upheaval Dome, a gigantic crater which apparently stirs debate among geologists. From the parking lot, we walked about 15 minutes to arrive at the crater. It was cold, although not as cold as the previous days but the sun was shining and the sky was blue. The crater is massive (2 miles accross and 1,500 feet deep). The surrounding cliffs are red while the terrain inside the crater has yellowish colors. There was no sound to be heard, we had the place for ourselves and it was magical.

Upheaval dome.

After this nice start, we continued towards the Green River overlook, which allowed us to look towards the West. None of us had ever seen anything like this before. It's just like Russian puppets: A canyon, in a canyon, in a canyon, etc. Susan was just speechless. Here is why:

(Post continued by Susan) I was also a little emotional - this place was just the most magical/awe-inspiring/magnificent place I've ever been! Please come here! Places like this need to be seen. I'm so grateful I was able to see it, along with everything else we've seen this past week.

After our nature fix, we headed North West for Salt Lake City. The driving in Utah has been great, as the roads are good and well-maintained and the scenery is awesome. 

We didn't take a whole lot of pictures while driving today, but for this NE girl the scenery out here is completely different from home and I'm thoroughly enjoying it! What we aren't really enjoying though is Salt Lake City. The drive in from the south was on a highway that's 7 lanes at times and the urban sprawl is just crazy (and something I'll have to get used to while I'm not in NE....). I like how the city is so close to some amazing mountains but we couldn't really see them due to fog/smog/clouds (not sure what it was). We have not explored the city at all except to drive to the hotel and then to and from dinner, but we're not really interested in it to be completely honest. It was just below freezing when we arrived around 4pm though which was quite an improvement for us! 

5-6 lane streets downtown. SLC is a madhouse, though I know most people say Boston is a madhouse because of the one way streets and it's not a grid. Whatever. I don't like gridded cities - they confuse me. 

Tomorrow we head for Reno to see Betsy and Dan and to meet Wader and hopefully see the house they just bought! Then it's on the SF! I can't believe it's really almost over....but then a new adventure begins! 

Day 7 (Jan 15): Rocky Mountain High

Greetings from Moab, Utah!!

We began this morning in a frosty town in Colorado, leaving Salida around 9am. The car read 1F when we left the parking lot! Our goal for the day was to see Arches National Park, so we headed west on Rt 50 all the way to I70 near the Utah border. This drive was incredible! Amazing views, thrilling driving adventures, and the Continental Divide!

I got to practice my driving a stick up a huge mountain (3rd gear all the way, baby!) as well as using the engine break on the way down. We crossed the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass, which was 11,312ft. The temp here was -6, though this was not the coldest we saw today.

Leaving Salida!

Heading up...

Yes, it's -6 and B is wearing just a t shirt and a fleece...

Going down...

Mountains!

We are back on flat ground.

We found our coldest temp near Doyleville CO: -14! The back passenger window froze over..

Blue Mesa Reservoir 

Dillon Pinnacles

Lunch was in Delta, CO at C & J's Cafe. Pretty good, nothing special, small-town cheep. Our next stop was going to be the Colorado National Monument, but the road was reported as open but snow-packed and icy, so we drove on for Arches. We hit Utah around 2:30 and the landscape gradually changed to being more desert-like with incredible views.

Still mountains too!

Right outside Arches on Rt. 191 South

We arrived in Arches at 3:35 and were finally able to purchase our annual National Park pass (thank you Cheever family!!!!). The website claimed the roads were bad, but the ranger said they were clear so off we went to see the Windows and the Balanced Rock at sunset. It turned out to be an ideal time to visit because there were no crowds and the sunset light was epic.

Benoit in the North Window

The 2 windows

Turret Arch

Another Fiesta advertisement shot! 

Balanced Rock

We were both blown away by Arches National Park and felt so lucky to have been there at such a perfect time. We highly highly recommend this to EVERYONE! Come visit us and we can go back for free with our annual pass! :) 

Most things in Moab seem to be closed for winter so we ended up eating pizza again tonight. Tomorrow we hope to visit Canyonlands National Park on our way to Salt Lake City. It's hard to believe we're almost to California...