It’s crazy to think we’ve been in California for a month. You may not have realized we were
in California, but that’s because we didn’t even know we were going to California until about two
weeks before we left. Amelia still had 10 weeks of unpaid maternity leave available to her. She decided to use
that leave to take a travel nursing position in San Francisco. The plan is to use San Francisco as a home base
and do a bunch of small road trips on her days
off.
Amelia started looking into travel nursing opportunities, at first for the middle of March
but it quickly turned into a February 8th start date. We kicked it into high gear sorting out all
of our affairs in preparation for our 13 week exodus. The last piece of preparation was to decide what
could be crammed into the Prius and what would have to stay home. I’m happy to say all of the people in
our family were deemed essential cargo.
We left West Saint Paul on Thursday, February 4th and drove all night through high winds and
ice in South Dakota. We then drove most of the day through snow storms in Wyoming and Utah.
We made it through a huge dust storm west of Salt Lake City and all the way to Elko, Nevada,
where we got a well deserved break night at a motel. The next day (Saturday, February 7th) we
drove the rest of the way to San Francisco under great conditions, clear sky, grass (in
February?!) and palm trees. We were feeling a bit overwhelmed when we first got here. What the
hell had we been thinking doing something like this?! Our attitudes quickly
rebounded as we checked the temperature in the Twin Cities… 4 below!
We settled in pretty quickly and set off trying restaurants in the area and seeing the city.
Elena got used to waking up at 7:00, since her school is two hours ahead of her. She also
made a few friends at the playground by our house. Maya… didn’t seem to notice any changes
in her surroundings. Amelia quickly got a library card and learned the library system in
the city. After Amelia finished her orientation she had five days off so we took a trip out
to LA. I think I summed up the trip pretty well in a postcard I wrote:
“Our trip to LA is going great! We're staying at a hotel in Hollywood near the walk of fame.
This morning we went out to Venice and walked the canals. Next we walked, or in Elena's case
skateboarded along Venice Beach. We went out to the Santa Monica Pier, the official end of
Route 66. We had some delicious fresh seafood on the Pier and watched the people and the waves.
We made it up to Griffith Observatory just in time for the sunset and got to see all of the
lights turn on across LA as the sun disappeared behind the Hollywood sign. Wishing you were
here and glad we're avoiding some of the coldest days of the MN winter! ”
After we left LA we went to the Descanso Gardens and then drove out to the Mojave Desert
where we got a room. The next day we went to Joshua Tree National Park, we drove most of the
way home to San Francisco but stopped to stay at the fabulous Madonna Inn. We finished the
journey the next day while listening to the audiobook of
Tortilla Flat. Serendipitously, we also happened to stop for tacos in Steinbeck's hometown of Salinas.
The next day was Maya’s half birthday (it’s already been six months?!) and Amelia’s first
full shift at the new Hospital. The 24th we took a day trip to the East Bay. We ate at a taco
truck in Berkeley, walked Telegraph Ave and went book shopping. Next we went and visited
Amelia’s cousin Neil in Oakland.
We’re fitting in well, drinking Anchor Steam beer, eating Boudin bread and Its-It ice cream
sandwiches and letting people know, “they’re cable cars not trolleys!”
To all my friends and family in the Twin Cities, stay strong and stay safe. I know you’ve
got a big week coming up. Peace & love.
We've taken a lot of photos on this trip, many of which I'll post in a gallery here.
Here are some other pictures we've taken since my last post, mostly from before our trip:
